Band Without A Name We've previously printed the recollections of Mark Anderson, a later member of California group The Band Without A Name.  The Band Without A Name was a very successful group, and their early vs. late stages were two distinct periods that involved many different players, successes and accomplishments.  Larry Puckett, an original member of the band, recently contacted us, and we're very pleased to share his recollections on the formation and early triumphs of The Band Without A Name. Band Without A Name: Eddie Haddad (second from left), Dave Marks (top center), Richard Faith (second from right), Mark Grosclose (far left) and Larry Puckett (far right). An Interview With Larry Puckett January 2012 60sgaragebands.com (60s): Where was The Band Without A Name formed, what year, and by whom? Larry Puckett (LP): The band was called Kenny and The Fiends, then Eddie Alexander And The Greats, and then Citation 7 before it ended up The Band Without A Name. The first three above bands were comprised of three lead singers and four musicians. The singers were Eddie Haddad, Eddie's older brother Albert Haddad and a cousin Dennis Spitola. The musicians were Jerry Jacobs, lead guitar, Jerry Seeger, bass guitar, Oscar Pinyata, drums and John Pool on keyboards. There may have been another guitar player named John Wyle but I don't remember for sure. As I was told by Jerry Seeger, Kenny and The Fiends went on tour in Canada in the summer of 1963 billed as The American Beatles. They were going there low budget cause nobody had any money.  Because of the lack of funds they ended up bunking together for the three or four months they were on tour. This caused so much friction between the band members that by the time they got home they almost disbanded. I believe Eddie's dad, Al, was their manager at that time, as well as Rusty Baron. When they were called Kenny and The Fiends they made a record. Kenny and The Fiends 45, 'She Kept Doing Him Wrong', produced by Ken Jenkins. A little while later the group changed their name to Eddie Alexander and The Greats and made a record on the Sea Seven record label called 'Like-What's Happenin' and 'I'm In Love'.  I'm not sure how this record worked out for them but they finally disbanded. About six months later Eddie was looking to start up a new band. He convinced his brother Albert and cousin Dennis to rejoin and look for a new band to back them up. Eddie (Haddad) Alexander & The Greats 45. Around that time I was playing in local surf bands and frequenting a local music store called Hogan's House of Music in Hawthorne, California.  All the local musicians bought their equipment there and also hung out and jammed together. The owner of the music store was Chuck Hogan.  He was a musician himself and knew how make you feel welcomed. I believe that is why everyone hung out there. This was the absolute coolest place to hang out and network. I saw Jerry Jacobs there quite often and became friends with him. At this time I had no idea who Jerry was except that he was a real good guitar player. We jammed together on several occasions playing surf songs by The Ventures, Belairs, Astronauts, Dick Dale and The Challengers.  He would play lead and I would play rhythm. Just about any song he knew and wanted to play I knew too. Anyway, he liked the way we played together and mentioned that he was about to go back to a band called Citation 7 and wanted to know if I wanted to audition for their rhythm guitar. He further told me that the three lead singers in Citation 7 were great singers and performers and had good connections to Hollywood. Surf music was dying out around then and giving way to singing groups so I was excited to get the chance to get into a group that actually sang and performed. Citation 7 playing at Casey Kasem's Teen Hop in Thousand Oaks: From left to right Larry Puckett (rhythm guitar), Jerry Jacobs (lead guitar), Dan Derda (drums) and and Harvey Fernandez (bass guitar). I'm a little vague on how soon after that that we all got together but we did and I passed the audition. I believe the time frame was late 1964 because I was just starting college and I had to cut some classes for the audition. At that time, The Citation 7 was comprised of the same three lead singers and the new band was comprised of Jerry Jacobs, lead guitar, Harvey Fernandez, bass guitar, Dan Derda, drums, and me on rhythm guitar. From the get go, Eddie Haddad was unmistakably the leader of the band. Pretty much what he said was the way it went.  We would practice in a little shack behind his parents' house off of Century Blvd. for hours and hours and for days and days.  Eddie was a real perfectionist. Everything had to be just right. His attention to detail drove us crazy but as a result we were getting better and better each practice. Within three or four months of hard practice I felt we could blow away most of the local bands in our area.  