Category Archives: Hickory

The Teen-Beets and Words of Luv, from Winston-Salem

The Teen-Beets, from left: Ken McGee, John McGee, George Samaras and Paul Doby
The Teen-Beets, from left: Ken McGee, John McGee, George Samaras and Paul Doby

The Teen-Beets of Winston-Salem, North Carolina released four fine records, the first three featuring original songs by vocalist and guitarist John McGee along with covers of Barbara Lynn’s “Oh Baby”.

George Samaras sent in these cool photos and clippings and told me about the group:

The band was formed in Winston-Salem, North Carolina at the end of 1964. The original line-up consisted of two brothers, John McGee (lead guitar & lead vocals) and Ken McKee (rhythm guitar & lead vocals). The two other band members were Paul Doby (bass guitar) and me – George Samaras (drums).

By the summer of ’65 we had recorded our first record at Arthur Smith’s studio in Charlotte, NC (“I Guess That’s Why You’re Mine” / “Not In Love With Me”) and released it on our own label, Chain Records. It received considerable local air play and reached #20 on one of the local radio stations top 40 list. Around this time we all dyed our hair bright red (as in Teen “Beets”) to attract attention. It worked!

Our second local release (“I Should Wait” / “Oh Baby”) was also recorded at Arthur Smith’s studio and released on Chain Records. Although it received considerable local air play it did not chart.

 Winston-Salem Journal, June 19, 1965, with hair stylist Bobby Todd
Winston-Salem Journal, June 19, 1965, with hair stylist Bobby Todd

We stuck with the bright red hair and high energy stage shows achieving local notoriety. We also had a change in the band membership. Paul, our bass player, was replaced by Stan Ratcliffe.

In early ’66 we traveled to Nashville, Tenn. and re-recorded “Not In Love With Me” and “I Should Wait” in Fred Foster’s Sound Studio for Tree Publishing Company. It was released on Dial Records under the name the “Beets” but quickly faded into obscurity.

 Opening for Roger Miller at Memorial Coliseum
Opening for Roger Miller at Memorial Coliseum
 Paramount booking Promo photo
Paramount booking Promo photo

Soon afterwards, management of the group was taken over by Pete Berry – a local DJ and program director better known as the Flying Dutchman. Under Dutch’s guidance we got rid of the red hair and changed our name to the “Words of Luv” and returned to the studio to record “I’d Have To Be Outta My Mind” / Tomorrow’s A Long Time”.

Dutch was able to get us signed with a booking agency in Washington, D.C. and also with Hickory Records for a four record deal. We went on the road playing up and down the east coast. Hickory Records released “I Have To Be Outta My Mind”. While the record received good reviews in Cashbox and Billboard magazines, it only received limited air play on the national scene.

In order to earn a living, Paramount kept us booked steady in real night clubs (usually a week or two at a time) which gave a break from doing one nighters all the time. Also, we would occasionally back up some of Paramount’s fading stars. We worked with Little Eva a few times, she had a national hit called “The Locomotion” about five years prior to that time. Whenever we were with her we were the Locomotives. Also, with Jimmy Jones a couple of times. Jimmy had two national hits a few years before that – “Handyman” was his first and then “Good Timing”. With Jimmy we were the Handymen.

The promotion picture of the “Words of Luv” has the name of the band misspelled – “Love” instead “Luv”. It was the printer’s mistake and Paramount Artists made them redo the entire order. Mistakes seemed to follow us around. When Hickory Records did the initial pressing of promotion copies for “I’d Have To Be Outta My Mind” they accidently put the plug side star on the flip side and starting sending it out to radio stations before they caught their mistake. Because of this, they had to do another promo pressing and start sending it out again.

Promo sheet showing later member “Fab” Foltz

We didn’t get all the way up to Montreal. We only toured on the U.S. side of the border and the closest we played to Canada was upstate New York. As I recall, the very first gig booked through Paramount Artists was in Massena, New York (right on the Canadian border). We traveled extensively up and down the eastern seaboard (north and south), but only as far north as New York. I guess “Montreal to Miami” just sounded good to whoever wrote that promo sheet. However, we did go just about everywhere in-between.

