The Implicits


The Implicits, March 1965.
From left, bottom row: Tom Johnston, Beverly Chavez, Jack Love; top row Jerry Hull, Bob Daugherty (Duarte) and Ken Henard.

From Visalia, California come the Implicits. Both sides of their May ’65 release were written by Tom Johnston. “Give Me Justice” is a very catchy slice of garage pop, while “She’s Alright” is a good danceable song.

A&M label picked this up for a July of ’65 release on their Almo subsidiary. Johnston later went on to the Doobie Brothers.

Jerry Hull contacted me about the group:

I was the rhythm guitar for the Implicits at the time the record was recorded. The original Implicits were Tom Johnston, lead guitar and vocal, Jerry Hull, rhythm guitar and vocal, Jack Love, base guitar and vocal, Bobby Duarte, keyboard and vocal, and Kenny Henard, drums.

Our group met through a mutual friend from high school, who was a drummer. Tom Johnston, Jack Love, and Kenny Henard went to Mt. Whitney High School and I went to Redwood High School; the two schools were just a few blocks apart. We were all 14 or 15 years old at the time. Bobby Duarte was a friend of one of the guys and was older than the rest of the group. We played at private parties, and some of the high school after-game dances at Mt. Whitney. We played at events at Woodlake, Hanford, and a March of Dimes sponsored dance in Tulare, which was our largest event at the time. We later added a female singer, Beverly Chavez, to the group.

We were approached by Shelly Martin (who became our manager), about recording a record. We signed an agreement on March 31, 1965, and recorded in Hollywood. I left the group later that year, however, Tom, Jack and Kenny kept the group going for some time, before changing the name.

I still have a picture from the Visalia Times Delta newspaper when we were going to Hollywood to record. I currently live in Henderson, Nevada.

4 thoughts on “The Implicits”

  1. Chad, that’s one of my obsessions, that quite a few 70s and early 80s rock/pop stars were in mid 60s beat combos (“garage bands”). I’m glad you include one of the coolest Doobies, Tom Johnston.

    About Tom’s more famous group: In the beginning or still near the beginning The Doobie Brothers were an early 70s “garage band” as their first LP shows as it’s cool mellow hippie blues rock and it ain’t bad at all. But, yes, I’m all for knocking The Doobie Brothers’ later stuff, after Michael McDonald took over.

  2. Is Bob Duarte the son of band leader Bob Duarte who used to to have a band in Visalia, Ca in the late 1930s. The elder. Bob Duarte had a mexican band that my mom Arcadia Contreras ( Magdaleno) and het sister Nellie Contreras (Chavez) used to attend in those days. Beverly Chavez is my cousin and the daughter of Nellie Contreras Chavez.

    1. A later version of this band, The Lovelights, played many Mexican parties and wedding dances. With Bobby and our terrific Mexican horn section (Junior Alvarado (tenor sax), Fred Cisneros (trumpet), and an alto player whose name escapes me) we learned a pretty solid set of Mexican classics and got lots of those gigs around the Valley. The Lovelights were, IMO, the best of all the bands Tom and I were in together. They were also the first with two drummers like the Doobies, but that’s another story.

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