The game plan was that when we finally get a gig, the band would play a few songs to get the audience moving and then we would bring in the big guns (the three singers) to wrap up each set with a bang. This is how every practice sessions were positioned. At this time Eddie's dad Al and a guy called Rusty Baron were managing us. When Eddie felt we were good enough, Al and Rusty Baron got us a few auditions with some people in Hollywood.  I didn't know who they were but I knew they were rich. We also had a producer called Ken Jenkins. He and his wife were sales managers at a local furniture store. They fronted the money for us to record songs at Sea Seven Records and some other low budget places. Anyway, we recorded some songs here and there and played some local one night gigs but mostly we practiced and positioned ourselves as a show group. I soon realized that Eddie and our managers were looking to Hollywood as our final destination. I kind of remember playing some car shows and other events too but nothing big was happening yet. Eddie had mentioned Casey Kasem on several occasions during our practices but I don’t think I really believed him. Casey was a disc jockey for KRLA at the time. He also did a TV dance show (or was about to start it) called Shebang. KRLA Beat magazine announces Casey Kasem to Host Shebang Show, 1965. It was around this time (give or take a few months) that we hooked up with Casey through Eddie. I believe he liked us from the start. We started playing at his teen hop club in Thousand Oaks called the Conejo Valley Recreation Center.  Every week Casey would announce on Shebang that either The Band Without A Name or The Midnighters would be playing at his teen dance club in Thousand Oaks. When we played at his teen hop we always started out with the four-piece band playing dance music and then toward the end of the set we would bring in the three singers.  I must add also that I never saw The Midnighters. They always played opposite weeks of us.  I had no idea who they were or what music they played but knew they must be good because Casey had them as his house band, too. Just when I thought we were ready to conquer the world the three singers broke up.  I don't remember why but there we were a four-piece band without the three big gun singers. We had a talk with Eddie in the band shack behind Eddie's house and came to the conclusion that we were going to press on without Albert and Dennis.  The band was going to learn to sing harmony and back up Eddie as a front man.  So...back to the drawing board we went. We were going to change our Motown look with the three lead singers to a more rock-type group like The Beatles or Rolling Stones. I think this is when Richard Faith came on board. Richard was playing piano at a local Shakey's pizza parlor and was a very accomplished piano player in any kind of music from Beethoven to rock. Remember that the synthesizer had not been invented yet so Richard played the Rhodes Electric Piano. Later he was able to play a Hammond B3 organ.  The earlier Citation 7 band had a piano player in it and I believe Eddie wanted to have that piano sound again. A good keyboard player could add a heavier sound to our band. Richard auditioned and was hired on the spot. Richard was a musical wiz and took up the task of giving harmony parts to everyone.  In no time we were backing up Eddie with three- and, in some occasions, four-part harmonies.  In fact we discovered we all had pretty good voices and that the band had a great vocal range.  I had a high tenor voice, Richard and Harvey had the middle range voices and Jerry had a low baritone.  Just what ya need to make the harmonies flow!  I must admit the band stepped up to the plate and did a great job on our vocal endeavors.  Although we band guys were good musicians and darn good harmonizers, we lacked Eddie's performing aptitude. This is why Eddie was the front man. That was Eddie's forte.  Eddie was truly a professional performer and gave everything he had.  His singing wasn't the best but he made up for that in his energetic performances. This is where he excelled. Together the band and Eddie made a great combination. After playing at the Conejo Valley Recreation Center for several months, Casey seemed very pleased with us and suggested we change our name.  During a conversation with the band, Casey mentioned that he knew a friend that was a comic who called himself "Comic With Out A Name" or something like that and that we should call ourselves "The Band Without A Name." The timeframe was probably mid-1965 and so that was our name from that date forward. First business card (without picture). Second business card (with picture). By late 1965 The Band Without A Name had some more changes.  Harvey Fernandez, our bass player, was drafted in the Army and later killed in action in Vietnam. Jerry Jacobs, our lead guitar player, decided he wanted to go off on his own and try to get on the producing side of the business. Danial Derda, our drummer, just decided to move on.  