From Dallas to LA – an Xperience Column
Written by Staff on November 3, 2023
From Dallas to LA – a Column by Johnny Mystery.
Well, more like Dallas to the San Fernando Valley, which is where The Preachers hailed from, but they found fame in the city of the angels. The Preachers are one of two bands we’ll be checking out here. They were five guys who just wanted to play dances and parties back in 1964 after graduation from college and by 65’ they were packing them in at a club called The Casbah located in Canoga Park. They played all The Rolling Stones and Chuck Berry hits and by all accounts got successful pretty fast.
As things happened, their manager got them a recording deal with Moonglow Records. Moonglow’s best known act was The Righteous Brothers. For their first single, they decided to knock out a cover of Bo Diddly’s “Who Do You Love.” Knock out is just what they did. Their version absolutely rivals the rawness and gutty power of anything bands like The Sonics ever did and it was so far off the rails it was like a locomotive ready to fly off the tracks at any minute. The three-part harmony screams, if you can call it harmony, in between the verses are animalistic and near frightening! Bobby Hatfield of The Righteous Brothers was in attendance during the session in fact and was said to be bug-eyed and amused at the time but clearly at a loss for words.
“Who Do You Love” was released in May of 1965 and like many California bands of that day, they ended up on Shindig. To make a special impact on the show, The Preachers wanted to capitalize on their name. They decided to wear grey, Beatle-like collarless suits with priest collars they acquired from a religious supply shop. Much of the public was in an outrage after the broadcast. It seems America was not ready for a group of young screaming cavemen dressed as preachers, singing about neckties made of snakes and fences made from human skulls on national television. The phones rang off the hook and threats were flying! They never appeared that way again, but the clip of this show is up on YouTube.
After a few more records failed to gain any interest, The Preachers disbanded but not after making one of the rawest records ever. Not to mention a very memorable television appearance and all in the space of eighteen months.
From Dallas, Texas of course, there’s something in the water there, comes The Gentlemen. Hardly yet men, because at the time they were still in their teens, these young cowpoke recorded what is considered one of the most essential tunes of the first generation of what we call garage. They just called it rock n roll back then but we know better now. In 1965, Vanden Records brought these cats in the studio to record a song called, “You Can’t Be True.” That’s not the song we’re here for though. As in so many cases, the song pushed by the record label was a weak ballad and “You Can’t Be True” took two weeks to record. They added strings and who knows what else cause nobody remembers it. The flip side,” It’s A Crying Shame” was a hastily recorded screamer!
“It’s A Crying Shame” is the kind of song we like. It starts out with four, fuzz drenched, wicked power chords, followed by a ferocious riff that would whip a whole herd of Texas steer down the plains faster than you could say, Rawhide! It’s that great!! The snotty singer laments unrequited love for a teen queen he can’t get and never will. “Why do I love you, it’s a crying shame!” You’re a whining loser kid and she’s looking for a football hero and you better deal with it!!! Sure makes for great rock n roll though, like when the lead guitar goes into an outta control fuzzy solo. Great reverb drenched backing vocals are crucial to the sound of this masterpiece.
The Gentlemen had a pretty good run as they wowed the Dallas area till about 1968, opening shows for the likes of James Brown, Roy Orbison and “The Killer” Jerry Lee Lewis just to name a few. Not bad for a band whose bassist used a 50 dollar bass and whose career was over, probably before they got outta high school. You can’t make this stuff up kids….
I highly recommend, seeking these recordings online and blasting them as loud as your volume will go. You also never know what else you find while you’re out there. This is some of the purist no frills rock n roll you’ll ever experience. It’s the way rock and roll was meant to be.
So next issue, we should have my end of year list of my picks for songs of 2023. I might even throw in a few more surprises so come back and check. In the meantime go and hit the bins. Those cool records are out there NOW!
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