The Guilloteens: For my own (1965-67)

BAND INFO

The Guilloteens formed in 1964 when Lewis Paul, Laddie Hutcherson, and Joe Davis were members of the touring version of the Mar-Keys (who were by no means the same as the musicians who played on the Mar-Keys' records). When the horn section and singers of the band didn't show up one night, the three played on their own, leading them to decide to form their own group. Local popularity built a fan base that included Elvis Presley, who according to Paul would sneak into Memphis clubs to watch the Guilloteens. It was also Elvis who got the Guilloteens a gig in early 1965 at the Red Velvet Club in Hollywood, where the group briefly relocated. Phil Spector saw the Guilloteens and was impressed enough to start working on producing their original song "I Don't Believe" in the studio. But for reasons that remain obscure, while Spector was out of town, Guilloteens' manager Jerry Williams signed a deal with the newly launched Hanna Barbera label (an off-shoot of the company responsible for popular children's TV cartoons).Still, the Guilloteens' debut single, "I Don't Believe" sans Spector production, was a strong effort mixing British Invasion pop harmony, Searchers-like guitar, and Paul's unusually thick blue-eyed soul vocals. It was a big hit in Memphis, backed with the Kinks knock-off "Hey You," another group original. Paul took vocals on three of the four songs on the band's first two singles, with "For My Own" an impressive follow-up that similarly mixed folk-rock with garage-pop, though it wasn't the same regional hit that "I Don't Believe" had been. Paul quit the Guilloteens, however, after that release, unhappy with their manager.By this time the band had returned to Memphis from Los Angeles, and replaced Paul with Buddy Delaney. Another decent single followed, one side of which ("Crying All Over My Time") was co-written by Hutcherson and Jim Dickinson, the latter later to become famous as a sideman and producer. That was their third and last release on Hanna Barbera, as a southern tour on which they opened for Paul Revere & the Raiders helped get them a deal with Columbia Records. A Revere & the Raiders influence can be heard, in fact, on their first Columbia 45, "Wild Child," a really good slice of tough garage pop-punk that rates as one of the raunchiest garage singles issued on a major label. It couldn't break the Guilloteens nationally, however, and after a final. disappointing, uncharacteristically pop Columbia single in 1967, the group split up. Delaney made a rare single shortly afterward, "Girl," as frontman for Buddy Delaney & the Candy Soupe, though it was nothing more than a slightly reworked version of the old Guilloteens B-side "Hey You." All ten songs from the Guilloteens' singles (as well as Buddy Delaney & the Candy Soupe's "Hey You") were collected for the Misty Lane Guilloteens compilation For My Own.

(first band)..."We were playing together in a tour road version of the Mar-Keys, we were the rhythm section. One night we were playing a gig in Mississippi at a college. We were the only part of the band that showed up. They expected a performance and we gave them one. On the way home we thought we would put together our own band. We rehearsed for about 6 months and started playing teen clubs like the Roaring 60's, in Memphis. We were also on a local TV program called "Talent Party" which the #1 DJ in Memphis, George Klien hosted. We couldn't find a name we liked so he had a name the band contest and the prize was a date with one of us. I think Joe was the prize. I know it wasn't me! We got a manager and I went to see my friend Elvis. I told him about our band and he picked up the telephone and called a friend of his, Tony Farrah, who owned the Red Velvet Club on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. He hired us just on Elvis word and we were off to a good start (we were Elvis' favorite group, he often tucked himself away in a dark corner to hear us play)"....

Garage pop punk runch. Dig it.

LINK: YOU THINK YOU`RE HAPPY (I DON`T)