So after another band discussion in the shack behind Eddie's house, we discussed their replacements. The timing must have been just right because Eddie had just the right replacements. Eddie brought in two new guys to replace the three that left.  Their names were Mark Grosclose and Dave Marks.  Mark Groseclose was going to replace Dan Derda on drums and Dave Marks was going to replace Jerry Jacobs on lead guitar; we were not going to replace Harvey's bass. Richard Faith, for now, was going to play the bass lines on his piano. At that time I didn't really know who Dave or Mark were.  All I knew is that they had played together in a band called Dave And The Marksmen. Soon after they joined our band I found out that Dave Marks had been in The Beach Boys.  Boy, was I surprised. Anyway these two new guys seemed to fit in quit nicely and in no time we were getting our groove on so to speak. Dave had brought along a kazillion fan clubs with him from his days with The Beach Boys.  We were doing recordings, playing the Conejo Valley Recreation Center, doing the KRLA Dick Beyondi road shows and Casey Kasem was our manager.  Life was GREAT. Not only did we practice at Eddie's house but we also on occasion practiced at Dave Marks' house.  I remember Brian and Carl Wilson coming over once in a while to visit and I guess watch to see what Dave was up to. They lived just across the street. It wasn't till then that it really sunk in that Dave Marks really played with The Beach Boys. 60s: Where did The Band Without A Name play? LP: We played regularly at Casey's Conejo Valley Recreation Center in Thousand Oaks and the Hawthorne Recreation Center in Hawthorne.  We also were doing the KRLA road shows at local high schools and backing up various singers like Joey Page and Bobby Sherman and some new and upcoming singers. In early 1966 we performed with The Bobby Fuller Four, Joey Page, and The Deuces Wild at Duarte High School. Article from the KRLA Beat Magazine dated April 23, 1966 that reported on The Band Without A Name playing the Dick Biondi Show at Duarte High School. Larry sang 'Working My Way Back To You.' The show was done earlier than April, probably late February or early March. We played a few clubs on The Sunset Strip. The first club was The Hullabaloo. We were supposed to be the warm up act for The Mamas and Papas.  However, The Mamas and Papas canceled out leaving Joey Paige, The Band Without A Name and The Palace Guard as the headline attractions. The KRLA Beat talks about Joey Paige and Band Without A Name as the headline act at the hullabaloo by default. I also remember us playing at Frank Sinatra's daughter/niece's wedding.  Everyone in the band showed up dressed in white suite jackets.  We really thought we'd stand out.  Too bad everyone else at the party had white suite jackets on too. I remember we weren't doing too good with the wedding crowd; our type of music was not cutting it.  I think most of the crowd were traditional Italians and probably didn't appreciate rock 'n roll. Anyway we decided to bring out the secret weapon, my accordion, and I started playing polkas. Boy did that change things. Everybody went wild when we played 'Beer Barrel Polka'. Luckily I happened to bring my accordion along. As I remember we thought we'd play a few polkas at the party just for kicks...not knowing that it was going to be the hit of the night. At that time I could play a mean Polka on the accordion and I was ripping them off one after another. I must admit I was the star that night and saved the show. 60s: Was The Band Without A Name the house band at The Drop In during your tenure? LP: We regularly played at the teen club in Thousand Oaks; I believe it was called The Drop In. We shared the house band title at The Drop In with another band called The Midnighters.  60s: What are your recollections of Kasem? LP: Casey was definitely a professional.  He made it clear not to mess with any of the girls at his dances or road shows or any of the girls in our fan clubs. He was also a soft speaker and personable but you knew he meant business and not to cross him. I hardly ever spoke to him though. We let Eddie do all the talking for us. 60s: Do you recall The Knights Of Day, Kasem's other group? LP: I don't remember any band called The Knights Of Day.  The other house band at The Drop Inn was called The Midnighters.  60s: Did the group record the 'Turn On Your Lovelight'/'Perfect Girl' while you were a member?  LP: Yes.  We had a vocal tutor around that time named Charles Wright.  He was in the group called Charles Wright and The 103rd Rhythm Band that recorded 'Express Yourself.'  Charles was a black entertainer extraordinaire. I believe Casey wanted some soul in our music. Richard Faith wrote a 'Perfect Girl' and arranged all the harmonies for that song. I believe Charley may have arranged 'Turn On Your Lovelight'. We were doing recordings at Mike Curb's Sidewalks Production studio around that time and that's where we recorded it. 