Angry Young Men The Angry Young Men hailed from Henrietta, New York, a suburb of Rochester, and at times have been confused by garage rock collectors with The Angry Men, who actually did call Rochester home.  Complicating things is the fact that both bands recorded songs at Fine Recording Studio.  While both groups were popular, The Angry Young Men often attracted crowds in the hundreds, and performed all over Central and Western New York, and into the Southern sections as well.  Drummer Dave Wing left the group for a tour of Vietnam and, while he missed out on the group’s last recording session, was an Angry Young Man for most of the band’s heyday. Behind The Big Barn in 1966. L-R: Marty, Dave, Phil, Jim and Ray. Poster for an appearance at The Barn. An Interview With Dave Wing 60sgaragebands.com (60s): How did you first become interested in music? Dave Wing (DW): I first became interested when I moved to Henrietta, New York in 1960 and became friends with a guy named Brad Wheat.  He had a guitar and I would sit around his house for hours listening to records and him playing that guitar.  After a few years, Brad joined a band known as The Stingrays.  I would go to their practices and soon found myself mesmerized with the drummer.  To make a long story short...I knew that is what I wanted to be--a rock and roll drummer! 60s: Was The Angry Young Men your first band? DW: Yes, The Angry Young Men was the first band I was in.  60s: When and where was the group formed? DW: The Angry Young Men was formed in the fall of 1964 as a direct result of The Beatles "invading" America.Speaking for myself, I didn't really care too much for the '50s and '60s music up to that point.  It was okay to listen to but when I heard those first opening chords of 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand,' I thought this is what I want to play.  Coincidentally, Brad Wheat decided to form a band after The Stingrays and asked me if I would play drums. Performing at The Monroe YMCA. L-R: Keith, Jim, Phil, Dave and Ray. The original members were Brad Wheat, lead guitar; Jack Radtke, rhythm guitar; Jim Schulz, bass guitar, keyboards and trumpet; Keith Finkelstein, saxophone; and me on drums.  Brad left after a few weeks to join another local band called The Heard and Phil Kraft joined the band on lead guitar.  In late 1965, Jack left the band and Ray Bellizia joined us on lead/rhythm guitar.  At some point after Ray started, Keith left the band to pursue managing/promotions and Marty Lawlor joined us on saxophone/lead vocals.  The band continued with this lineup until January 1967 when I enlisted in the Army and Charlie Theofanis joined on the drums. 60s: How would you describe the band's sound? DW: Our sound started out like so many other bands at the time.  Initially we did instrumentals but soon began focusing on the "British Sound" that was sweeping America.  We played The Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Hollies and Yardbirds.  We later pushed our interests to include a James Brown 45-minute set and some novelty songs such as 'Winchester Cathedral' and 'These Boots Are Made For Walking.'  We even played a song by a female group known as The Ronettes entitled 'Be My Baby.'  'Poor Side Of Town' was a favorite of mine.  After I left the band they gravitated towards a more soul/blues influence doing songs by artists such as Sam & Dave, Ray Charles, Spencer Davis, Wilson Pickett, The Temptations and Mitch Ryder. 60s: What was the Henrietta music scene like in the '60s? DW: Henrietta was a small rural town that was a suburb of Rochester, the home of Kodak.  Although all we teens were taken by the music of the time, there were only a couple of bands I can recall--The Stingrays and The Viscounts--that played mainly at high school functions.  Rochester, of course, being a large city, offered more in the way of venues and types of music. One of The Angry Young Men's first appearances...at a 1964 talent show at Rush-Henrietta High School. L-R: Jack, Keith, Phil and Jim. 60s: Where did The Angry Young Men typically play? DW: We played all of the typical teen venues that were around at that time: High school dances, teen clubs, outdoor parties, bars and fraternity/sorority houses.  We were also the main draw at two Henrietta locations known as The Big Barn and The Farm, both located on The Monroe County Fairgrounds.  For two summers, on Friday nights, in the mid-'60s, we were playing to crowds of between 400-500 people and sometimes as many as 600-700 people.  The Big Barn was a huge grange-like building and fans from all around the county would come see us play.  When that contract expired, we had the unique opportunity to lease The Farm for $1.00 per year.  We were allowed to fix up the inside, including a stage, and kept all of the profits from the door and at one point a concession stand.  