Category Archives: Bermuda

The Gents “If You Don’t Come Back” / “I’ll Cry” on Duane Records

The Gents Duane Records 45 I'll CryBased in Bermuda, the Gents may have included Andy Newmark, Glen Mello (I’m not sure if there’s any relation to Eddy DeMello) and drummer Frank Chiappa, and possibly Winston Cabral. I’ve seen a poor photo of a signed copy of the 45 that seems to include five names: Roddy, Mick, Winston and two I can’t make out.

I haven’t found any new information on the Gents, but I have finally bought a copy of their rare 45, “If You Don’t Come Back” / “I’ll Cry”, released on Duane Records 1048 in the first half of 1966.

Winston Cabral wrote “If You Don’t Come Back”, recognized as a classic of garage punk since its first compilation appearance on The Chosen Few vol. 1 in 1983. R. Marshall wrote the excellent heavy-echo ballad, “I’ll Cry”. Both sides published by Maredken Music, BMI and produced by Eddy De Mello, owner of the Duane label.

T5KM 2847/2848 indicates the lacquer was cut at one studio and supplied to RCA to be pressed in the first half of 1965.

In a comment on the page for the Savages, John McGill recalled being in a group with Winston Cabral called the Castaways, which also included Corky Fishbeck and ‘Mutt’ Mutzke.

Andy Newmark, Glen Mello joined Paul Muggleton and Jimmy O’Connor of the Savages to make the Bermuda Jam album for Dynovoice.

The Gents is one band I’d love to know more about, if anyone has more information or a band photo, please contact me.

GentsDuane45IllCry

Duane Records discography

The Silvertones Duane 45 HurricaneDuane Records discography

any help with this would be appreciated – contact me)

Duane catalog numbers run consecutive with that of the Edmar label, which is why there are so many gaps in this discography. Edmar had many more releases than Duane, and tended to be calypso and steel band music, so I’ve chosen not to include those releases in this discography. It’s possible there are some Duane issues I haven’t included in this discography – if you find one please let me know.

45s:

Duane 1021 – The Silvertones – “Hurricane” (Pereira – deMello, Edmar-Ken BMI) / “Groovy Baby” (produced by Everest DeCosta for Edmar Productions, R4KM-0481, 1964)
Duane 1022 – The Ebbtides – “Star Of Love” / “First Love” (both sides Phillips-DeMello, Maredken Music, BMI 1964)
Duane 1023 – Lee Curtis – “My Love Don’t Go” / “I’d Do Anything For You” (both by Ware, prod. by Ware-Astwood, 1964, RCA custom RK4M 0263/4)

Duane 1042 – The Weads – “Don’t Call My Name” / “Today”
Duane 1043 – The Savages – “No No No” / “She’s Gone”
Duane 1046 – Bishop Kane – “Tenderness of You” (A. McNally) / Any Time That You Are Lonely” (rec. Jan 6, 1966)
Duane 1048 – The Gents – “If You Don’t Come Back” (W. Cabral) / “I’ll Cry”
Duane 1049 – The Savages – “Roses Are Red My Love” / “Quiet Town”
Duane 1054 – The Savages – “The World Ain’t Round, It’s Square” / “You’re On My Mind”

Duane 101 – The Invaders – “Lost Time” (Richardson) / “Bossa Blue” (recorded February 5, 1970, produced by J.P. Salvatori, Maredken Music BMI)

Duane DX 500 – Stone Foxx – “Gypsy Lady” (Leon Elton, Chris Rowe) / “Agamemnon”

LPs:

Duane LP-1047 – The Savages – Live n’ Wild

Duane LP-1101/1102 – The Invaders – Spacing Out

Invaders Duane Records 45 Lost TimeThe Weads, the Savages and the Gents are all the great garage records. See my pages on the Savages and the Weads for more info on those bands.

The Gents included Andy Newmark, Glen Mello (I’m not sure if there’s any relation to Eddy DeMello) and drummer Frank Chiappa, and possibly Winston Cabral. The Gents is one band I’d love to know more about.

Spacing Out was reissued (legitimately?) on the Duane label and also booted on Baadasss Records. Originals etched Duane 1101-A/1101-B, with small “lw” in script and small stylized “sr”

Eddy DeMello owned the Duane Records (named for his son) and Edmar Records labels and operated out of the Music Box record store in Hamilton, Bermuda. Eddy passed away on March 6, 2013 (see Royal Gazette artlcle).

Note: No connection to another “duane” (all lower case letters on the labels) which had country releases by Roy Montague produced in Memphis, TN, and a good garage 45 from a Boise, Idaho band, Wm Penn & the Quakers: “Coming Up My Way” (Gerald D. Tucker) / Care Free (Lanny Gunther); produced by Gerrie Thompson.

Thanks to Steve Kahn for informing me about the Ebbtides release.

