Category Archives: Pomona

Categories: California, Los Angeles, Pomona, Ron-Ee

Ronnie D. & the Casuals – “I Need Your Lovin”

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Ronnie D. and the Casuals, Ron-Ee 45 I Need Your Lovin'

Ronnie D. and the Casuals, Ron-Ee 45 When A Clown Settles DownTim Warren turned me on to “I Need Your Lovin” by Ronnie D. & the Casuals. The band is better known as Ronnie & the Pomona Casuals for their hit on Donna “I Wanna Do the Jerk”.

“I Need Your Lovin'” has a different sound, even though the chunky guitar, swinging bass lines and solid drumming are typical of the Eastside style.

The similarity to John English III’s “I Need You Near” is striking and begs the question, which came first? The Sabra label released John English III’s single in May of 1965. The release date for Ronnie D. & the Casuals 45 is much less certain. The very small stamped “H” in the deadwax only indicates an RCA Custom press.

I’ve read that this is the first release by Ronnie D. & the Casuals, but that would date it to before the release of their Donna 45s which began around November of 1964. More likely it comes after their contract with Bob Keane ran out following three singles and one LP on Donna, and a 45 on Mustang in May of 1965. This would make it a cover, or adaption, of the John English III song.

Song writing credits aren’t much help – John English is credited as writer on “I Need You Near”, published by Rattan Music BMI, while Ronnie D. & the Casuals’ “I Need Your Lovin” lists Derrek A. as writer, published by Branch Pub. Co. BMI.

The flip is “When a Clown Settles Down” a long ballad with some good moments, but poorly-produced. I can’t imagine the band was happy with the sound of this side of the single. This side also written by Derrek A., a name I can not trace to any other release from this era.

If John English III had the first release, one question is how did it come to the attention of Ronnie D. & the Casuals? The John English III single is especially rare, only a handful of copies now exist. It had almost no distribution or airplay at the time. Though based in San Fernando, John English III did perform with his group the Heathens at the Retail Clerks Auditorium in Buena Park, and at Pandora’s Box on the Sunset Strip, so some exposure was possible. By coincidence the Casuals single on Ron-Ee seems to be very rare as well.

Another question would be who is singing on this record? Chas Lett was the usual lead vocalist for Ronnie & the Pomona Casuals, but to my ears this sounds like someone else.

Ronnie & the Pomona Casuals were:

Charles Lett (vocals)
Ronnie Duran (lead guitar)
Robert Arroyo (organ) replaced by Les Kalil (Wurlitzer electric piano)
Jimmie Duran (tenor sax)
Robert Foley (baritone sax)
Ryan O’Brien Jr. (bass)
Phillip Duran (drums)

Ronnie Duran and his brother Jimmie attended Damien High School in San Dimas, California, where they formed the Casuals. Their first recording may have been “20.75”, which appeared on the second volume of the Salesian High School Rock ‘n Roll Show, recorded October 18, 1964. Billy Cardenas, manager and producer of Cannibal & the Headhunters, The Premiers, The Blendells, Mark & the Escorts and many other great acts, took them on and brought them to Bob Keane’s Donna Records.

In November, 1964 they put out the first of three singles and an LP on Donna. An interesting side note is that Arthur Lee of Love wrote “Everybody Jerk” and “Slow Jerk”, and sang backing vocals on the album. The Pomona Casuals had one further single on Mustang (the replacement label for Donna, which Keane retired), and also backed the Sisters on their Del-Fi single, “Ooh Poo Pa Do” and “Happy New Year Baby” (Del-Fi 4302).

The Casuals recorded their Donna and Mustang singles at Stereo Masters in Hollywood with Bruce Morgan engineering and Billy Cardenas producing. This single on Ron-Ee was cut at Audio Craft Recorders (aka Audio Craft Recording Studios) at 283 North Garey Avenue in Pomona.

Ronnie & the Casuals continued performing into the 1970s (I can find ads for their appearances through January 1970). Charlie Lett was killed many years ago and Les Kalil has passed away.

Mark Guerrero wrote an excellent history of Ronnie & the Pomona Casuals at http://www.markguerrero.com/26.php that I highly recommend. You Found That Eastside Sound has scans of their records and more info.