'Turn On Your Lovelight' (a Bobby Bluebland song) was the A-side and 'Perfect Girl' was the B-side. I played the rhythm guitar and sang harmonies on both the records. The Band Without A Name 45 release. The 45 was produced by Lieutenant Governor of California and Sidewalk Productions owner Mike Curb. 60s: Are there any other The Band Without A Name recordings? Are there any vintage live recordings, or other unreleased tracks? LP: We also recorded a record with the A-side called 'Whole Lot of Lovin'' (a remake of Fats Domino's song) and the B-side 'I'm Blue' (a remake of 'The Gong Gong' song by The Ikettes). I remember that Charlie Wright coached us for weeks on those songs. Richard also gave his expertise on harmonies for both the songs.  The A-side had no lead singer just three-part harmony singing the melody line. At the end of the song Charles Wright jumped in with Eddie and did a call-and-answer ending; first Eddie would sing "Come on" then Charles would sing "Come On". They'd alternately repeat the "Come On" while we harmony singers would be singing "A whole lot of lovin'' repeatedly in the background. The B-side ended up kind of funny in that Eddie was supposed to sing the lead but for some reason Charlie nixed him singing it. They went through every band member singing the lead with no success, except for me. Then they reluctantly tried me and--what do ya know--I ended up singing the lead. I must admit, my singing was a little lacking on the song but I still did it a little better then everyone else.  Good thing it was the B-side. I do believe this record was released but I don't have any information or record to substantiate it. Jerry Seeger, one of the original Kenny and The Fiends members, did a lot of two-track recordings of his friends with his Roberts two-track recorder about that time. He was really into that recording thing back then. He may have recorded us but I'm not sure.  In any case the medium was two-track tape recorders during that time. Even if he saved anything of us from back then we would have to have some type of two-track recorder/player to listen to the tapes. Then if found we would have to convert the two-track recordings to a modern day medium.  I still keep in touch with Jerry once in a while.  I'll have ask if he has anything on The Band Without A Name. 60s: Did the band make any local TV appearances while you were a member? LP: I don’t remember making any TV appearances but we were announced weekly on Casey's TV show Shebang along with The Midnighters. 60s: When and why did you leave The Band Without A Name? LP: I left the band reluctantly at the end of May 1966 when I was drafted into the Army. Funny thing is that 'Turn On Your Love Light' was playing every hour in El Paso, Texas where I was taking my basic training.  Talk about depressing! While in the Army I lost all contact with The Band Without A Name.  I did hear through someone though that the band was in some kind of beach movie called Thunder Alley.  I never went to see it because–you guessed it–too depressing! 60s: Did you join or form and groups after The Band Without A Name? LP: When I came out of the Army in 1968 I looked up Eddie.  He was playing at some high class bar in Redondo Beach (I think). Anyway he had already left The Band Without A Name or maybe the band broke up--something like that. We talked outside the bar when he was on break. We had about a 15 minute walk down memory lane and then I left.  I didn't really ask to see if there was a spot for me cause I knew there wasn't. The Uncalled Four: Larry Puckett, Oscar Pinyata, Jerry Seeger and Ernie ? at Brothers II in October 1969. In late 1968 I started playing with a band called Uncalled Four at a night club called Brothers II.  I was playing with two of the original Citation 7/Kenny and The Fiends members--Jerry Seeger, bass, Oscar Pinyata, drums and a rhythm player named Ernie (I forgot his last name). This time I was playing lead guitar. We were a good house band and drew a big crowd all the time. We played there 3-4 nights a week for around a year and a half as I recall. Jerry was also rooming with Richard Faith at that time.  Richard was working a daytime job and playing piano at night at a local Shakey’s pizza parlor. It's funny that as I'm writing this I realized that The Band Without A Name Never came up much in our conversations. I never put that together until now almost 45 years later! After that I played with another group called Free And Easy.  It was Wayne Pulcini on sax/keyboards, Bob Mauck on drums, Joe Nazarian on bass and me on lead guitar. We played at a local bar called Llama Room in Torrance, California.  The timeframe for that was around 1971-1973. We played there 3-4 nights a week for about a year and half.  I was going to college around that time. This was also a great band. We kept the Llama Room hopping for the timeframe we were there. Of course we eventually broke up, too. We just had a 40-year get together at Wayne's house.  