The Weads “Don’t Call My Name” / “Today” on Duane Records

The Weads Duane 45 Don't Call My NameThe Weads were the first rock band to release a record on the Duane label in Bermuda. I wondered, how did a band from Stony Brook, New York end up on a label from Bermuda? That question was answered when I spoke to Rodger Jackson, bass player for the Weads, who generously provided a lot of information about this great band.

Rodger Jackson started a band called the Statics with Allan Varela at their high school in Garden City, Long Island, Rodger playing bass and Allan lead guitar. Allan was 14 at the time and Rodger a little older. The next year, Allan moved to Stony Brook, where he attended the Stony Brook Boys School, though he continued playing music with Rodger. They recruited Dick Turano from Northport to play drums and Myron MacLeod McCloud to play rhythm guitar. Myron was from Texas but was attending the Stony Brook Boys School at the time.

The Weads distinguished themselves from other groups by playing only original songs, most of them written by Allan Varela (listed as Varella II on 45 label). They outfitted themselves in suits, and played through Vox Super Beatle amps. Allan Varela played a Stratocaster, Rodger a Precision bass, and Myron a Vox Teardrop guitar.

Also at the school was a student from Bermuda, Alan Dowdy, who took a demo tape of the Weads back home with him and played it for Eddy DeMello, owner of the The Music Box in Hamilton. DeMello liked what he heard, and in short order he contacted the Weads and signed them to 3 year, 10 song contract. The Weads recorded at least four songs at National Recording in Long Island. DeMello then took the masters back to Bermuda and pressed records there.

DeMello stocked them in his record shop and DJ Bryan Lodge got them played on the local radio station ZBM, sending “Today” to #2 in Bermuda. Allan Doughty from Bermuda became their manager. All the college students there for vacation knew the songs from the local radio play, so when the Weads arrived for College Week, they already had a good audience. Like the Savages, they played for college audiences around the island and at the Princess Hotel. It’s likely that the success of their 45, “Today” / “Don’t Call My Name”, led to the recording and release of records by the Savages and the Gents.

Back in the states, the flip side “Don’t Call My Name” went top 10 on Long Island. The Weads did an hour-long radio interview that may still exist on tape somewhere. They played shows at local Hullabaloo clubs and in Pt. Jefferson. They also started recording commercial jingles and may have recorded new material at Ultrasonic in Hempsted.

About a year after signing with DeMello the Weads decided they wanted to get out of contract in order to concentrate on breaking into the national scene. DeMello fought this and made it difficult for them to find another label. Columbia passed on them in late ’66/early ’67 and with members going to college, the Weads called it quits.

During college, Rodger joined a club band, playing the Hamptons and Lake George. He fondly remembers late night jam sessions with members of other Long Island bands at the Afterhours.

Master tapes of the Weads sessions should still be in existence. One of the unreleased songs has a title like “Her Name Was Lynn”. Until those tapes surface, we’ll have to wonder what else this talented group was capable of. Given the quality of their original material on the Duane 45, they could have done well if they had the backing of a major label.

Anyone have a photo of the group?

The Savages – Live ‘n Wild

The Savages Duane LP Live 'N WildUpdated January 26, 2007

The Savages – four kids in Bermuda playing the hotel nightclubs for tourists wound up cutting one of the great live lps of the era. This is a solid garage album, with standout tracks being “Quiet Town”, “Nobody But You”, “The World Ain’t Round” and “No No No”.

Since first writing this post, I’ve corresponded with guitarist Paul Muggleton, attempted to interview producer Eddy DeMello with negligible results, and gathered information from as many other sources as I could, including Ed Nadorozy’s previous interviews with bassist Rob Zuill and Paul. Following is a revised and updated telling of their story that is as complete as I can make it. There are still some gaps to fill and mysteries to be explained, with luck some more information will turn up in the future.

Paul Muggleton: “The Savages started in 1965 in Bermuda. We used to watch another band in Bermuda rehearsing, they were the Gents. We were not sons of diplomats …my father was a printer…both Jimmy O’Connor and Bobby Zuill’s fathers were sea captains and Howie Rego’s father had a supermarket. Jimmy O’Connor and I started the band and recruited Bobby Zuill and [drummer] Howie Rego.

“We played teen functions periodically then got a job at the Hub [a nightclub at the Princess Hotel in Hamilton, Bermuda].The Savages Live & Wild Side 1 We worked pretty solidly, sometimes doing three gigs in a day. In the morning we played for two or three hours on Elbow Beach to thousands of American college kids, then from 7 to 9 in the clubhouse above the beach, then from 11 to 3 at the Hub.

“We played seven nights a week doing mostly covers until we were asked to make an album which Jimmy and I wrote in about 3 weeks which became the ‘Savages Live’ album. It was recorded straight to a four track machine, warts and all, live except for one track. ‘No No No’ was recorded after we recorded the album as a b-side to the first single ‘She’s Gone.’ I think it was a small audience, maybe 150 tops, set up to record the album.”

