An Interview With Harry Varela and Darrell Devlin
60sgaragebands.com (60s): How did you first get interested in music?
Harry Varela (HV): I had older brothers that played music on a record player. The first song I remember was ‘The Little White Cloud That Cried’ by Johnny Ray. One of my brothers played an acoustic guitar and sang; he taught me the beginning riff to Bill Doggets’ ‘Honky Tonk’ and I took it on from there.
Darrell Devlin (DD): My first band was called The Violaters (sounds like an ‘80's punk band). I was in the 7th grade, and we took fist place in the school talent contest. I then joined a band called The Draughtsmen. My dad was the manager. We wore wigs and played at movie theatres for the opening of the Beatles’ movie Help. We told everybody we were from England, but actually I was the only one born in London, England. We were later exposed in the local newspapers as students from La Habra High School. The headline read, "Draughtsmen Hoax Exposed."
I then tried out for a semi-popular band called Limey & The Yanks. We played on a lot of popular music TV shows like 9th Street West, Groovy, Shindig and a few more. Harry was in a great band at the same time called The Mods Inc. After Limey & The Yanks, the bass player got me in a band with him called The Dave Meyers Effect. We played every Sunday night at a hall called Harmony Park in Anaheim. Dick Dale was the house band before us. The keyboard player in the band was Dave Mohr. That was a great gig.
60s: How did you hook up with Limey &The Yanks?
DD: I first hooked up with Limey & The Yanks when my father met the lead singer’s dad at a British club they both belonged to. His dad said they were looking for a drummer and my dad told him I was a drummer and so I auditioned and got the gig. The members were Steve Cook (Limey), Bob Batman (later the bass player for Rainbow), Wally Downing (guitar), and Steve (I can't remember his last name but he played keyboards). I replaced their original drummer, a guy named Wes.
60: Did you play on any of Limey & The Yanks’ recordings?
DD: I don't remember. I think so; it would have been ‘Outta Sight, Outta Mind’ but I'm not sure. I don't seem to remember the sessions, so probably not...
60s: Why did you leave Limey & The Yanks?
DD: I seem to recall Bob Gay and Steve Cook not getting along. I got along well with Steve, so Bob left and Wally and I followed right into The Dave Meyers Effect. Dave Meyers was a great gig. I had a lot of fun in that band. We did an album for Mike Curb which was a semi-soundtrack album called Greatest Racing Themes. We also recorded some of Dave Mohr’s stuff and also the first song I ever wrote called ‘Oscar's Island.’ We played every Sunday night at Harmony Park in Anaheim. It was my favorite all time gig. That was also the first time I got high on weed. I went out before we played and smoked a big cigar joint with Wally. What a mistake! I had rehearsed this drum intro that afternoon for a new song we learned called ‘Fresh Garbage’ by Spirit. After Wally and I got back on stage, Dave Meyers counted the song off and I started playing something that resembled the playing of a three-year old. Everybody looked back at me and we stopped the song and went directly into a song that I could handle under the influence. Oops!
60s: Where and when was Rainbow formed?
DD: I'm going to say in 1968 in Orange County. Actually the backup band for Dave Meyers at Harmony Park turned out to be Rainbow. Bob Gay, Dave Mohr and I were together first and we got Harry into the band later on.
60s: Where did you locate Harry?
DD: We formed Rainbow with Dave Mohr and Harry out of The Dave Meyers Effect.
60s: How would you describe Rainbow’s sound?
DD: I would say we were pop/rock with a little bit of r&b thrown in for good measure. Harry's influences were r&b/blues and mine was more ‘60's bands and pop stuff like The Beatles and The Doors. Dave was into a little bit of both.
60s: Where did the band typically play?
DD: We mainly played at larger places, concert halls, auditoriums , and outdoor concerts, and opened up for Alice Cooper, Frank Zappa, Lee Michaels, Illinois Speed Press and others.
HV: Most of the places we played, except for concerts, were 21 and over clubs.
60s: How far was the band’s touring territory?
DD: We pretty much stayed in California, but would have loved to tour out of state or out of country. I guess we were counting on other people to take care of that, but it never happened.
60s: Did Rainbow participate in any battle of the bands?
HV: No, we never had to do that.
DD: Thank God. I hated battle of the bands.
60s: What other local groups do you especially recall?
HV: The Fifth Calvary also known as Bigfoot, The Chantays, The Rhythm Rockers, and Dick Dale & The Del-Tones.
DD: I can only remember The Stack (I loved those guys) and a band called Wildfire, who were really good.
60: Did Rainbow have a manager?
DD: We never had a manager. If I remember right, Dave took care of most of the business. We probably should have had a good management company; we probably would have gotten a lot further along. We were too young to know the business end. I'm sure we signed everything away, but that's the record business.
60s: How popular locally did the group become?
