#60s garage bands

[garagerockpunk]

Five Canadians - Writing On The Wall 1966 (60s Garage Music)

The Five Canadians - Writing On The Wall 1966. They were a 60s garage rock band from San Antonio Texas. Originally they were the Hangmen until management made the name change as a marketing strategy to make them sound more appealing globally.

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The Pagens - “Someone Like You” History of Michigan Garage Bands in the 60's, Volume 1: Wheels 4: Label Story Song released in 1969. Compilation released in 1994. Garage Rock

Michigan wasn’t the premier state for garage rock in the 60s, but it was probably in the top five. The sound of Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit, was captured by a teenage boy named Brian Dombrowski, who set up a studio in his basement and invited bands from all over the state to come record. He set up a label called Wheels 4 which released eleven singles between 1965 and 1971.

In the 90s, the label Collectables got a hold of all the master tapes that were recorded in Biran Dombrowski’s basement studio and put them all on a triple-disc collection. Most of the songs were unreleased, preserving some moments of pure ephemera from bands we never even knew existed. One of those bands was The Pagens. We don’t know much about The Pagens except that one of their members was Bill Mueller, aka Blue Miller, who became a country-rockin’ blues guy and wound up playing and singing with Isaac Hayes and Bob Seger. Between 1990 and 1994, Mueller was also part of the Gibson/Miller Band, who put out two albums on Epic.

But none of those facts would lead you to believe that The Pagens is where it all started for Mueller, because the two songs that they released in 1969, “Someone Like You” and “Mystic Cloud,” don’t sound anything like what Mueller would ultimately churn out for the rest of his career. However, by that same token, “Someone Like You” doesn’t sound like what most 60s garage bands were churning out either, which was mostly energetically psychedelic or poppy stuff. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a small tinge of psychedelia on this song, but when something is labeled as “psychedelic garage rock,” one usually thinks of unwieldy and squealing Vox guitar solos, and this song has nothing close to that. Instead, The Pagens lace their tune with a heavy dose of rhythmic funk, from its skipping snare beat to its lead guitar work, resulting in something that sounds like a slowed down version of Archie Bell & The Drells’ “Tighten Up” meeting a British Invasion band, and the product is a much welcomed piece of subdued garage rock smoooothness. 

A very nice piece of garage rock ephemera from this short-lived, late 60s Dearborn, Michigan band.

[garagerockpunk]

The Centurys - Hard Times 1966 (Dallas TX 60s Garage)

The The Menerals were a 60s Garage from Dallas Texas USA with very few recordings. All i can find is one 45 RPM record. I’m willing to bet (like so many other 60s garage bands) their music didn’t start finding popularity until the 60’s compilations were created years later.

[garagerockpunk]

The Starfires - I Never Loved Her 1965

Starfires were a Los Angeles garage band. Their 45 rpm record of the 1965 song I Never Loved Her is on every 60s Garage aficionados wish list, mine included.​

[garagerockpunk]

The Fabs - The Bag I'm In 1967 (60s Garage Bands)

60's Garage rock band from Fullerton, California.

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The Marlans - “Treat Her Right” History of Michigan Garage Bands in the 60's, Volume 1: Wheels 4: Label Story Song recorded in 196?. Compilation released in 1994. Garage Rock / Surf Rock

Before bands like the MC5 and Iggy & the Stooges laid out the blueprint for what would become the definitive MIchigan rock sound, there was the garage rock era of the 60s. And although none of Michigan’s garage bands achieved the level of status that the MC5 or the Stooges ever did, it would be foolish to think that these bands didn’t have an influence on them. The raw and primitive sound that’s always associated with Michigan can be said to derive from garage rock.

Michigan wasn’t the premier state for garage rock in the 60s, but it was probably in the top five. The sound of Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit, was captured by a teenage boy named Brian Dombrowski, who set up a studio in his basement and invited bands from all over the state to come record. He set up a label called Wheels 4 which released eleven singles between 1965 and 1971.

In the 90s, the label Collectables got a hold of all the master tapes that were recorded in Biran Dombrowski’s basement studio and put them all on a triple-disc collection. Most of the songs were unreleased, preserving some moments of pure ephemera from bands we never even knew existed. One of those bands was the Marlans and the only things we know about them is that they’re from Michigan and they were either a four of five-piece, depending on whether or not the lead singer played an instrument, too.

The Marlans recorded six songs in Dombrowski’s studio. All of them were covers and none of them saw the light of day until Collectables released the Wheels 4 triple disc in 1994. The songs were all good, too, especially “Treat Her RIght”.

First of all, this recording of “Treat Her Right,” a song originally by Roy Head, is remarkably clear for a 60s recording. There’s not a hint of fuzz or scratchiness on this whole thing. There’s also an awesome stereo sound as the guitar is more prominent in the left channel and the drums are more prominent in the right, The guitar work is varied and intricate, with a couple freewheeling solos of surf rock twanginess, taut, prickly strumming, and sharper chord strikes lining the track. The drums aren’t very loud, but they’re pretty lively, with lots of crisp cymbal taps and bass is pretty active, too, There’s also an organ somewhere in the background. It’s really faint, almost inaudible, but it’s there. 

My feeling is that this track would have sounded a whole lot different if the microphones were placed differently, or if more microphones were used. However, despite that, this is still a pretty cool song. Very ephemeral and by a band that very few people ever knew existed. Good job by Collectables to dig it up and release it.

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Today’s compilation:

The Human Expression & Other Psychedelic Groups 1998 Psychedelic Rock / Garage Rock

Favorite tracks:

Cicadelics - “We’re Gonna Love This Way” Mechanical Switch - “Everything Is Red” Mechanical Switch - “Mr. Spongeman” Children of the Mushroom - “You Can’t Erase a Mirror” The Gruve - “You’re Gonna Love Me” The Gruve - “Take Hi-Five”

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The Kyks - “Where Are You?” The Human Expression & Other Psychedelic Groups Song released in 1966. Compilation released in 1998. Garage Rock / Psychedelic Rock

Here’s another 60s psychedelic garage band no one seems to really know much about. The Kyks were a five-or-six-piece group from Marshall, Missouri, a small town that sits between Kansas City and Columbia. In 1966, they released their only single, a 7-inch titled Where Are You? Since then, it has been included on a handful of garage retrospectives, including Collectables’ The Human Expression & Other Psychedelic Groups.

This song is kind of unique since it pairs smooth vocals with a typical garage setup. Not many garage bands from the 60s used vocal harmonies like this. They just weren’t capable of it. Yeah, there were some psychedelic pop groups who were doing it, but you wouldn’t really too much vocal harmonization at the “amateurish” level that you do here. The garage sound was usually about scratchy fuzz and unrestraint anyway. 

Brothers Ron and Chuck Blackmer co-star on this catchy number, as Ron takes up lead singing duties and Chuck freely scratches and jangles away on his Vox guitar. Dig that brief, unconventional breakdown of silence towards the end, followed by that build-up of drums, organ, and bass, which lead to a sweet, climactic finale. Very similar formula to the many trance and techno tracks that I’m partial to writing about.

Solid tune from these Missouri unknowns who only released one other song.