An Interview With Mike Popejoy, Jerry Oliver and Paul Porter
60sgaragebands.com (60s): How did you first get interested in music?
Jerry Oliver (JO): My dad taught me some chords on the guitar and then I met Popejoy.
Mike Popejoy (MP): Music was always in my family. My mother taught me the basic guitar chords when I was about ten years old. My Uncle Floyd "Blackie" Popejoy was a professional and could play just about any musical instrument he picked up.
Paul Porter (PP): In the fourth grade we were tested for musical abilities and I was selected for drums in the school band. Playing drums in the school bands continued through junior high school and high school. Jack Tiner and I played drums together in the high school band and when I heard he was moving to Bakersfield I knew Jerry Oliver and Mike Popejoy would be needing a drummer. So I asked for a tryout and was accepted as their drummer replacing Jack. Joining The Sentrys came to me at a critical time in my life giving me some direction. My mother opened her house to us and gave us a place to practice and leave our instruments. (Note from MP: Paul's mother Marie never once complained about the mess or the noise. In fact she encouraged the band and was a major supporter!)
60s: Was The Sentrys your first band?
MP: The Sentrys started as The Red Royals founded by Jerry Oliver, Jack Tiner, and I in 1957. The Red Royals lasted just a couple of years.
60s: Where and when was The Sentrys formed?
MP: The Sentrys "evolved" as we slowly added members. We became The Sentrys, a six-piece band, by the early-to mid-1960s. The founders were Jerry Oliver and I. It all happened in Coalinga, California.
The band consisted of Jerry Oliver, lead and rhythm guitar, bass, vocals, harmony vocals; Mike Popejoy, rhythm and lead guitar, mandolin, percussion, limited keyboard and drums, bass, vocals; Paul Porter, drums, percussion, limited vocals; Jack Tiner, bass, vocals, harmony vocals; Phillip Oliver, tenor saxophone; Rick Weekly, bass, vocals, harmony vocals; and Barney Diaz, lead vocals. All were members from time to time but the core of The Sentrys is Jerry Oliver, Mike Popejoy and Paul Porter.
60s: How would you describe the band's sound? What bands influenced you?
MP: I would describe our sound as mostly classic rock with some country western influence, with perhaps a sprinkle of folk, i.e., Bob Dylan. The Ventures were the most influential instrumental band but The Beatles influenced most of our vocal songs, along with Duane Eddy, John Fogerty, Ray Charles, The Eagles and others—all influenced The Sentrys.
60s: What was the local rock and roll scene like in the '60s?
JO: Locally speaking, we were the main organized high school rock band. There were some other country/rock & roll bands made up of older musicians, and some up and coming developing bands in elementary and junior high, and a great Huron band in The Rhythm Aces. I especially liked Ron Pearson and The Ron-Dons out of Fresno, as well as The Fabulous Road Runners.
MP: It was magical. It was the height of The Beatles and The Ventures. It was the time of The British Invasion. Songs like ‘House Of The Rising Sun’ by The Animals were popular. The Dave Clark Five released great songs like ‘Because.’ Duane Eddy was releasing great music like ‘Three-Thirty blues.’ The Beatles were in their early period and The Ventures were developing the surf sound to an nth degree!
60s: Where did the band typically play?
MP: We would play just about anywhere we were asked. We gave dances at the local Legion Hall, Post # 2, in Coalinga, California. We played school dances, class reunions, school talent shows, town celebrations like the annual "Horned Toad Derby," and club dances like The Teenage League of Coalinga. We also played for the Lions, Elks, and other club events.
60s: How far was the band's "touring" territory?
JO: I recall playing at the Polvadero Country Club about siz miles out of Coalinga, and in 2001, The Sentrys played at a wedding at the Officers' Club at Camp San Luis Obispo.
MP: Not far. We once played a school talent show in Avenal, California, circa 1964 (seventeen miles distant) while in high school. I do not remember playing very far outside Coalinga, if at all.
60s: Did The Sentrys participate in any battle of the bands?
MP: No…however the band did play in a competition talent show, circa 1965 (all comers welcomed) at the Coalinga, California State Theater. We won.
60s: What other local groups of the era do you especially recall?
JO: I believe the long time favorite Coalinga's Cold River Band formed in 1968 or 1969. And Marty Adams, Dan Banich and David Davenport had a band but I can't recall the name.
MP: Mainly The Fabulous Road Runners, a great garage band out of Fresno, California. But I recall The De-Fenders out of Lemoore, California, The Rhythm Aces, out of Avenal, California, and The Rhythm Kings, out of Huron, California. I believe all were great bands of the local area.
60s: Did The Sentrys have a manager?