It was pretty neat for a bunch of teenagers! We played a number of teen clubs in the area as well as some out of town.  The local clubs at the time were The Leopards Den, The Kangaroo Club, Guys & Dolls, Long Point Park and Willow Point Park.  We also played teen activities in Henrietta, Fairport and Pittsford.  We played venues such as The Sandsabarn and Club Carousel located about one hour south of Henrietta as well as The Club Commodore and The Peppermint Stick Lounge in Buffalo.  We also played an outdoor gig put on by the Tonawanda, New York Recreational Department that drew over 700 people.  That was quite a night! 1967 publicity photo. L-R: Phil, Jim, Ray, Marty and Charlie. 60s: How far was the band’s touring territory? DW: Our touring area consisted of Central and Western New York State as well as the Southern tier.  Some of our out of town gigs were far enough away that we had to stay overnight in a motel.  There were some interesting times to say the least! 60s: Did The Angry Young Men participate in any battles of the bands? DW: We participated in two battles of the bands that I can recall.  The first was at a local high school in Brighton.  We won the contest and the prize was a contract to play for dances over the summer.  The second was at the teen club, The Carousel.  We won that event also but I don’t recall what the prize was; probably some future dates to play there. 60s: What other local bands of the era do you especially recall? DW: As I stated earlier, Henrietta was a small town so you had to go to Rochester to see the up and coming bands.  Some of the groups that come to mind are The Quirks, Wilmer & The Dukes, The Heard and, my favorite, The Showstoppers.  Quite frankly, we were busy playing most weekends so it was hard to get out and watch any other bands. Did The Angry Young Men have a manager? DW: Our fist manager was a guy named Hank Nicholson who was a friend of our sax player, Keith.  He was a quiet, unassuming individual who looked out for our best interests and gave us some direction.  After a while, Keith dropped out of the band to try his hand at managing/promotions with an outfit known as The Mazzola Group.  He took over managing us and at one point had another guy named Joe Roisman helping him.  I think Joe went on to manage us by himself for a while. After I left the band in January 1967, the brother of the original founder of The Angry Young Men, Jeff Wheat, became the band’s manager.  Jeff took the band to a more professional level with publicity photos and a recording session at Capitol Records in New York City.   1967 publicity photo. L-R: Jim, Phil, Marty, Charlie and Ray. 60s: How popular locally did The Angry Young Men become? DW: Well, without meaning to sound egotistical, we were a very popular band in our part of the state.  As I stated earlier, we would play to very large crowds at some venues and were in demand for some pretty popular clubs at the time.  I especially remember what it was like going to school on a Friday and having friends inquiring as to where we were playing that weekend and stating how much they were looking forward to it.  My most memorable indication of our popularity was the time we traveled to Buffalo to open for a very well known local band that did primarily Beatles’ sets called The Rogues.  These guys all came from well-to-do families so they all had the best equipment—Vox amps, Gretsch, Hoffner and Rickenbacker guitars as well as Ringo’s signature drum set.  They even wore Beatles’ wigs and suits.  When they played their first set I was impressed with the show and the crowd was really into them.  I remember thinking, “Man, this is going to be a hard act to follow.” So it was our turn to play and the first couple of songs went over alright but nothing like the ovations The Rogues got.  Then slowly the crowd got into it and by the end of the show they were shouting for us—instead of The Rogues—to do an encore, which we did.  Some people came up to me after we were done and said that although they liked The Rogues they found our “raunchy, wild” style of playing exciting and we got some more gigs in Buffalo from that night. The Angry Young Men, 1967. L-R: Phil, Marty, Ray, Charlie and Jim. 60s: What were the circumstances leading to the band’s opportunity to record? DW: The circumstances leading to our recording opportunities were, first off—in 1965—a girl from high school approached us and said her father owned a studio and she felt we could make a record.  Secondly, the manager of the band in 1967 had some contacts and got a recording session in New York City. 60s: Where did the band record? DW: Our first recording session in 1965 was at The Fine Recording Studio in Rochester.  It was owned by Vince Jans and we set up a session with him where we recorded two original and two cover songs.  Now, I will be the first to admit they weren’t the highest quality recordings because we didn’t have a lot of money to spend but the songs did get local airplay and I’m sure (brought) new fans as a result.  