Rob Zuill: “We recorded that album live at the Hub [on February 6, 1966] and we were all so scared that we played everything way too fast. The songs should have been played much slower. In listening to the album later we were very disappointed with our performance. Anyhow it was way to late to do anything about it then. But I know that if we had recorded the album at a proper studio it would have turned out much better.”

Rob may not have been happy with the results, but listening to the album today is a pleasure. For one thing, most of the songs are originals, and the quality of the songwriting is amazing considering the inexperience of the band. Paul Muggleton wrote “Poor Man’s Son”, “Gone to the Moon”, “Nobody But You”, “No No No” and the fantastic “Quiet Town”. Jimmy O’Connor wrote “She’s Gone” and “Oh My Soul”, and he and Muggleton collaborated on “I Believe”. Howie Rego and Rob Zuill co-wrote the most famous song on the record, the dissonant “The World Ain’t Round, It’s Square.”

Of the three cover songs, two are predictable – a fine version of “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place”, and one that I would say is the least worthy track on the LP, “On Broadway”.

The third, however, is a very unusual choice – an English version of an Icelandic song, “Ertu Med” written and recorded by Thor’s Hammer in 1965. Paul Muggleton: “Our manager, Bev Welsh was Icelandic, he played us the song and I may have written the lyrics in English.” Confusion arises because Thor’s Hammer recorded their own English version of the song under the title ‘If You Knew,’ with totally different lyrics than the Savages’. In fact, Thor’s Hammer’s English version wasn’t recorded until May of 1966, several months after the Savages live session!

Also of note is that “No No No” came to be recorded by The Instincts, a band from Connecticut, most likely because someone brought the Savages 45 back home with them after vacationing in Bermuda.

The Savages Duane 45 The World Ain't Round It's Square

The Duane label was run by Eddy DeMello, a Bermudan of Portuguese descent. All the Duane releases recorded in Bermuda have a fine natural echo, leading me to believe they were recorded at the same location. Two other garage bands are also on Duane, the Weads and the Gents, along with a fantastic funk LP, Spacing Out by the Invaders. For more info on the Duane label, see the list of releases I’ve added to the site.

Paul Muggleton: “Eddy De Mello was the only promoter on the Island and I think initially he worked hard for us…putting us on tours of the West Indies and getting us to the States [summer, 1966] for gigs like the Scene and The Coney Island Pub and gigs on Long Island and Providence, Rhode Island. We went to New York to record ‘Roses Are Red.’ We also recorded two other songs at A&R studios with engineer and producer Chuck Irwin.” Released as their second 45, “Roses Are Red My Love” shows a tighter, more mature sound than the live recordings done just a few months previous. No one seems to remember the names of the other songs recorded in NY, and the tapes have disappeared.

While in NY, someone in the band made an insulting remark in Harlem which caused an irrepairable rift in the band. Paul: “The Savages broke up because of an incident in New York that nearly got us all killed through the stupidity of some of the members…and that’s all I can say on that one, even after all these years.”

Paul Muggleton: “The album is still to this day on sale [on CD, taken not from master tapes but from a scratched vinyl copy] and up to this moment no one has received any royalties for either the publishing or mechanicals. The record was only promoted in Bermuda but thousands were sold to college kids so there should be quite a few out there.”

EThe Savages Duane 45 You're On My Mindddy De Mello currently runs a nightclub/music store called the Music Box. When I asked him about the band all he had to say was “it’s history.” Paul sums up De Mello: “I’m afraid he wouldn’t be interested because there was no money in it…that’s the way he is, someone who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.”

After the Savages broke up, Paul Muggleton and Jimmy O’Connor joined with Andy Newmark and Glenn Mello of the Gents to make the Bermuda Jam album for the Dynovoice label, which includes the incredible psychedelic patische “Good Trip Lollipop”. Part of this band including Muggleton became the house band at Steve Paul’s “The Scene” in New York in June and July of 1967.

Since that time, Paul Muggleton has been active in music. Recently I heard one fine single he recorded for Columbia in Spain in 1970 under his own name: “Billy Snow, Jim Black” / “Where Time Flies”.

Rob Zuill: “We were a very big group in Bermuda in the late 60s. We really thought we were hot shit. And maybe we were.”

45s:
Duane 1043 – The Savages – No No No / She’s Gone
Duane 1049 – The Savages – Roses Are Red My Love / Quiet Town
Duane 1054 – The Savages – The World Ain’t Round, It’s Square / You’re On My Mind

Paul Muggleton Columbia 45 Billy Snow, Jim Black - Where Time Flies
Thanks to Borja for info on “Billy Snow, Jim Black”.