The 20th Century Zoo was formed from members of two highly popular local Arizona groups: The Laserbeats and The Bittersweets. Lead guitarist Skip Ladd had previously played with The Laserbeats and Nightriders and was instrumental after joining the Zoo in shaping their musical direction. Best known today for their excellent Thunder On A Clear Day LP, 20th Century Zoo has had their nearly complete recorded output reissued on a Sundazed CD that has proven very popular among collectors.
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An Interview With Skip Ladd
60sgaragebands.com (60s): How did you first get interested in music?
Skip Ladd (SL): My brother used to have a country and western band practice at our house. The sax player used to smoke and play with smoke coming out the holes. I thought that was hot! There was always a guitar around so I'd start strumming open strings and the band complained about his kid brother. They gave me a washboard and a thimble to play! My mom showed me how to play ‘Little Brown Jug’ on a four-string tenor guitar and that got me started. I bugged my brother to show me how to play six strings. He showed me three chords; the rest was learned listening to records like Duane Eddy. I wound up playing lead and running rings around my brother only after having my brother's first wife laugh at me playing ‘Ghost Riders In The Sky.’ That did it, determination set in. There was no stopping now.
60s: Was The Laserbeats your first band?
SL: No my first band was with my brother-in-law: The Hodads. Our drummer’s older brother, who was one of the Hell’s Angels, managed us. When he would get us gigs the band would have to get free drinks as part of the deal. Which was great except I was only 14 at the time and had to lie about my age to play at the Red Garter in Apache Junction. We would take felt cowboy hats, throw them in the washing machine and then stick them bound over a broom handle to dry. The result was a bunch of guys with pointed heads playing for a bunch of drunks. This was back before John F. Kennedy was shot because we played that night, too.
The Laserbeats were after The Nightriders. The Nightriders came first; we changed our name to Laserbeats when we added a lead singer. Anytime we played without the lead singer we were The Nightriders. We were the first rock 'n roll band to play in the Veteran's Memorial Coliseum for a back to school bash called the Turkey Trot, a sock hop so the dancers wouldn't mess up the new floor. The night before Pat Boone opened it, but we didn't consider him rock!
Steve Hudson, a hypnotist that would learn songs in his sleep, was the lead singer of the Laserbeats. He was good with about a four-octave range. We won the battle of the bands in 1964 at the Arizona State Fairgrounds Auto Show when station KRIZ was the top station in the Valley of the Sun. Then, in 1965, KRUX Radio was the top station and hosted the battle of the bands at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. We won for the second year in a row! After we graduated in 1966 we went different ways, but our manager wanted to use me with another band she was managing. That's right she. She was Chari Ann Zelman…if you look at our old 45s on the CAZ label…those were her initials.
So Laserbeats were together about three years. Neal Smith, our drummer went on to play for Holy Grail, then The Nazz into Alice Cooper. Roger Eich, our sax player, went into the Marine Corps and became a Green Beret! David Eich, his brother that played bass and steel guitar standing up, became a Veterans Affairs Officer. Dennis White married the sax player’s sister and sold linoleum. Stan Bogoshean, rhythm guitar, sold solar power stuff in Northern California. I joined The Bittersweets to get them away from sounding like The Byrds!
60s: Were you an actual member of The Bittersweets, or did you join with former members of the group to form 20th Century Zoo?
SL: Chari had me join the former members, and fired the former lead player for me to fill his spot.
60s: How familiar were you with The Bittersweets prior to joining them to form The 20th Century Zoo?
SL: I knew a few of the guys from their auditions at the Thunderbird Country Club after my manager sent me down there to listen. I heard their music on the radio, but thought they were a rip off of The Byrds! Listening to ‘Cry Your Eyes Out’ was just like the Byrds, and the flip side ‘She Treats Me Bad’ was depressing! When I watched the band, their lead player just stood there and played great, but didn't move or show any personality to the girls. What I liked about them was their ability to harmonize together well; as a music major it showed potential.
60s: Why did you decide to leave The Laserbeats?
SL: Neal didn't like the lead singer and the lead singer changed his name to Steph McGlaughlin and left to start Steph & Themselves. Neal went into Holy Grail and had joined The Bittersweets. We graduated from high school and The Laserbeats.
60s: Did The Laserbeats disband once you joined Bittersweets/The 20th Century Zoo, or did they continue on?
SL: No, The Laserbeats were already disbanded (when Steph left).