Ronnie & the Pomona Casuals discography:

Donna 1400 – “Swimming at the Rainbow” / “Casual Blues”
Donna 1402 – “I Wanna Do the Jerk” / “Sloopy”
Donna 1405 – “Out of the Blue” (Cherry-Wright) / “Slow Jerk” (Arthur Lee, Maravilla Mus, Inc. BMI)
Donna DO-2112 – Everybody Jerk (LP)
Mustang 3005 – “Please, Please, Please” / “We’re Gonna Do the Freddie”
Ron-Ee 1001 – “I Need Your Lovin” / “When a Clown Settles Down”

Ronnie and the Casuals photo
Ronnie and the Casuals, clockwise from bottom left: Phillip Duran, Ryan O’Brien, Ronnie Duran, Robert Foley, Jimmie Duran (tenor sax), Robert Arroyo (with arm on keyboard), and Charles Lee. Head of Willie G. at bottom center from photo collage. Photo from the Salesian High School Rock ‘n Roll Show LP vol. 2
Categories: Blue Fin, California, Los Angeles, Pomona

The Deepest Blue, Egyptian Candy & Blue-Fin Records discography

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The Deepest Blue formed in Pomona, a town about halfway between Los Angeles and San Bernadino further inland. Members were:

Earl Shackelford – vocals
Russell Johnson – lead guitar and vocals
Ken Zabel – organ
Rick Edwards – rhythm guitar
Bruce Lavoie – bass
Russ ‘Soupy’ Morrow – drums

The band was actually known as the Doves, they only changed their name when releasing their 45, because they thought it sounded more commercial.

They played teen clubs in the area like the Oasis and Discoteen, and a couple shows on the Hollywood strip with the Leaves and the Seeds. Their repertoire was all covers, mostly influenced by the Stones and other English groups.

Russ Johnson and Earl Shackelford wrote two songs just for the recording session, the first originals the band had ever played. They recorded at 9th Street studio in LA in August of 1966, with Richard Delvy, drummer for the Challengers engineering. Vic Gargano financed the record – he also produced the Tomorrows’ La Do Da Da / Need Only You on Condor. Without the band’s knowledge Gargano had a studio musician add guitar parts to enliven the sound. Although this upset the group, the resulting single is fantastic.

“Pretty Little Thing” features Bruce’s sliding bass line, precise drumming from Soupy, and a raging organ solo by Ken Zabel. Earl’s vocal has elements of Jagger’s inflections but his voice is stronger. “Somebody’s Girl” is more subdued but also powerful. Despite the quality of the record, it received little airplay.

The band returned to the studio to record more tracks for an album which was never finished. Soupy Morrow had an acetate of the sessions, but it has not surfaced since.

However, two songs “I Found Out” and “Living My Love Game” were released on a Blue-Fin 45 under the name the Egyptian Candy. Earl for one had completely forgotten about this record, but he did confirm that this was recorded by the Deepest Blue for their album sessions. Earl speculated that this may have been released under the name Egyptian Candy to test the waters for how the band’s new direction would be received.

Both songs demonstrate the influence of Earl’s friend Chris Darrow on his songwriting. Earl had met Chris at the Forum Club in Montclair when Chris was with the Floggs. Chris would record both songs with his next band, Kaleidoscope in similar arrangements (“Living My Love Game” retitled “Love Games” in the Kaleidoscope version and not released at the time). Another song by Earl, “I Found Out” became one of Kaleidoscope’s signature songs. It’s unfortunate the Deepest Blue were unable to stay together to pursue this new style, as they were obviously onto something.

Lacking success and headed in different musical directions, the band split up. Soupy died in a motorcycle accident in 1967 [actually in 1968 according to Oscar Bee], and Rick Edwards was killed in a car crash the following year while on tour. Earl stayed in music, notably forming Wheels with Chris Darrow and Walter Egan, and arranging vocal harmonies on Iggy Pop’s New Values album.

Update: Russ Johnson passed away in Australia in 2007. He had a long career in music there, most notably with a group called Mississippi.

For more information on the Deepest Blue there are two interviews with Earl Shackelford, one by Mike Dugo, and one at Pulsating Dream.

Blue-Fin discography (incomplete?):

101 – Ascots: The Wonder Of It All (R. Borden, M. Borden) / I Won’t Cry (Al Politano) (engineer Doc Siegel at Gold Star Studios, Onned Music BMI)
101 – Ascots: Summer Days / The Wonder of It All (matrix #s BL-FI-1004 and, I assume, BL-FI-1000)
102 – Deepest Blue: Pretty Little Thing / Somebody’s Girl
103 – Egyptian Candy: I Found Out / Living My Love Game

Thanks to Max Waller for bringing the two separate releases of the Ascots Blue-Fin 101 to my attention. Max writes:

The Wonder Of It All” (BL-FI-1000) has Monarch 62241 in the dead wax. “I Won’t Cry” (BL-FI-1001) has 62241-X in the dead wax so this was supposedly the “B” side, although it appears from the “*” scrawls on the label that someone was pushing this track. This monarch number pairing seems to confirm that this was the original/first pressing, from June 1966.

For the “Summer Days” 45, I’d expect to see a different monarch # in the dead wax for that track, (BL-FI-1004).

Due to the “(BL-FI-1001)” ref, it appears they used the same recording of “I Won’t Cry”, so I’d expect to find Monarch #62241 in the dead wax.