We did a few TV shows: Some local shows in North Carolina, a show called ‘Wing Ding” in Washington, D.C. and a syndicated show (taped in Maryland) called the “Kirby Scott Show”. We also played a lot of teenage night clubs, dances and auditorium shows.

We had a fifth band member for a short period of time on the road. His name was Doug Foltz (nick name: Fab). Fab played electric piano and also sang lead.

By the early Fall of 1967 the road was taking its toll and the band broke-up. Although we had recorded a few more songs, due to the band’s break-up, they were never released. They were independently produced by Flying Dutchman Enterprises and I don’t know whether or not they were ever turned over to Hickory Records. I’m sure those master tapes are long gone by now.

“I’d Have To Be Outta My Mind” was re-mastered and put on Garage Beat ’66 Vol. 1 three or four years ago. It was a CD released by Sundazed Records. Our local releases were put on Tobacco a Go Go (Blue Mold Records) several years back.

Even though I later played in a few other road bands, and still occasionally play locally on weekends, my fondest memories will always be of the Teenbeets.

One more thing – I came across an interview that Ken Friedman of Tobacco A Go Go did a little while back. He was relating the story of the Teenbeets as one of his favorite garage band stories. In the interview Ken said he had met one of the former band members back in the 1980’s and that person was now a Moravian minister after finding religion on the battlefield in Viet Nam. Ken misidentified that person as the drummer. In actuality it was Paul (our original bass player).

George Samaras
Review of Hickory 45 in Cash Box

Paramount booking card
back of Paramount booking card

Thank you to George Samaras for photos and scans.

The Monotones and the Treetops

The Monotones in Holland, 1964: Brian Alexander, Gary Nichols, Jim Eaton and Pete Stanley
The Monotones in Holland, 1964
from left: Brian Alexander, Gary Nichols, Jim Eaton and Pete Stanley

If you’ve ever seen Michael Apted’s 1964 documentary Seven Up! you may have wondered what song the kids are dancing to during the party scene towards the end of the film. I learned from my friend Michael Lynch that the song was “What Would I Do” by the Monotones, a group from Southend-on Sea in Essex, about 45 miles directly east of London.

Monotones Pye 45 What Would I Do

Mark Lloyd and Jim Eaton singing the Everly's
Mark Lloyd and Jim Eaton singing the Everly’s
“What Would I Do” was the first of four singles they released on Pye in ’64 and ’65. To say this song has charm would be an understatement, even more so if you’ve seen Seven Up. The bridge is especially fine, with tremolo guitar behind the vocals “if I say that I love you, and you know that it’s true …”

The band gives a sharp performance on the flip, “Is It Right” though the song is less distinctive than the top side. Both songs on their first 45 were written by ‘Stanley Alexander’, actually Brian Alexander and Stanley Peter Frederick according to the BMI database. I didn’t know anything else about the band until Phil T. contacted me with the newspaper clipping and the following info:

During their early years, the group line-up changed many times but by 1964, it comprised Brian Alexander (lead), Jim Eaton (vocals and rhythm), Pete Stanley (bass) and Gary Nichols (drums) and I believe that it was these four who made the recordings. Their original vocalist, Nigel Basham also performed separately under the name Mark Loyd and was backed from time to time at local gigs by another Southend band, The Mustangs, who also originated at Westcliff High.

Sadly, I understand that The Monotones’ drummer, Gary Nichols, died in April 2007.

Photos of the band’s early years sent to me by guitarist Ian Middlemiss can be seen on this separate page.

Much more information about the band came when Jim Eaton and Peter Stanley left detailed comments about the band. To read the full history of the group and it’s change to the Treetops, read through the comments below. Jim also sent the photos seen here with this comment:

I have attached some photos of The Monotones in the early sixties and also some of The Treetops (our new name when we joined Mecca at the Wimbledon Tiffanys). You will note we added a female to our lineup, a great vocalist Martha Smith. We cut several records as The Treetops when the lineup comprised Brian Alexander (lead guitar and backing vocals), Jim Eaton (rhythm guitar and lead vocals), Pete Stanley (bass guitar and backing vocals), Mark Lloyd (lead vocals, vibes and harmonica), Martha Smith (lead vocals and piano) and Pete Trout our very fine drummer.