60s: What was the line-up of The 20th Century Zoo?
SL: Bob Sutko played harmonica, maracas, wrote lyrics and sang lead. Alan Chitwood played bass guitar and sang background. Greg Farley played rhythm guitar and sang backgrounds and leads on the second album, a natural composer. Our first drummer was Paul Bennett, who went into the Air Force when faced with the draft or join dilemma. Randy Wells replaced him on drums. On tour coast-to-coast we hired Reed Furman to play drums. I played lead, did background singing and acted as composer and musical director.
60s: How would you describe the band's sound? What bands influenced you?
SL: Rich vocals and harmony, with dirty fuzz tone guitars to clean muscle cars by. Bands that influenced me were Paul Butterfield Blues Band with Elvin Bishop and Michael Bloomfield, Electric Flag, Yardbirds, Who, Rolling Stones and The Beatles.
60s: Did The 20th Century Zoo tour? What "national" bands did you open for or perform with?
SL: We toured with Southwest Entertainment several tours usually in the summer in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and California. Those tours were like five guys, a road man, and all equipment in my VW bus. After the record label, Bob's parents co-signed for us to buy a van and a trailer to go on coast-to-coast tours. Some of the national acts we performed with included SRO, the Original Howlin’ Wolf, Albert King, Three Dog Night, Sweetwater, Blue Cheer, Mothers of Invention, Byrds, Canned Heat.
60s: What type of gigs did The 20th Century Zoo typically land?
SL: We played at The Electric Circus in Greenwich Village, East Town Theatre in Detroit, Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, and grand openings for pools, giant slides, skating rinks and new clubs. Chari took pride in saying she didn't have to call to find gigs; they called her!
60s: How did you hook up with Chari?
SL: Back in 1964 The Nightriders were playing for a Jewish temple that had a stage that was up high with lighting across the front so the crowd couldn't see our feet. Roger Eich, our sax man, was like if we were bare foot up here the crowd would never know because they can't see unless they get real close. So we thought great, let's try it and see - so we all took off our shoes and socks backstage and performed barefoot. The first girl to notice something wasn't right was Chari's daughter. She whispered to another girl then cracked up and the next girl would whisper and laugh and they started coming closer to the stage to see if it was true! Next thing you know all these young girls are pointing giggling and laughing at us playing bare foot! When they went home they told their mom, Chari Zelman, who co-owned Poor Poor Sam's & Chari's Deli. We were looking for a place to practice and Chari offered the Deli.
60s: How important was Tony Evans', musical director for KRIZ, support of the band?
SL: Our manager talked with Tony and he asked us to come over to the studio and answer phones for a while to promote some place we were playing that night. Tony had the connections with Art Laboe and told us he knew of some guys that used to be with Stax/Volt, but Stax went R&B and these other guys were going rock looking for fresh talent.
60s: What were the circumstances leading to the "Clean Old Man" / "You Don't Remember" 45?
SL: Greg started working with Bob doing lyrics about some guy that would walk in step to music with his hands dug deep in his pants and they just starting having fun with it. Taking what Greg and Bob already had, I used some arrangement skills that at the time were taught at Phoenix College and the musician friends there were thrilled at the idea of helping play string parts for me.
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60s: Where did The 20th Century Zoo record your singles?
SL: At Audio Recorders on 7th Street in Phoenix in Studio B, then later we used Studio A when the Phoenix Symphony wasn't using it to practice. Our engineer was Floyd Ramsey and then his son Floyd Ramsey Jr., and then there was this obese guy we started working with that was bald on top of his head, but let the sides grow down long. I’m sorry I don't remember his name but he was good.
Recording sessions were like a dollar a minute back in the '60s. There was a large piece of metal in a large long wooden box with wires coming out that were the echo sheet that was behind the control room. The tape machines were like an inch across on big reels with rubber cups over the ends. There were large pieces of cork on the walls with lots of little holes in the ceiling and walls to absorb sound. Once you are in the studio you can't hear what is going on in the control until they push a button to talk, so we started using deaf and dumb sign language to be quiet. In the back of the double glass control room a guy with a derby hat and attaché's case with a bow tie would sit professionally out of the way and we'd go, "Who's the little dude with the hat?" “Oh…he's with the musician's union to oversee the session.”
60s: What were the circumstances leading to the Thunder On A Clear Day LP?
