| Cavaliers/Moving Violations |
Kosciusko, Mississippi’s The Cavaliers formed in 1963 as primarily an instrumental combo but, like most bands of the era, were quickly bitten by the British Invasion bug after Beatlemania arrived a year later. They changed their musical direction to more of an Animals and Rolling Stones-influenced group, and recorded a 45 on the Spot Light label. In addition to his role as Cavaliers’ drummer, Charlie Davis also contributed drums for The Ravin' Blue’s 45 (on Monument Records). Learn how that came to be, as well as why The Cavalier’s also released a record as by The Moving Violations, in this exclusive interview for 60sgaragebands.com…
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| The Cavaliers: Avon Frost, Mgr., Elmo Peeler, Charlie Davis. On Top Les Landrum and Tim Poole |
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| Charlie Davis |
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An Interview With Charlie Davis
60sgaragebands.com (60s): How did you first get interested in music?
Charlie Davis (CD): I started playing drums in the fifth grade through my high school band.
60s: Where and when was The Cavaliers formed?
CD: In Kosciusko, Mississippi in1963, by Les Landrum.
The Cavaliers were: Les Landrum, lead guitar; Tim Poole, rhythm guitar; John Burk, vocals; Elmo Peeler, keyboards (Elmo played a Hammond B3 organ with Leslie tone cabinet and went on to play with such notable artist as The Beach Boys, Rod Stewart, Ricky Nelson and also The Sweet Inspirations. And although he never toured with them, there are CDs out by The Flying Burrito Brothers that elmo played on); Charlie Davis, drums; and Gary Barnett, bass guitar.
Spencer Sanders joined the group in 1966 replacing Gary Barnett. Tim Poole then switched to bass guitar and Spencer played rhythm guitar and added vocals and harmony.
60s: How would you describe the band's sound? What bands influenced you?
CD: We originally were a four-piece band playing instrumentals like ‘You Can’t Sit Down,’ ‘Movin’ and a Groovin’’ and were mainly influenced by The Ventures’ (‘Walk Don’t Run,’ etc.), but as time went by we added a singer and later an organ—and then our sound and influences were The Animals and Rolling Stones.
60s: What was the Kosciusko rock and roll scene like in the '60s?
CD: Country club dances. There were not many bands around back then.
60s: Where did the band typically play?
CD: We played the country club in Kosciusko and college fraternities at Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
60s: How far was the band’s “touring” territory?
CD: Mainly the state of Mississippi. I remember one gig out of state for a LSU fraternity party in Baton Rouge, Lousiana. We played a lot on our Mississippi Gulf Coast (Gulfport and Biloxi) for graduation dances and Debutante Balls.
60s: Did The Cavaliers participate in any battle of the bands?
CD: We battled a band from Philadelphia, Mississippi named The Checkmates which took place at a National Guard Amory in Forest, Mississippi. We also battled The Greek Fountains from Baton Rouge at a National Guard Amory in Jackson, Mississippi. I think that was in 1966. I remember their drummer had a fever of 103 and paid me to play their last set. I think we fared well on both occasions.
60s: Did The Cavaliers have a manager?
CD: We stated out in the ninth grade and broke up upon graduation in 1967 (we all went to different colleges) and I think we probably had two different managers and later on a booking agency.
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60s: What were the circumstances leading to the band's opportunity to record your 45?
CD: Our record was first distributed on the Spot Light label and later on the SSS International label (Shelby Singleton), when they changed our name to “The Moving Violations.” It never made the charts but I think got play on the Chicago AM station WLS.
The record came about after we recorded a couple of songs written by our singer, John Burk, as demos (‘In the Deep Blue Sea’ and ‘Girl Why Can’t You Understand’). We were then asked to record ‘Looking for Love’ written by one of the owners of the studio in Jackson. We played a lot of Animal tunes and Rolling Stones so the flip side was our version of the one put out on an album by The Rolling Stones, ‘You Better Move On.’
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60s: Were the songs released as by The Moving Violations new recordings?
CD: No. ‘In The Deep Blue Sea’ is the same as the demo. They (the studio) re-released it and ‘You Better Move On’ with the name change and on a major label. Nothing was re-recorded.
60s: Where did The Cavaliers record?
CD: In a studio owned by Bob McRee in Jackson, Mississippi. The thing I remember we were all very young.
60s: Did The Cavaliers write many original songs? Who was the band’s primary songwriter?
CD: John Burk our singer wrote the two songs which we first recorded as demos.
60s: Are there any other Cavaliers recordings? Are there any vintage live recordings, or other unreleased tracks?
CD: I have, somewhere, a live recording we did but will have to find it. The unreleased and lost track 'I Know You Rider' was apparently lost in McRee's storage (due to overheating). I would love to have those now.
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60s: You also played drums on a 45 released by The Ravin’ Blue (‘Love’ and ‘It’s Not Real’ on Monument Records)…
CD: They were all attending Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi and were called “The Knights” from Starkville, but we also had Jo Frank and The Knights from Leland, Mississippi (‘Can’t Find a Way’). The Vietnam war was raging about this time and The Knights’ drummer was drafted. We were playing a gig during which Jimmy Johnson had heard about us and was looking for talent (for the manager of The Gentrys out of Memphis). He phoned me afterwards and asked if I would do the session.
I had just completed my sophomore year of high school. We laid down the instrumental tracks at a studio in Memphis named Sonic Studios owned by Roland Janes and where Travis Womack cut the instrumental, ‘Scratchy.’ The 45 was produced by Jack Clement from Nashville. They also changed the Knights’ name to “The Ravin’ Blue.” The vocals were added at Sun/Phillips studio in Memphis the following Monday but I had returned to school. So later on, Jimmy Johnson mailed me one copy which I lost and never heard the songs again until I made contact through a friend who knew Bob Bernard and he sent a cassette tape about nine years ago. That was the only session or time that I was hired but Jimmy Johnson did phone me a few months later to join the group and to be on the TV show Hullabaloo but I was already in a rock ‘n’ roll group and still in high school. I don’t know if they were ever on that TV show.
The Knights/Ravin Blue were: Jimmy Johnson, bass guitar; Art Christopher; Bob Bernard, lead guitar; and Larry Nix (sorry, but I don’t remember what Art or Larry played).
60s: Did the band make any local TV appearances? Does any home movie film footage exist of the band?
CD: No TV appearances and no home movies that I know of.
60s: What year and why did the band break up?
CD: In 1967. We had six members in the group and all went to different colleges.
60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with The Cavaliers?
CD: It was a great experience and we were the only ones in high school that had long hair in 1965. I made a lot of friends and met a lot of girls.
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