Best known for their two RCA albums based around the poems of Edgar Allan Poe, The Glass Prism formed in 1960 as The El Caminoes and, after a name change to Shenadoah, performed up into 1976. Guitarist Tom Varano and the band has recently reunited and, in addition to the relaunch of an excellent Web site, is working on a documentary that will detail the history of the band.
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| The Glass Prism |
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| Tom Varano |
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An Interview With Tom Varano
60sgaragebands.com (60s): How did you first get interested in music?
Tom Varano (TV): Two things stand out. Watching American Bandstand most every day and Elvis on Ed Sullivan (from the waist up). Somehow, all of this seemed like fun. Then came the first Beatles appearance on Ed Sullivan. We were in a studio recording a song that sounded like The Beach Boys. We took a break to see these mopheads. That was it. I was hooked for life.
60s: Was The El Caminoes your first band? If not, which band was? How long was it together?
TV: There were goups that I worked with but I was one of the three founding members of The El Caminoes. That is were my heart was from the biginning and would stay forever.
60s: Where and when was The El Caminoes formed?
TV: George Fox, piano player, and I were childhood friends. He lived around the corner from me in Kingston, Pennsylvania. George moved to Berwick and a few months later he told me that he and Steve Bond, drummer, were auditioning guitar players. He asked if I would like to try out. After auditioning every guitar player in Berwick and surrounding areas they said I was in. This was about 1960. We played as a trio and with various rhythm guitar players and sax players. You can consult the Web site for more details.
The official original lineup was: George Fox, piano; Tom Varan, lead guitar; Steve Bond, drums; Carl Siracuse, guitar and organ; and Jim Shrader, bass and sax.
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60s: Was Glass Prism the exact same line-up as The El Caminoes, or were there personnel changes?
TV: George Fox graduated high school and went off to the Berkley School of Music in Boston. He was not replaced. I understand he wrote classical music and performed for years but we lost contact. Jim Shrader also graduated high school and went off to a music university in Europe. I understand that he is head of a music department at a college in the Midwest. We also lost contact. He was replaced by Augie Christiano. Steve Bond died in a car crash. He was the first rock and roll fatality in the Northeast. He was replaced by Rick Richards.
The El Caminoes / The Glass Prism official line up was Tom Varano, lead guitar/piano; Carl Siracuse, rhythm guitar/organ; Augie Christino, bass; and Rick Richards, drums. In 1970 the group changed its name to Shenandoah: Tom Varno, guitar; Augie Christiano, bass; and Rick Richards, drums.
In 1971 Louie Cossa replaced Augie Christiano. We stopped performing in 1976.
60s: Why did the band change names to The Glass Prism?
TV: The El Caminoes was one of those car names that was popular in the early '60s. By 1969 when we were signing with RCA they told us to come up with something new, modern and relative to the concept album we were recording using the poems of Edgar Allan Poe. Thus the album title, Poe Through The Glass Prism and the new, modern and more relative name--The Glass Prism.
60s: How would you describe the sound of The Glass Prism?
TV: The band was a true rock band. We were a copy band with many influences, even some jazz. We wrote songs that fit the theme of Edgar Allan Poe's poems. We were influenced by the bands of our time: The Beatles, Cream, Procol Harum, Vanilla Fudge, Grand Funk Railroad, Trapeze and many acts throughout the '60s.
60s: Where did the band typically play?
TV: The Northeast became a great place for teen dances. We did play at high schools and colleges and dance halls, Catholic youth centers, Jewish community centers, church halls, American Legions, Mason temples and many many more. We did many concerts as the opening act for everyone that had a hit: Three Dog Night, The Guess Who, Procol Harum, Vanilla Fudge; hundreds over the 16 years of the bands existence.
60s: How far was the band's "touring" territory?
TV: Mostly New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
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60s: Did Glass Prism have a manager?
TV: Yes. We actually had a couple of local managers who tried to get record deals. I always did all of the bookings. Our first "real" manager was actually a team--Mort Lewis and Gene Weiss.
Mort was managing Dave Brubeck, Blood, Sweat and Tears, and Simon and Garfunkel at the time he signed us. His new partner, Gene Weiss, was Vice President of Columbia and decided he wanted to manage us. Mort and Gene formed a new company called Marble Arch. We were their first and only act.
60s: How did you hook up with Lewis?
TV: Gene's daughter had seen us and told Gene about us. He brought Mort to see us when we were playing one night. We played one set and they asked us to take a ride in their limo during the break. We stopped at a Holiday Inn bar and talked. We were a bit late geting back but we finished the gig feeling pretty good. Within a few days we were at Columbia studios in New York City recording a demo. A few weeks later we had a contract with RCA.