SL: The name is something I came up with living in Phoenix with our monsoon season. It was strange, but every time we played the ‘Quiet Before The Storm’ at Greg's little shack out back it would rain! Maybe it was just monsoon, maybe it was something more, but it did just the same. What if we heard thunder on a clear day? That would say something was in for a change. Was it for real, or just our imagination?
60s: Thunder On A Clear Day was recorded in Los Angeles?
SL: Yes…at Vault Records at Sunset & LaBrea on the Sunset Strip of Hollywood, California. We traveled there because that's where our manager Chari told us we were recording.
60s: What are your thoughts when listening to the LP today?
SL: The guys were cheated out of the next year contract by the draft board. They sounded good, but could sound even better with today’s technology. There are those background parts that Bob and I would do later that aren't on there now.
60s: You earlier referenced a second LP. Did the 20th Century Zoo record an album in addition to Thunder On A Clear Day?
SL: Yes, but it was never released because Uncle Sam had the draft that took the singer and me.
60s: Did The 20th Century Zoo write many original songs?
SL: Yep, we tried to spread it one in four tunes live. Bob Sutko wrote most of our lyrics.
60s: Do any (other) '60's 20th Century Zoo recordings exist?
SL: There are unreleased tracks but we don't even know where they went.
60s: What about any vintage live recordings?
SL: No. In those days they recorded over songs to reuse the tape.
60s: The Sundazed CD included three unreleased songs: ‘Country,’ ‘Hall Of The Mountain King’, and ‘Enchanted Park.’ Were these songs recorded in Los Angeles for the Thunder On A Clear Day LP? Or were they recorded elsewhere?
SL: Those extra songs were supposed to be on the second album that was never released; we don't know where they came from. Some of the stuff on Sundazed was from Randy Wells, our drummer. The engineer for Randy Wells’ drums was the same guy that did the engineering for ‘Wipe Out’ so it was a big deal to get the drums set up right and Randy would argue with the guy over "too many notes!" Randy won and didn't cut out any notes in California.
60s: Did the band make any local TV appearances?
SL: Yes. We were on the Wallace & Ladmo Show where Ladmo took a cello to play the string parts, then played it like a guitar. We also were on a show that had the woman from the Liquid Giraffe Head shop recorded at Tower Plaza.
60s: What year and why did the band break up?
SL: In October of 1969 I got drafted into the Army. The guys tried to play for the opening of the Phoenix Art Museum without me using Mick Mashbir on lead and that was the last time they played. A month later, Bob Sutko's number came up and they drafted him into the Army, too. The girl that used to baby sit for Frank Zappa, Judy Metz, gave me a hair cut the day before my induction so the Army wouldn't get the pleasure of knowing. At the induction center I borrowed a captain's guitar after showing him how to play some song he wanted to learn, ‘You Can Get Anything You Want At Alice's Restaurant.’ Bob Sutko didn't even recognize me until I spoke to him!
60s: Did you join or form any bands after The 20th Century Zoo?
SL: Yes, Homunculus in Oberusal, Germany and then Ammo after the Army. Later were Sky Heart, Poppies, Shrooms, Dynamite Slim and The Mid-City Train Wreck, Grandma's New Wig and 21st Century Zoo.
60s: How often, and where, do you perform today?
SL: I play most every Sunday at my church. I take the music from centuries ago and program the notes into Cakewalk Express to hear how they sound, change the instrumentation, rewrite the songs into word so I don't have to turn pages, and then play and direct the congregation. I love to fly my white racing homers. I’m keeping busy with security and C.E.R.T. or Community Emergency Response Team, GPS committee, PCARC or Phoenix CERT Amateur Radio Club.
60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with The 20th Century Zoo?
SL: We got to do what many only dream of doing! The business part of it should be left to others; it's a left-brain thing. God had to put me through The 20th Century Zoo to qualify the chosen. Bob Sutko didn't know he was prophetic composer. In the summer of '69 we were on tour in New York and they were just building the World Trade Center. Lots of wooden boardwalks with wooden overhangs and a skeleton of steel and glass were going up. They guys were saying it's going to be the biggest in the world. I said, "It doesn't look very sturdy to me!" About that time a Piper Cub plane was flying over and we could hear it close to the airport. Bob said, "Some plane will probably fly into it!"
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| Pre-20th Century Zoo Gallery |
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| The Nightriders |
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| The Laserbeats |
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| The Nightriders |
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| The Laserbeats |
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| The Laserbeats |
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| The Nightriders |
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