DD: We were pretty popular. There were a few different versions of Rainbow, but I remember we used to pack every place we played.
60s: Who else played in the different versions?
DD: My close friends Larry Hanson (guitar), John Luzzader (guitar), Robert Snider (bass), Kurt Rasmussen (percussion), Steve Hooks (sax) and I'm sure a few more that escape me at the moment.
60s: What were the circumstances leadign to the band’s opportunity to record the After The Storm LP?
DD: That's a good question. This is kind of foggy but I think Dave Mohr met somebody who knew Gene Norman, the owner of Crecendo. His son, Neil Norman, was also involved. They came to Harmony Park and heard us and offered us a deal. We were in the studio shortly after that recording the record. Gene and Neil were very cool and were always behind us. Even after Rainbow broke up I was in contact with Neil here and there. He was also a really good musician, and has a few records out himself. GNP Crecendo had a lot of popular acts on their label, including The Seeds (‘Pushin' Too Hard’) and quite a few others.
60s: Where was the album recorded?
HV: We recorded the album at Goldstar Studios in Hollywood, which was a very popular and busy studio. Sonny and Cher recorded there. As a matter of fact, Cher came by and stayed for one of our sessions. The Rolling Stones were also recording there the day before we went in. I remember Stan Ross, who was the owner and recording engineer, as being very friendly and helpful to us.
60s: Who was the band’s primary songwriter?
DD: Dave Mohr was a great songwriter. He wrote a lot of songs and could write songs in a number of different styles. He would write a pop song one day and a rock song the next and he also wrote country-flavored stuff also. He had the hit formula down, and wrote great hooks. He also was a really good singer and keyboard player and played flute and trumpet. I was really sad and shocked to learn recently from an old friend of mine, Bill Sheppard from the great band at the time called Stack that Dave had passed away. It's still so hard to believe. We were really good friends but hadn't seen each other for quite a few years. I know if we had gotten together our friendship wouldn't even have missed a beat. He is going to be really missed.
60s: There weren’t any singles released to coincide with the LP, were there?
HV: Not that I'm aware of and I don't know why.
DD: We had some really good single material on the record, and it's a shame that one wasn't released; that could have put us on the map.
60s: What do you think when listening to the LP today?
HV: It brings back memories of recording it and the good times.
DD: I actually enjoyed some of the songs and some not so much, but it does make me think about Dave and what a great time that was in my life.
60s: Are there any unreleased Rainbow songs, or do any live recordings exist?
HV: I have three or four live tape recordings of Rainbow playing.
DD: I don't think any unreleased tracks exist, but I also have some live club recordings. I also have some recordings of Dave Mohr originals just before Harry joined the band to complete the line-up. Dave Meyers played guitar on the ones I have. Actually one of the songs was ‘ Mary Lou,’ which ended up on the Rainbow album.
60s: Did Rainbow make any TV appearances?
DD: No TV appearances, but we were the house band in a gay porno movie by Pat Rocco. We didn't know it was a porno movie at the time. When we got to the club, some of us had our girlfriends with us. I remember bragging about how we were going to be in a movie and it turned out to be a minor porn film. I think the guy’s girlfriends were a little embarassed, but it was fun. I think footage still exists. I've been trying to find it online. It would be the only footage of Rainbow that exists if you can deal with the porn stuff going on at the same time. I'm so proud. (Note: 60sgaragebands.com contacted Pat Rocco: “The name of the film is The End, which I made in 1969, partially at a bar in Long Beach California called The Patch, owned by Lee Glaze (who's still living in Long Beach). The End has never been transferred to DVD (all my films are being preserved at the UCLA Film Archives in Hollywood) but restoration of it for that purpose may actually be happeneing soon, because OutFest will be featuring my films in 2009, and The End is one of my favorites ).”
60s: When and why did Rainbow break up?
HV: I think it was 1969.
DD: I think Harry left first for personal reasons. We continued on with other versions of the band but none compared to the original. I continued on for years with different line-ups as Rainbow. Harry and I played here and there over the years. We just recently reunited and it's been the best thing that's happened in my life in a long time; it's like we were never apart. Some people change over the years but Harry's just the same and I think I am, too. That's why we get along so well.
60s: What keeps you busy today?
HV: I work for the Orange Unified School District as a security dispatcher. I study and play jazz at Goldenwest College under Tom Kubis, who is a world known player, teacher, and arranger of jazz.
DD: I have a management/production company called RMG Artists with partner Biff Vincent. We record and shop deals for new artists. Even though I don't play much anymore I'm still highly involved in the music biz. I still write songs and do some vocal backup work here and there.
60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with Rainbow?
HV: Hey…the groupies were the best part. Ha! Ha!
DD: You would say that Harry. On a more serious note, I would have to say, "The groupies were the best part."
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