Later that first year we were reminded that our contract with RCA called for a second album. We had 11 days to prepare for the second album, On Joy and Sorrow. We wrote quickly and even in the studio.
60s: How active was Lewis and Weiss in promoting the band?
TV: Well other than the recording contract that was it. Mort had told RCA that we were going on tour with Blood Sweat & Tears but David Clayton Thomas and Mort had a problem and the tour was cancelled. Gene got us a couple of gigs in the city but I continued to do the booking. We did some TV shows like The Jerry Blavat show in Philly; that was a show similar to American Bandstand, Hullaballo and Shindig.
60s: Whose idea was it to to record Poe concept albums?
TV: Well, Augie called me one day and said he had written some music to the Poe poem, 'The Raven.' When I heard the melody I loved it. We dicided to write some more rock-type songs to Edgar Allan Poe poems. When Mort and Gene heard us they liked the songs we had written. By that time we had an album's worth. It all made sense.
60s: Where did Glass Prism record?
TV: We recorded at Les Paul's studio in Nyack, New York. Les was the engineer. We were at Les's studio for three days. Since his legendary studio is attached to his house, we stayed there. We did go into the city to do a photoshoot on one of the days. That is where the album cover came from. That was at the RCA Studios. We had some experience in other studios but nothing like this. We did every song with practically no overdubs. What you hear is what we did. Nothing fancy. One or two takes and that's it. Even the mixing was done during those three days. Gene Weiss acted as producer. The mastering happened without us there a few days later. They set the machine, turned it on and let it run...dry as it was. On a personal note, I had just purchased my 1969 Les Paul, fretless wonder. I used it on some of the songs. I still have it. Check out the photos on the Web site.
In the years of 1960-1968 we recorded many times in many places. Some of the product did get released and had lots of regional airplay:
Year Title Label
1961 A Little Louie Star Records
1963 We Stand Alone and Storm Warning Bell Sound Records
1965 Got To Have Her and It Could Be Independent
1967 Bulletine and Exidus Independent
By the way, the one single that charted on Cash Box, Billboard and Record World was 'The Raven' and 'El Dorado' in 1969. The one album that also charted at the same time was Poe Through The Glass Prism.
60s: Who was the band's primary songwriter?
TV: Augie and I wrote all the songs.
60s: Do any (other) '60's Glass Prism recordings exist? Are there any vintage live recordings, or unreleased tracks?
TV: Besides the albums, Poe Through The Glass Prism and On Joy and Sorrow, there are more unreleased recordings. Most importantly, when Augie left the group he was replaced by Louie Cossa. We had already changed the name to Shenandoah. We were tired of playing 'The Raven' everynight and Carl had departed. So no organ. Shenandoah, with Rick, Louie and I have an album that was not released. Songs can be heard on our Web site.
60s: Did the band make any local TV appearances?
TV: We did local and national shows. We tried to find some footage but no luck yet.
60s: Does any home movie film footage exist of the band?
TV: There are some possibilities but nothing has been found yet. There is a few mintues with the Shenandoah lineup from a show in WilkesBarre, Pennsylvania. Hope you'll see that when the documentary comes out.
The documentary is being produced by Sallie Productions and Post Sputnik Productions. It is a joint venture. They came to us with the idea just before the Phillly show. Both of the reunion shows were filmed. For the show in Scranton they used five cameras and it was recorded on 24 tracks. Parts of those shows will be used in the documentary. They interviewed a lot of people for the documentary, including Les Paul. They have 40-50 hours of footage to edit. They tell me it should be finished hopefully by some time in January.
60s: What year and why did the band break up?
TV: 1976. I decided it was time to take a break. The guys agreed. The industry was changing. We were a club band now and the club seen was dying. Disco, DWI, etc., was killing the live band seen. It was getting difficult to support ourselves and our families. I moved to New York to try my hand at promoting, managing and booking others. The guys found other projects.
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60s: What keeps you busy today?
TV: I am a concert promoter. The Glass Prism did get together to do a reunion concert in Philly and another in Scranton. These were successful. We plan to build on those shows and do some other things in the future. Now we are concentrating on mixing the 24-track recording of our two hour long show at the Scranton Cultural Center. Audio and video will be part of the documentary. We are also working on a new album of Poe material. We are hoping to perform again soon. We have a television deal set with the documentary and a premier that will include a live performance. Other situations are being discussed.
60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with Glass Prism?
TV: Looking back, it was a great time in the history of live rock music. We had a super run. It was powerful music. It was real. There were lots of great bands who recorded and many that didn't get lucky but had a hand in the developing of a moment in time that those that lived through can appreciate. My hope is that the young generation can have the opportunity to look at what we've done and build on it.
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| Poe Through The Glass Prism LP |
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| On Joy and Sorrow LP |
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