Music Machine (Los Angeles, California)

Due to the holidays, I've been kind of slack with this thing. Let me make it up to you with the Music Machine.

Often credited as one of the pioneers of garage, the Music Machine made their debut in 1966. Their sound was defined with fuzzed guitars and Farfisa organs and their look defined with all-black turtle necks and pants, single black gloves on each of the members and moptop hair cuts.

The Music Machine started off in 1965 as the Ragamuffins, but changed their name the following year with the release of their single "Talk Talk" . Talk Talk was featured on their debut album "Turn On" and became a Top 20 hit in the US. Their follow-up single, "The People In Me" peaked at only #66. Sean Bonniwell blamed this on the supposed feud between their manager and an Original Sound record executive.

After a tour of the US, everyone quit the band, except Sean Bonniwell, due to internal conflicts. Bonniwell added new members and changed the name to "the Bonniwell Music Machine". The Bonniwell Music Machine released a follow up self titled album made up of previously recorded material with the original members. The record turned out to be not successful in the mainstream.

A third Bonniwell Music Machine album was recorded, yet never released until 2000. The album was titled "Ignition" and was composed of material written in 1969 as well as Ragamuffin demo tracks.


Line up:

Guitar/Vocals: Sean Bonniwell
Guitar: Mark Landon
Bass: Keith Olsen
Organ: Doug Rhodes
Drums: Ron Edgar


Talk Talk (Live)

Ugly Ducklings (Toronto, Canada)

Here's one thats pretty close to home for me, I'll start with some info on the group from Canoe.ca's Pop Encyclopedia Entry on them.

Dave Bingham (vocals)
Glynn Bell (guitar)
Roger Mayne (guitar)
John Read (bass)
Robin Boers (drums)
Mike McKenna (guitar)

The Ugly Ducklings formed in Yorkville Village in 1965 and became a driving force in getting the area noticed based on their Rolling Stones-inspired 'bad boy' reputation.

In 1966 they released their first single, "Nothin'", on the Yorkville label and followed that with several more singles concluding with the chart topping "Gaslight" in 1967. Written by Robert Hailey, a Yorkville Records staff member, the song went #1 in Toronto and parts of eastern Canada. It was recorded in New York utilizing Doc Severenson's Tonight Show Band and without the benefit of all the band members present -- only vocalist Dave Bingham appears.

In 1968 Yorkville released the band's debut album, 'Somewhere Outside', and Mick Jagger proclaimed The Ugly Ducklings as "my favourite Canadian band". By this time, they had already disbanded.


I was at home around this time last year, and I noticed after bugging my father about them before, that his old 45s had appeared from nowhere near the stereo in my parents basement.
I came across 3 Ducklings singles among some other good finds:

1966 Nothin'/I Can Tell (Yorktown) 45001
1966 She Ain't No Use To Me/10:30 Train (Yorktown) Y-45002
1967 Gaslight/Rimb Nugget (Yorkville) YV-45013

As my dad grew up in Scarborough, these guys were pretty local and a big thing in Toronto obviously at the time. One of his good friends was the younger brother of the bassist (John Read, I believe according to above).
The band had some pretty instant success after the first few singles, and they signed a deal to put out an LP which was to be recorded in New York City.

Now in a pretty rotten money driven move, the record company decided to cheap out on flying the band to NYC.. Instead they just sent singer David Bingham, and used a session band to record their album Somewhere Outside. They didn't last much longer after the lp was pressed.

My dad told me that after they broke up, he bought the Gibson EB-3 bass used by John Read through his younger brother. That bass recorded on all the singles through 'Nothin' up until to their session band LP release, which included Gas Light. So there's always been a pretty cool piece of Canadian Garage Rock history right in my parent's basement.


Nothin'


Gaslight


Heres a live performance of a tune called Hangman:

Choir (Cleveland, Ohio)

The Choir, (Originally called the Mods) from Cleveland, Ohio formed some time between 1964 or 1965. They we're clearly influenced by British Invasion groups such as the Beatles and the Zombies. The group's jangly, haunting, and borderline psychedelic, teen-pop symphonies also closely resemble the work of American bands the Left Banke and the Byrds. The band released their first single "Its Cold Outside" with the Stones-y B side "I'm Goin' Home" in 1966. "Its Cold Outside" reached #68, and would be their closest brush with success. It would later be covered by Cleveland punk rocker Stiv Bators during his 1979 power pop phase, and featured on many-a-60s garage comps such as Nuggets and Pebbles.