Boy that was fun.  None of them changed much in the last 40 years.  I was the only fat one. Free And Easy business card. After that band broke up I got a job working as a R&D technician at CBS Musical Instruments (Fender, Roger, Rhoads).  I got to work with Harold Rhoads of Rhoads Piano, Freddie Trevelos, Fender Stratocaster designer, and Ed Johns, Fender tube amplifier engineer.  I worked there for about 2-1/2 years.  Many years later, 1992-1993 timeframe, I joined a country band called The Daniel Ray Band.  This band was comprised of Daniel Ray, who really is Dan Metzler, the lead singer; Aggy Cline, lead guitar; Bryce Denk, bass; Cris Acheson, drums; and Me on keyboards.  We made several records.  One was 'Man Crazy' and the other was called 'Saddle Up'.  The video we made for one of them won First Place at the City of Lakewood Music Awards.  I believe that was about late 1993. I really enjoyed playing with these guys.  They were top notch. This band eventually broke up, too. However, I keep in touch with Dan and Aggy to this day. Daniel Ray Band business card. Daniel Metzler, Aggy Cline and I still play together once in a while at a local coffee place called Plum House in Riverside, California. I have to put in a plug for the owner and manager of the Plum House, too.  His name is J.P. (John Paul Elliott). He serves a good cheesecake and offers open night mike on Fridays and Saturdays. My wife and I did a Karaoke show there for a year from late 2010 to late 2011. What I like about Karaoke is ya don't need to worry about the band breaking up. You push a button and the machine plays what you want, when you want it, and how loud you want it.  No complaints. Life's truly great with a Karaoke machine as the band. 60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with The Band Without A Name? LP: I knew at the time that I didn't have what it takes to make it in the music business by myself.  But I was lucky enough to run into these talented kids that did have the talent and drive and I hitched a ride with them that was indeed magical. I thank them for giving me the opportunity to share a dream.  I got to feel what it feels like to be a star – however short it was. KRLA Reunion: Casey Kasem (October 1981) Casey Kasem For a fellow with so much broadcasting experience--over 20 years--at first Casey sounds absolutely petrified to be back at KRLA, live and on the air. He'd graduated to syndicated radio shows and TV appearances since leaving the station twelve years earlier. Now he was in front of the mike again, in real time, without the comfort of the editing room to take out any inadvertant mistakes. He needn't have worried. Kasem had only an hour to spend at the KRLA reunion but he used it well, peppering his songs with biographical background just like in the old days. After a few minutes he began to warm up to the process again, though he admitted to having had dreams about being back at KRLA and running out of records to play. Kasem spent much of the hour reminicing about bands he used to host at local dances, including The Righteous Brothers, Caesar and Cleo (later Sonny and Cher), Eddie Haddad and The Band Without A Name and Jan Berry of Jan and Dean... Growing Up In The South Bay: The Class of 1963 Remembers What follows are the emails I received so far from several our classmates in response to The Beach Boys article. If you have some of your own memories you would like to share, please email them to me and I will be glad to add them. Any and all of your reflections and recollections of growing up are more than welcomed. If you have any old snapshots, send them along.  Richard Faith Thanks for the article. You might not know this, but in about 1965 I was the keyboard player in Band Without A Name. We played for Casey Kasem's teen dances at the Conejo Valley Recreation Center in Thousand Oaks and at Hawthorne Recreation Center on alternate Saturday nights. During part of my stint with that band, David Marks (who had been an original member of The Beach Boys prior to that time) was our lead guitarist. Through him, I met Murry, Dennis, Carl and Brian Wilson. At the time, Murry Wilson lived diagonally across the street from David Marks and his parents. David's dad had an antique car: a Packard. Although I don't remember many LHS students or alums at the Hawthorne dances, I do remember that Terry Collier's sister was often there. Thanks again, Richard Faith Don Stouder It's a small world indeed. I worked at the Hawthorne Memorial Center dances with Casey Kasem. Steve Cirillo also worked there. If I remember right, The Band Without a Name was one of the regular bands and a favorite of the kids. Casey also brought in The Midnighters and The Association a few times. We used to get 1,100-1,200 kids at those dances. Wasn't one of the songs you guys played Dylan's 'She Belongs to Me'? The above article was written by Joe Selvin in May 31, 2005 with a response from Richard Faith, former member of The Band Without A Name.