I had read about this 45 but hadn’t actually heard the songs until lead guitarist Jerry Sloan contacted me and sent transfers of the music and the great photo below. “You Keep Me Hanging On” is done in the style of Vanilla Fudge though not as heavy. “Banana Soul” turns out to be an adaption of “Watermelon Man”.
The picture sleeve consists of a printed card glued to a plain white 45 sleeve. Interesting that the sleeve has the band’s name as Warlocks while the 45 spells it Worlocks. The sleeve reads “Futura Enterprises, Inc. Caldwell, Idaho 82605.” Caldwell is 25 miles west of Boise.
The 45 was recorded at NWI (Northwestern Incorporated) studios in Portland, Oregon, which bands hired to record and press their records for them. The label number 2709 is close to that of the Gentlemen Wild 45 on NWI (#2694), which dates this to late 1967 or early 1968.
I guess NWI also handled publishing for original songs recorded by groups, as Neuchatel Music BMI is listed as publisher on “Banana Soul” just as it is on the Gentlemen Wild’s “You Gotta Leave”. However, neither song is currently registered in BMI’s database.
It wasn’t unusual for bands to leave Boise to record – William Penn and the Quakers traveled to the Bay Area, and the Mystics went to Sountronics in Lodi, CA to record their great 45 “I Get So Disgusted / “Weekend People” (released as by the Mystic on Frantic – hear it on the Up From the GraveCD from Frantic Records).
John Crew was leader of the group, and had been in other bands prior to the Warlocks. The members of the group were:
John Crew – vocals
Jerry Sloan – lead guitar/vocals
Jon Anderson – keyboards/vocals
Steve Messuri – bass
Mark Lanfear – drums
Jerry added this information:
John Crew formed the Warlocks a year or so before I joined the group. I was playing with another group at the time, but saw an opportunity with the Warlocks that I thought had, if not potential for fame and fortune, at least fairly steady local work.
Recording a record was a goal of most local bands at that time, so we decided to give it a try. Portland was the closest city with a reputable recording studio, so we pooled our money and scheduled a recording session. “You Keep Me Hanging On” was a favorite of John Crew’s, so we decided on it for the lead song, and John Anderson had written the instrumental, “Banana Soul” for the flip side. We ordered a 1000 records, and probably sold half of them, and gave the other half away to friend and relatives. The record was played on local radio stations a few times, but never took off as we had hoped it would. I still have one copy framed on my den wall.
I am attaching a picture of Warlocks playing at the “Soul Kitchen” (formerly called the “Cinnamon Cinder”) in Caldwell, Idaho, our Saturday night gig for about three years. The band eventually broke up for various reasons, and some of the members played in other local groups…none achieving fame and fortune that I know of.
Some other groups playing in the Boise area during that time were the Crystal Ship and the Lee Curtis Group. I played in the Lump Sum, the New Critics and, later, Street Level. I quit playing in bands when Street Level broke up in 1978. There was one person that I used to jam with who did become quite well known for his music and song writing…Bill LaBounty, who played with Fat Chance out of Seattle.
If I may, I’d like to say that my son, Todd Sloan, picked up the music bug from me I suppose. He has made made a career in the Seattle and Boise area. His band is low-fi, check him out at myspace.com/lowfirocks. Todd writes all of the band’s material, and they are planning to record a new (independent) CD in January.
Jerry Sloan, December 2009
Thanks to Alle. for the scans of the record sleeve and labels, and for inspiring this article.
Thank you to Rick Stedtnitz for the photo of the poster.
Would love to hear this…..Looks very interesting!
Could this be the Warlocks whose record was seen by the SF Warlocks, causing them to decide to change their name
and become the Grateful Dead? I’m guessing yes…
Not as late as this release, ’67 or ’68. The Dead had changed their name from the Warlocks by December of ’65.