The one thing I remember most about the session was due to acoustical problems; I had to drape towels over my cymbals so the “crash” wouldn’t resonate.  Well, as is quite evident on the record, whenever I hit the cymbal it made a dull, clunk sound.  Again…we didn’t have a lot of money!  The second session was in 1967 after I had left the band.  This one was more professional.  They guys drove down to New York City, recorded two songs at the Capitol Records Studio on 42nd Street (where Jackie Gleason’s Big Band recorded) and returned home the same day.  Again, this record got local airplay but nothing national.  The two originals we did at Fine Recording were named 'The Spirtitual' and 'I've Had It.' The other two songs recorded at Fine Recording were covers of 'David's Mood' by The Kingsmen and 'Land Of A Thousand Dances' by Cannibal and The Headhunters.  The two recordings the band did in New York City after I left were also covers. One was 'Knock On Wood' by Eddie Floyd. The other was 'Don't Look Back' by The Remains.  60s: Did the band write many originals? DW: Only two original songs came out of the band.  The first was entitled ‘The Spiritual,’ which was an instrumental that Keith, our original saxophone player, wrote and we performed it for the first time in 1964 in a talent show at our high school.  That was also the first time we played in public.  The second song was entitled ‘I’ve Had It’ and it was written by Phil, our lead guitarist.  Looking back on it now, there was a lot of talent in that band but for whatever reason we pretty much stuck to playing covers.  60s: Do any other Angry Young Men records exist?  Are there any vintage live recordings, or unreleased songs? DW: Aside from one of the two records we made in 1965 and the one that was recorded in 1967, any vintage live recordings were lost many years ago.  I do, however, have recordings of a practice session in 1986 in preparation for a class reunion we played. I also have recordings of that reunion as well as one we did in 1991.  That was the last time all the original members would play together due to the deaths of Brad Wheat and Keith Finkelstein years later.    Home on leave before going to Vietnam, September 1967. L-R: Ray, Phil, Dave, Danny (setup man) and Jim. 60s: Did the band make any TV appearances? DW: We did make two TV appearances but for different reasons I wasn’t with (the band at the time).  The first was probably sometime in 1965 when they played on the alleys of a place named Brighton Bowl.  It was a popular concept back then to place boards on the alleys and have a band set up and perform.  I was home sick with the flu and another drummer sat in for me.  I was able to watch it on TV and it was pretty neat.  The second appearance was in 1967 after I had left the band.  There was a local show called Action Star Showcase.  It was shot at a local park called Seabreeze and was hosted by local radio personalities Jack Palvino and Jessica Savitch who was known as “The Honey Bee” and later went on to national fame as an NBC news anchor until her tragic death in 1982.  Unfortunately, no footage exists of either show. 60s: What year and why did the band breakup? DW: The band broke up in the summer of 1967 when Marty and Charlie went off to college.   Ray, Jim and Phil helped form a band called The Toy Boy Boat Show.  That didn’t last very long and for a brief stint some of the guys were involved in a project with a local musician named Boyd McCoy.  That as well didn’t pan out and eventually Ray and Phil would enter the Army and serve in Vietnam as I did.  Jim went on to a long and successful career in the pharmaceutical industry. 60s: Did you join or form any bands after The Angry Young Men? DW: Upon discharge from the Army in 1970, I found I didn’t have any burning desire to take up music again.  I still enjoy music and going out to see bands, but that is the extent of it. 60s: What keeps you busy today? DW: At this point in my life I am on permanent disability through The Veterans Administration but occupy my time with music projects on the computer and I enjoy spending time with my daughter and a few close friends.  I did own a deejay business for a few years back in the ‘80s, which was quite an experience. 60s: How do you best describe your experiences with The Angry Young Men? DW: The little over two years that I played in The Angry Young Men were some of the best in my life.  I loved to play, the money was good and the five of us shared experiences and a bond that most kids our age didn’t.  I often wonder what would have transpired if I hadn’t joined the service and had continued playing.  I realize I’ll never know the answer but, as Bob Seger put it, “Rock and roll never forgets.”  Front cover of Swinger. Inside of Swinger. Back of Swinger.