From all accounts Darin was
ecstatic that evening, returning to the stage after his featured set to join
the band on backing vocals, a little piano, and even drumming a song or two.
Later that night, phoned arrangements were made for an impromptu recording
session with Joe Boles, the local audio engineer responsible for “Come Softly
To Me” the then-current breakout hit by Olympia’s teen trio, the Fleetwoods – a
song that would soar to the nation’s #1 spot by March.
The Frantics arrived at the
West Seattle neighborhood studio the following morning half-wondering whether
the pop star from New York would actually follow-through on the previous
evening’s late-night talk. But, Darin did arrive and immediately set about
arranging, with the band, two brand new songs, each freshly penned on Olympic
Hotel stationary. Three hours later the session was completed, Darin was
thrilled and grateful to have gotten great takes on both songs. Each player was
paid $90, thanked, and then Darin headed south to complete the final dates on
his tour schedule.
Less than two months later
the “Dream Lover” / “Bullmoose” single entered the national charts, climbing to
the #2 slot, and eventually selling over 3.5 million units. Along the way, however, Darin’s corporate
overlords back in New York had gotten him to cut the tunes from scratch, but
the Frantics could hear little difference from their “Dream Lover” and even
chuckled after listening to how the New Yorker players had worked to capture
their band’s sound on “Bullmoose.”
The Frantics’ beginnings trace
back to Jane Adams Jr. High School, and yes, the proverbial talent show. Billed
as the Four Frantics, Ron Peterson (guitar), Chuck Schoning (accordion), and a
couple buddies then performed at community dances for the next few years. By
October 1957, the combo’s lineup had solidified with Peterson, Schoning, Bob
Hosko (sax), Joel Goodman (drums), and Jimmy Manolides (vocals – though he was
soon peer-pressured into learning electric bass). The Frantics were one of only
three known Seattle rock bands at that time – the other two being from the
town’s Central District: the Dave Lewis Combo and the Playboys (with Ron
Holden).
Based in the North-end, and
with all-Caucasian members, the Frantics filled a void and they quickly became
a hit on the P.T.A. dance circuit. It was at one early show that the boys were
seen by the head of Seattle’s Musicians Union AFM #76, Chet Ramage. Miffed that
they were performing before a large crowd without being dues-paying union
members, he unplugged their amps mid-song and admonished them to come to
headquarters and join up. That done, the Frantics soon found an almost unlimited
range of gigs to play: theaters, proms, community halls, and television spots. Highlights
included gigs where they played support for additional touring stars including
Gene Vincent, Jimmy Clanton, and even Fabian.
One evening in late-1958,
after a rehearsal and apparently on a collective whim, the guys loaded their
gear into a couple of cars and drove to the downtown studios of KOL radio. They
waved at the DJ, Art Simpson, through a window and then, before they knew it,
they were inside the station’s small studio recording. That same night Simpson
began broadcasting their original instrumental, “Checkerboard.” In fact the DJ
was impressed enough to send them over to meet Bob Reisdorff, A Seattle record
distributor who had just signed a teen vocal trio from Olympia, the Fleetwoods.
Within a few months Reisdorff’s Dolton Records would score national hits by
five different teenage groups from the Northwest.
It was on May 25, 1959, that
the Frantics debut single, “Straight Flush” / “Young Blues,” hit the national
charts (Billboard magazine, #91) and
set the standard for most of their subsequent releases by topping the local
radio charts at KOL, KJR, and even KING. At this point Don Fulton replaced
Goodman, drumming on their second single “Fogcutter” / “Black Sapphire” which
hit Billboard (#96) in September.
The third single had been
intended to score during the upcoming Halloween/Christmas holiday shopping
season, but technical issues delayed its release until the New Year. Entering
the charts on February 29, 1960, its timing was fated to coincide with the
United States Senate Subcommittee new hearings on payola and corruption in the
music biz. During these the senators got all wound up investigating the content of songs rather than focusing on
more serious aspects of the music industry’s Evil Empire. So, artists were
attacked for the “gimmicky” or “disturbing” elements of their songs and the
radio industry began to get gun-shy about breaking new songs that bore any
questionable elements.
Enter the Frantics’ new
single “Werewolf” with its creepy Thriller-esque
spoken intro and maniacal wolf howls (as provided by audio engineer, Kearney
Barton) and gothic pre-spaghetti-western guitar figures. After shooting up Billboard’s charts (“with a bullet”) for
its first two weeks, “Werewolf” mysteriously disappeared. Reisdorff responded
immediately by reissuing the song sans its sinister narration or howls --
retitling the thing “No Werewolf.” While no longer “gimmicky,” it was also no
longer fun for the teenage masses and it died a quick death.
The Frantics released total
of eleven singles between 1959 and 1962, all of which showed the band’s members
to be top-notch players, but the latter ones – including “Yankee Doodlin,’”
“San Antonio Rose,” and even “The Whip” (which featured the skills of famed
bullwhip artist, Monty Whiplash), were all clearly attempts at cracking the
novelty-instrumental market.
In March 1961, when the last
of the band’s members turned 21, the Frantics were hired at Dave Levy’s old
jazz club, Dave’s Fifth Avenue, becoming the first bona fide rock band to be
booked into a Seattle tavern. They played the room for months on end and it
seemed that the whole town turned out to dance. Then Manolides jumped ship to
join the Dave Lewis Trio who scored an extended gig at Dave’s.
The following year, when the
1962 Seattle World’s Fair opened across the street on the new Seattle Center
campus in April, the Frantics retuned to Dave’s, playing to SRO audiences all
through the following autumn. They also cut two Fair-themed singles: the “Meet
Me In Seattle Twist,” and “The Gayway Twist.”
Time went by and the
Frantics experienced additional personnel changes – including bringing aboard a
new drummer, Jon Keliehor, who had been in the official World’s Fair Band, and
then a new guitarist from Tacoma, Jerry Miller. The band was getting some good
job offers in California and on one fateful trip southward, Keliehor was hurt
in a car-wreck – and Don Stevenson (formerly with the Continentals) was brought
aboard.
While gigging in San
Francisco the Frantics were now coming into increasing contact with the
blossoming Flower Power culture and a falling out occurred over psychedelic
influences on their music – and the renaming of band to Luminous Marsh Gas may
have been the final straw. More changes happened: Hosko returned to Seattle,
Bob Mosely (bass) was added, and Schoning was axed. Finally, when L.A. folkie
Peter Lewis (guitar) and the Jefferson Airplane’s original drummer, Skip
Spence, both connected the band changed names one more time. Moby Grape first
played the Fillmore Auditorium in November 1966 and their mind-blowing single,
“Omaha,” hit the charts in July 1967.
Meanwhile, Keliehor healed
and joined a new psychedelic folk-rock band from the University District, the
Daily Flash, who enjoyed their own successes locally and in California. Then
Schoning resurfaced a bit later, filling an opening in Haight Ashbury’s
beloved band, Quicksilver Messenger Service. Finally, in 1970 Manolides and Hosko helped
found the Northwest’s ultimate goodtimes/oldies band, Jr. Cadillac, who went on
to rule the region’s tavern rock scene for a quarter century.
[Note:
This is an edited version of an essay that originally appeared in the
“Northwest Music Archives” column of Seattle’s The Rocket magazine back in March, 1984.]
Text copyright © 1984, 2014 by Peter Blecha.
Text copyright © 1984, 2014 by Peter Blecha.