The record was recorded in 1967. The names of the players in this group are, from front to back: Mark Lanfier (drums), Jerry Sloan (Lead Guitar/vocals), John Anderson (keyboards/vocals), John Crew (Vocals) and Steve Missouri (Bass). We played regularly at the “Soul Kitchen”, formerly called the “Cinnamon Cinder” in Caldwell, Idaho, which has since been torn down. We also played around the northwest for high school and college and other private and public parties and dances.
Jerry Sloan, lead guitarist of the group
Hi Jerry. My first Cousin Dave Squibb was related to you. His Grandmother’s last name was sparks. He and I missed very few week ends hanging there in the late sixties. My friend Mike Bethel had a John Crew sighting a few years back. John was having a yard sale. I believe it was on College Ave in Caldwell. John Crew’s cousin Mike Crew was a friend and neighbor for awhile .He used to keep me awake playing his guitar at night. lol.. I’ve heard he passed away : (
What adds another level of intrique here is that several members of another Boise area group from the same period (’66-’67) called The Quests ended up going to Portland circa ’68 where they eventually joined forces with several members of a Portland band called The Warloks and together became Notary Sojack. I’ve been in touch with members of the band who have sent me numerous CD-Rs of their music, some live and some studio. The Quests lead guitarist Tom McMeekan sent me a disc of a live gig featuring their blend of Stones/Beatles/Yardbirds, while Steve Koski of the Warloks sent me a disc of studio and live material that included all those influences and added a bunch of Byrds to the mix — and some great originals. Alas the latter is derived from a cassette that is maybe 50th generation, i.e. very hard to listen to UNLESS you are a sucker (like me) for anything NW — and obscure. The frustrating piece to the story is that I know someone in Seattle who has the actual original reel to reel tape of the Warloks studio material, but currently he cannot locate it buried amongst the thousands of items in his storage area. Of course this calls for a major archeological dig — believe me I’ve offered to help! But for now my friend has “higher priorities” and so I have to bide my time until a time when a search might turn up that box with the Warloks reel. Meanwnhile, Steve Koski also sent me 10 CDs worth of Notary Sojack, a much more “progressive psych” ensemble that featured some great dual guitar interplay accompanied by Hammond organ, flute and other sounds that suited the early ’70s. Let me know if you’d like to hear anything. johntberg@msn.com (yes, I’m the guy from The Far End garage band)
Jerry.
Seems every kid in the surrounding area spent a lot of time at the Cinnamon Cinder, as that was the place to see friends from all over the area! Dick Cates and the Chessmen were playing there during the time I was there (1966-67 era). Did you play there after them??
Yes, the Warlocks played there after Dick Cates and the Chessman. What a great group!
When I told my wife about this website, songs, and photos, her memory proved better than mine! She remembers your playing there, and said it seems you might have played a prom dance at Parma or Wilder 1966-67 era. Best wishes.
Interesting comments. The only thing I would add is that the “Quests” that you mentioned were actually the “Quirks”. They were friends of mine, and still (for my money) the best band to ever come out of the local area. The group classic lineup was Tom McMeekan (lead guitar/vcls), Justin Bonner (lead vcls, harp/ occasional drums), Leo Lawrence (rhythm guitar, vcls), Mike Marks (drums/vcls/occasional electric piano) and Lou Johnson (bass) who was later replaced by Corky Young when Lou was drafted. McMeekan still plays in the Boise area in two groups, Bonner has a band in Moscow, Id, Lou Johnson is a graphic artist in the Seattle area and doesn’t play anymore, Mike Marks lives somewhere in the Portland, Or area, and Leo Lawrence died in a car accident on Christmas eve, approximately 1978.
The Quirks are a continuing inspiration to those of us fortunate enough to have been around here in those days and who are still in music…and I’m proud to count them as my friends.