In the article about the band for The Southend Standard Jim Eaton also noted their appearance on Ready Steady Go, Thank Your Lucky Stars and Juke Box Jury, clips I’d love to see if they still survive.

The Monotones, 1962
The Monotones, 1962

Monotones Hickory 45 When Will I Be LovedThe Monotones had two U.S. releases on the Hickory label, one of which, “When Will I Be Loved” / “If You Can’t Give Me All” was not released in the UK. It turns out to be a demo recorded before their first Pye 45, released in the U.S. without the group’s knowledge!

Monotones Hickory 45 If You Can't Give Me AllJim Eaton recently heard these songs again for the first time in about 47 years! He wrote to me:

I received and played the record yesterday and it is definitely us. I now recall cutting both sides as a demo in 1963 at the Regent Sound Studio in London’s famous Denmark St. (also known as Tin Pan Alley due to the large number of studios, record publishers and musical instrument shops.)

Monotones 45 releases:

UK:
Pye 7N 15608 – What Would I Do / Is It Right (February 14, 1964)
Pye 7N 15640 – It’s Great / Anymore (1964)
Pye 7N 15761 – No Waiting / Like A Lover Should (1965)
Pye 7N 15814 – Something’s Hurting Me / A Girl Like That (1965)

US:
Hickory 1250 – What Would I Do / Is It Right
Hickory 1306 – When Will I Be Loved / If You Can’t Give Me All

Monotones promo photo for "Now Waiting", from left: Jim Eaton, Brian Alexander, Gary Nichols and Pete Stanley
Promo shot for “Now Waiting”, from left: Jim Eaton, Brian Alexander, Gary Nichols and Pete Stanley
Mark Loyd backed by the Monotones with session musicians:

Parlophone R 5277 -I Keep Thinking About You / Will It Be the Same (1965)
Parlophone R 5332 – Everybody Tries / She Said No (1965)
Parlophone R 5423 – When Evening Falls / When I’m Gonna Find Her (March 1966)

Note that all his solo releases spell his last name “Loyd”

Treetops 45 releases:

Parlophone R 5628 – Don’t Worry Baby / I Remember (1967 – also released in the U.S. on Tower 388)
Parlophone R 5669 – California My Way / Carry On Living (Feb. 1968)

Columbia DB 8727 – Mississippi Valley / Man Is a Man (1970)
Columbia DB 8799 – Without the One You Love / So Here I Go Again (1971)
Columbia DB 8934 – Why Not Tonite / Funky Flop-Out (Oct. 13, 1972)
Columbia DB 9013 – Gypsy / Life Is Getting Better (Aug 3, 1973)

Mark Lloyd, 1964
Mark Loyd, 1964
Postscript, February 2011:

Jim Eaton: “I have just returned from Australia where I caught up with Mark Loyd who was for many years part of The Monotones before he pursued a solo career.

Update, April, 2012

I’m sorry to report that Mark Loyd (born Nigel Basham), the lead singer with the Monotones and Treetops passed away on April 4, 2012, after fighting cancer for seven years. Mark had been living in Sydney, Australia where he ran a successful event/management company. My condolences to his family, friends, and band mates.

Thanks to Phil for sending in the article from The Southend Standard, January 2006 and to Jim Eaton for his help with songs, photos and information for this page.

The Monotones at the Elms, 1964: Pete Stanley, Brian Alexander, Jim Eaton and Gary Nichols
The Monotones at the Elms, 1964
from left: Pete Stanley, Brian Alexander, Jim Eaton and Gary Nichols

Monotones Hickory 45 What Would I Do

Monotones at The Elms, l-r: Brian Alexander, Jim Eaton, Gary Nichols and Pete Stanley
At The Elms, l-r: Brian Alexander, Jim Eaton, Gary Nichols and Pete Stanley
The Treetops, 1966
The Treetops, 1966
The Treetops, 1967
The Treetops, 1967
The Treetops promo for "Don't Worry Baby"
The Treetops promo for “Don’t Worry Baby”
The Treetops, 1968
The Treetops, 1968