| The JuJus started as a trio doing a parody of the Beatles at Godwin high school in Grand Rapids in 1963. Members were Rod Shepard on guitar, Max "Junior" Colley on sax; and Bill Gorski drums, their name came from Max's little brother's pronunciation of "Junior". In 1964 the band added Ray Hummel III on vocals and guitar and Rod moved to the bass. Hummel had a distinctive voice, and his talent for folk-influenced songwriting changed the band's sound. Later on Rick Stevens of the Paeans (who had an unreleased 45 recorded at Fenton) came in to play guitar.
The band played live shows at the Ponytail in Grand Rapids and nearby towns like Holland and Saugatuck. In 1965 worked out a deal with Dave Kalmbach of Great Lakes Recording to do their live act between films at the Hour Theater in exchange for recording time when the theater was closed. Great Lakes worked as a vanity label in that the bands had to cover all recording and pressing costs and do their own promotion. Studios were originally in Dave Kalmbach's basement, then moved to the Hour Theater, and later to the nearby town of Sparta. Bands would chose whatever label name they wanted for their 45, Fenton being the most common choice. The records were pressed at the American Record Co. in Owosso, MI, later destroyed by fire in October, 1972. Rod Shepard says, "those records sold for about ninety-eight cents of which we ended up with about a dime." The Ju Jus first 45 had two Hummel originals, the amazingly powerful You Treat Me Bad and the fifties-sounding Hey Little Girl. The record did well locally, supposedly reaching #2 on a chart in western Michigan in October, 1965. The future looked good and Drummond Records of Detroit offered Ray Hummel a contract based on his songwriting. The band couldn't sign because a newly-married Ray refused to tour out of state, and Ray soon left the band. He recorded a few solo pop 45s over the years, including Gentle Rain / Fine Day on Fenton with Max Colley playing sax and Bill Gorski on drums. The JuJu's had several personnel changes before making their next record. Brett Wells came in on vocals, and Bruce Essex, who had played guitar with Rick Stevens in the Paeans joined for part of 1966. Then Max Colley left and Bill Gorski was drafted, so the band found guitarist Ron Burke and drummer Ron Homrich. Before long Brett left and Ron Burke took over on vocals. Rick Stevens now became the primary songwriter for the band. In the summer of '67 their manager Jim Geeting opened The Island, a teen club in Ludington, in which the Ju Ju's played regularly and supported touring national acts like the Kingsmen and the Electric Prunes. By this time the band had a tougher rock sound. In late 1967 the band broke up as Rod Shepard and Rick Stevens went into the military. Rick Stevens joined the Air Force and later died in a plane crash in New Mexico. A number of unreleased songs recorded over the years at the Hope, Chess, and Phil Robert studios have yet to see commercial release. Until recently they were distributed on tape and CDR, but they are currently unavailable, and I haven't heard them yet. |
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The JuJus - You Treat Me Bad The JuJus - Hey Little Girl The JuJus - Do You Understand Me The JuJus - I'm Really Sorry Sources: 60sgaragebands.com interview with Rod Shepard, Ray Hummel interview by Dave Walters in R.P.M. #4 now reproduced on GrandRapidsRocks.com |
Only One Song It's Not Enough To Know A Beat Group
GARAGEHANGOVER DOES US A GREAT SERVICE BY PRESENTING MORE THAN ONE SONG BY A GROUP THUS GIVING A BROADER AND CLEARER PICTURE OF WHAT TRIP THAT GROUP WAS ON.
For many a day a lot of us beat fans (ok, garage band fans) Do You Understand Me was all we knew by The Ju Ju's, and then we came to know You Treated Me Bad which is totally different from Do You Understand Me. Now I see that Do You Understand Me was sort of a departure and that notion is causing commotion in my soul. Will we soon find out that The Ju Ju's had an even more diversified original repertoire.
I'm so buzzed that the first song I knew by The Sonics was Strychnine and then I came to know Here Are The Sonics and it wasn't till at least a year later that I came to know Sonics Boom and then a few years later Introducing The Sonics. If the first song I knew by The Sonics had been Love Light or On The Road Again or the last stuff the Roslie-Parypa Sonics did than I would not have been too interested in hearing more from the group. But I heard Strychnine first and that blew my mind and darkened my soul and I just had to have more and more Sonics!
And it's also a case of how long a group lasted or how many times they recorded and did they record in, say, 1964 and then again in 1968 or did the group last a long time but only record once or did the group last a short time and recorded once. Take The Beatles, please (remember John Mitchell of Nixon infamy?) The Beatles lasted so many years but if one only knows one song of theirs that sure ain't enough. If all you know is All You Need Is Love your idea of The Beatles differs from him who only knows I'm Down.