The Warlocks drummer Mark Lanfear (sp corrected)is my cousin. He was a bit younger than the others and a pretty good drummer. Mark is now living in Washington state. I don’t believe that he has played the drums in many years though…
When I was about 6 or 7 years old, I recall the band practicing in my aunt and uncle’s basement. That was my first exposure to live rock n roll ! One of the members of the band (John Crew?)had a wild custom car that had most of the body removed leaving only the firewall, windshield and front bench seat. It was a root beer brown sort of a dune buggy with a short wooden truck style flatbed on the back with ‘The Warlocks’ name/logo painted on the stake panel sides. The band had full size promo posters similar to the cover on the 45 shown on your site. I still have an autographed copy of that 45, but the poster disappeared some time ago.
Thanks for taking the time to preserve the history of great hometown bands like ‘The Warlocks’. I will always be a fan of GarageHangover…
Rick S.
Wierd, I just found out my ex-husband passed away in 2009 and he used to be keyboards for notary sojack. He used to talk about a studio he played in. It was in Springfield, Oregon.
The band Notary Sojac (which did live for a time in Springfield and Eugene in the 70s, and had a recording studio built in their house) had only one keyboard player, Will Herold, who is now alive and well in southern California. A related group followed with the name Sojac, and another keyboard player, John Workman, played with them after Will left.
I went to high school in Caldwell from 1968 to 1970, and went and saw these guys like EVERY WEEKEND… The Soul Kitchen was the only place for miles around that had great live music. I graduated with Mark Lanfear (class of 1970), and stay in touch with him occasionally on Facebook. Steve Messuri’s younger brother Tom was a very good friend of mine. I met many “former” girl friends at these dances, haha. My best friends Mark Hyatt, Randy Stuart and Doug Briggs hardly ever missed a weekend there. Thank you for bringing back so many memories of Friday nights gone by…
George, I’m very glad to hear that those Saturday nights were special to you. I enjoyed them as well, except from the stage, as lead guitar player with the Warlocks. What great memories!
Jerry you may be interested to know that a TRASHED copy of the 45 only–no pic sleeve–sold for $495 a year or so ago. I’ve tried to get in touch with John Crews because he told me his mother had a 30 count box of them left (he gave me two) to make him some $$$ but no luck. Is he still around Caldwell? His pawn shop is no longer there and I wondered if he’d passed on. The website that sold the 45 noted only 6 known copies. LOL I’ve got TWO and they’re autographed! 😉
John Crew, my brother-In-Law, sadly recently passed away from health problems on May 29th, 2018. He and his step-son “Kye” lived on College Avenue in Caldwell at that time. I will have to ask my nephew Kye where those record are. Back in the late 1990s I did find the Warlocks drum cover out at my grandfather’s empty grain silo on his farm out on Ustick & Beet Roads in Caldwell. (I returned it to John). I was surprised his sister Janet, didn’t have at least one of the old rock songs played the other day at the funeral, I played one when I returned home, I loved John.
Loved the Cinnamon Cinder-Soul Kitchen-Blue Chateau. Have tons of memories from there in the sixties. To bad we can’t go back in time.
I’m writing about my formative years as a musician, as well as about music theory. When I was in Eugene in, I think 1973, (I would have been 14 or 15)
I met Steve (and Bob) Koski, as well as the whole sick crew.
Steve Koski was really very kind to me, and it meant (and still means) a lot to me.
I’m not real social, and I don’t really want to talk to him, though I’d love to know that happened to everyone I knew– Steve and Bob, sure, Warren, I think was the drummers name who was also really kind.
Here’s a link to the thread where I’m writing. Link is to last post I made, Steve Koski and ?Warren are mentioned a few posts up.
I’m growing sketchy on some names and some details. Only memories of memories, like copies of copies, now. Hiss and loss of bits.
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=11160258#post11160258
Steve, Warren, you can never know how grateful I am, and how little I want to shoot the breeze.
(Not sure if this will get to him, but maybe it will)
Caleb Morgan
Bob Koski is deceased. You can google both Bob and Steve and Notary Sojac and get a lot of information on them. I went to high school with both and both were natural musicians.
I am sitting on the band stand in the middle in the white shirt . Loved going there every Saturday night. Lots of great memories so faded by time.