The band released 2 more unsuccessful singles between the years 1966 and 1967, before disbanding, then reforming and rebranding in 1968 with drummer Jim Bonfanti being the only original member. Original band members Wally Bryson, Dave Smalley, and Jim Bonfanti would later team up in 1970(?) with Eric Carmen of rival group Cyrus Erie to form the influential power pop group The Raspberries.

A compilation album of mostly unreleased material called Choir Practise was released by Sundazed Records. The record features a handful of top notch jangly 12-string guitar-pop masterpieces such as "I'd Rather You Leave Me" and "Don't Change Your Mind". Most of the songs from their 3 singles were left off the album. The excluded single tracks can be found on a various artists compilation called Psychedelic Microdots Vol. 3 also on Sundazed Records, which I've yet to check out.


Line up from the "It's Cold Outside" single:

Rhythm Guitar/Lead Vocals: Dave Smalley
Lead Guitar/Bass: Wally Bryson
Rhythm Guitar: Dann Klawon
Lead Guitar/Bass: Dave Burke
Tambourine/Vocals/Drums: Jim Bonfanti


Check out It's Cold Outside, one of my favorite songs of all time! Also very fitting for this time of the year. Am i right?? Yes.

Shanes (Kiruna, Sweden)

During the mid to late 60's, the Shanes were one of the most popular bands in Sweden along with the Hep Stars, the Tages, and Ola & The Janglers. In 1963, they cut their first single named “Gunfight Saloon" , an instrumental track which went into Sweden's Top Ten. Many of the Shanes early singles were instrumental tunes with cowboy themed titles. Gunfight Saloon was just one of many Top Ten charters the Shanes had in Sweden. At the beginning of 1965, the Shanes got their big break when they toured all over Sweden, and were chased by hysterical fans.

The Shanes were also known for their considerably long hair, much longer than bands like the Beatles had worn. This lead to much slandering in the press where they were frequently referred to as "long-haired scum", and it was not always so easy for the group to get into various public places.

In the Spring of 67, 4 members of the Shanes were drafted to the Swedish military. A year later, after their service, the Shanes found music to be a lot different. This lead to the breaking up of the Shanes. In 1969, Torra Rautio said "Pop is not dead. As music... perhaps. But pop changed while we stood still. It broadened, grew deeper. It became clothing, things, a whole world, a lifestyle, protests. Pop still lives and is becoming more political now. Soon pop will be just politics."


Line up:

Vocals/Guitar: Staffan Berggren
Vocals/Guitar: Tommy Wahlberg
Vocals/Organ Kit Sundqvist
Vocals: Lennart Grahn
Bass: Svante Elfgren
Drums: Tor-Erik Rautio
Harmonica/Other Wind Instruments Rolf Carvenius


I Don't Need Your Love (Live)




Boom Boom (Promo Video/Live)

Renegades (Birmingham, England)

One of the more forgotten about juvenile rock & roll/proto-punk bands from the British explosion are the Renegades. The Renegades started out in the early 1960's, being primarily influenced by the Shadows. These influences quickly changed and they began to mould themselves into a sound that was rough around the edges and more blues based. Around that same time, the band also began to take on a gimmick and introduced American civil war cavalry uniforms as their stage getup.

In October of 1964, the band pulled together a tour of Eastern Europe, playing mostly in Finland where they were treated as a "2nd Beatles". Despite their success, they never received a #1 hit in Finland, however their song "Cadillac" reached a #2 spot in December of 1964.

In 1966, they released the single "Thirteen Women", a cover of Bill Haley and His Comets. The song was used in a promotional video for the band and later was used in the soundtrack for the Quentin Tarantino film "Kill Bill".


Line up:

Vocals/Organ/Guitar: Kim Brown
Guitar: Denys Gibson (1964-1966) Joe Dunnett (1966-1971) Mick Wembley (1971)
Bass: Ian Mallet
Drums: Graham Johnson


Cadillac (Live)




Thirteen Women (Promo video)