MP: The Sentrys never had a formal manager. The band's leader was Jerry Oliver. But the band decided things democratically.
JO: I wasn't really the leader; they pushed me into it.
60s: How popular locally did The Sentrys become?
JO: My family liked us and Paul's mom Marie, had to really like us to let us practice in her living room so many times!
MP:I believe all of the local high school students knew the band existed and perhaps much of the Coalinga town people knew of The Sentrys but, outside of Coalinga we were not known by many.
60s: Did The Sentrys record?
MP: The band recorded on tape (reel-to-reel) at the local AM radio station (KBMX) but nothing came of it. This was in the late 1960s. We do not know what happened to the tapes. I suspected they were sold to the local state theater. I remember hearing music at the theater that sounded a lot like our taped music. We will never know for sure, though. Of course, we did formally record starting in 2003. We also recorded in 2005 and 2009. Personally, I loved the sessions. I always had a desire to listen to our music as a listening audience member, not a band member (just to hear the sound without feedback from my guitar or other band instruments).
JO: We played for the fun of it, and of course at times we got paid, too: $100 each at The Legion Hall, if I recall correctly. (Note from MP: As a four-piece Sentry combo once in the ‘60s we made $600 for a fifteen-minute performance at the Coalinga "Horned Toad Derby." It was the most money per hour I ever made and still remains my record! The "Horned Toad Derby" is an annual town celebration and is still celebrated.
MP: Albeit, in the 1960s, no one offered to record us except Desilu Productions in Los Angles. This was the reason for the radio reel-to-reel recordings. The recordings were supposed to be sent south so the "man" could hear what we sounded like under controlled conditions with "practiced" renditions. The "deal" with Desilu Productions fell through the morning we were to head south to record. We got a call saying that Desilu Productions had cancelled. It broke our hearts! We could not afford to record on our own, back in the ‘60s.
60s: Did The Sentrys write many original songs? Who was the band's primary songwriter?
MP: The Sentrys has nine original recorded songs. Since the entire band contributed, no one member takes full credit, by agreement. Jerry Oliver wrote the lyrics to ‘Gal From Oklahoma.’ Barney Diaz wrote the lyrics to ‘Lesson Learned,’ ‘On the Rebound,’ and ‘William's Light.’ I wrote the lyrics to ‘Time Is Cruel,’ ‘Peligro, Darling,’ and ‘Norine's Theme.’ The band worked together to devise chord progressions and melodies. The band worked as a unit on ‘Mandolin Slide,’ and ‘Levitation I and II.’ All of the band members contributed something to each song.
60s: Did the band make any local TV appearances? Does any home movie film footage exist of the band?
MP: I do not think The Sentrys ever appeared on television. I do not think any home movie film footage was ever shot.
60s: What year and why did the band break up?
MP: Like The Eagles, we never broke up! There were times of disagreement, of course, but as is said, "Time heals all wounds," or sometimes, "time wounds all heals!"
JO: Marriage, college, and the armed forces.
60s: Did you join or form any bands immediately after The Sentrys?
JO: I played a few gigs with a pick-up band while attending Fresno State College, but nothing that lasted long enough to give a name to.
MP: Paul and I were once in a band called The Sheiks. However, The Sheiks never really got off the ground or ever "got their camel to get up off the sand," as it were!
PP: After The Sentrys went their separate ways, I played with a country western band with Ray Horn, Bill Ogden, Perry Rhoades and others. And then January 1968, I went into the military.
60s: How often, and where, do you perform today?
JO: Mostly I perform in the john and sing in the shower. Logistics keeps us from performing publicly any more, so getting together occasionally and recording from time to time will have to do. I spend my spare time marketing insurance products for Blue Cross and The Principal Financial Group. You wouldn't happen to need any life insurance, would you?
MP: The Sentrys is now winding down. We will probably never appear on stage again, unless it is on a stage out of town! The band membership has dwindled down to three and we live just too far apart to continue. Jerry Oliver and I will, from time to time, get together to "pick and grin," but that as they say will be that! As George Harrison said, "All things must pass!" I now work for an oil company here in Taft, California. I work twelve hours per day on a seven day on and seven day off basis. My wife, Sandra, and I love to travel. We go to Ashland, Oregon to The Shakespearean Theater whenever we can.
60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with The Sentrys?
JO: Whenever I can get through a whole song without an error it can be almost as good as sex, but that doesn't happen often, if at all! I do believe that it has been one of my most satisfying overall experiences in the last 63 years. I know there have and will be a great number of bands in this world, but what percentage of this world's population have made music with four or five good friends for the public and recorded for posterity?
MP: It has not been as good as sex; however, it has been one of the greatest pleasures of my humble, simple life.
PP: Being in The Sentrys has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life—especially after all these years.
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