The Teemates had never performed in public until their appearance at the 1964 World’s Fair—and their uncanny ability to sound like The Beatles—opened many doors for them. Best known for their Jet Set Dance Disco LP, The Teemates also attracted the attention of Scott Muni and became the house band at his Rolling Stone Disco in New York. The Teemates' popularity 40 years later still provides rhythm guitarist Bobby Calumet (nee Pulhemus) plenty of opportunities to perform, while bassist Rich Staff has happily settled into a life away from the music scene.
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| L-R: Bobby Calumet, rhythm guitar; Byan Post, drums; Robbie Lundius, lead guitar; Rich Staff, bass. Front: Joe Shefsky. |
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An Interview With Robert Pulhemus and Rich Staff
60sgaragebands.com (60s): How did you first get interested in music?
Robert Pulhemus (RP): By listening to the radio in 1954. I heard Bill Haley and The Comets 'Rock Around The Clock' and went bonkers. Then I heard Elvis Presley, of course, and I was gone.
Rich Staff (RS): I started playing on an old nylon string when I was 10 (I’m 62 now) and after seeing Elvis. My father had an old phonograph with a ceramic cartridge he gave me to mess with and I figured if this makes noise when you tap it then it should make music. So, I connected long wires to the cartridge and taped it to my guitar. It worked. It was my first electric guitar. My father was amazed his dumb son figured that out. In second grade, in Freehold, New Jersey, my teacher used to have me and a friend get up and sing old Everly Brothers songs out of the old Hit Parade magazines. I found out later Bruce Springsteen went to my school. He would have been in kindergarten then. He may have heard us once and got inspired. Who knows?
60s: Was The Teemates your first band?
RP: No. I had another band that won a battle of the band contest. We were named Us Kids.
RS: I played in many bands in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. Most were high school but just before The Teemates, I was playing with a college band playing at frat houses, etc. Somehow the guys found me and asked me to join. I was really a guitar player but they needed me on bass so that is what I became. I used to love and still do love the old doo-wop. Dion & The Belmonts was and still is my favorite group because I did all the vocal leads on their songs in the bands I played in.
60s: When and where was The Teemates formed?
RP: The Teemates were formed in early 1964 after I returned from the Greenwich Village. Joe Shefsky formed them looking for a rock band to perform a musical he was writing.
The line-up was: Bobby Polhemus, rhythm guitar and vocals; Rich Staff, bass guitar and lead vocalist; Robbie Lundius, lead guitar and vocals; and Bryan Post, drums and vocals.
RS: We were formed by Joe Shefsky in late 1963. We were actually around longer then Bobby remembers. I remember we played two winters at the Metropole Café on 48th Street and two summers at Long Pond Inn in Greenwood Lake, New York.
I played bass and provided lead vocals; Bobby Polhemus, guitar and vocals; Bryan Post, drums; and Robbie Lundius (while in the group, he was known as Robbie London), lead guitar and vocals.
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60s: How would you describe the band's sound? What bands influenced The Teemates?
RP: The Beatles. If you were not looking at the band you would think we were the actual Beatles. Our greatest influence, of course, was The Beatles.
RS: Early on we played just good old ‘50s and ‘60s American rock ‘n roll, like ‘Walkin’ the Dog,’ ‘Midnight Hour,’ and ‘Peppermint Twist’). Later we (played) British Invasion songs. The bands or people that influenced me were B.B. King, Elvis, Sam Cooke and Dion. I always have loved the mid-to-later ‘60s Motown sound.
60s: Where did the band typically play?
RP: We didn't have any gigs before The World's Fair; we just rehearsed. We landed the gig at The World's Fair because of Joe Shefsky's, our manager, state connections. Joe was very active in promoting us. He likened himself to Brian Epstein of The Beatles.
Scot Muni loved The Beatles and had heard about us with an interview we had with Cousin Brucie. That interview came about after the bedlam that ensued from our World's Fair performance. We were all over the news then because we looked and sounded just like The Beatles. Scott had just left either WMCA or WABC Radio and had thrown a concert as a prelude to open The Rolling Stone Disco he owned. We headlined that concert and so Scott had us as the house band in his new club on opening night. Every legendary rocker was there that first week including most of the English Invasion groups. The first night was Clapton, Page and Beck from The Yardbirds with Bobby Hatfield and many others.
RS: At clubs in New York and New Jersey. We played Scotty’s in Nyack, Palisades Amusement Park, Scott Muni’s Rolling Stone, Long Pond Inn in Greenwood Lake, The Coral Reef in Newburg, New York and The Metropole in New York City. The Metropole was a trip. We played there with Gene Krupa, Lionel Hampton and many other really famous Jazz artists. Gene Krupa actually let me sit and play bass with him one night during a break. We also backed up numerous groups as the house band at the clubs we played. My favorite person we met and backed was Little Anthony from The Imperials. This guy treated everybody with respect and friendship, unlike some other big stars with puffed up heads we dealt with.
Bruce Morrow (Cousin Bruce) from WABC in New York heard our released single, ‘No More Tomorrows,’ from our album and liked it. One time we were in the WABC studio after playing a WABC gig and Cousin Bruce said on the air, “Cousin Herbie (my father), drop your drink and listen to Cousin Brucie.” My father was listening, actually dropped his drink and almost had a coronary. Bruce turned us on to Scott Muni, another WABC deejay and Scott took us on his “Scotland Yard” tour of high schools and colleges in the New York area. After that he had us open his club on 2nd Ave. That was a great night. A lot of famous musicians were there that night.
60s: Did you later play any teen clubs?
RP: We played two major clubs. One was in Greenwood Lake, New York during the summer of '65 at Long Pond Inn. The second was a major rock club called The Coral Reef in Newburgh, New York. We backed up musically many major recording stars when they headlined these clubs.
60s: How far was the band's touring territory?
RP: We toured the Northeast--mostly New Jersey, New York and New Hampshire, where we recorded 'No More Tomorrows', which was ahead of The Beatles on New Hampshire radio stations.
RS: New York and Jersey mostly. We also went to New England where ‘No More Tomorrows’ actually was very popular, got radio plays and got on the charts there. Our album was listed on the charts in Billboard in New York.
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60s: Did The Teemates have a manager?
RS: This is something I still have a problem talking about to this day. Yes, we did have a manager and he promoted us well, but we as a band never made any money either from the recordings or playing. To the best of my knowledge— and what I was told by the owner—the band was making $ 2,500 a week at The Metropole and I was borrowing gas money from my father. I don’t know where it all went but I never saw it. Now for some crazy reason after all these years they are playing our music on the Internet and of course we still get nada. When the band broke up, I ended up with my Epiphone Bass and Rickenbaker amp. That’s all folks!
60s: What were the circumstances leading to the band's opportunity to record?
RP: The producers of Jet Set Dance Disco was seeking a band like ours to do covers and record all different tunes involving all the dances at the time. They chose us. We were on Audio Fidelity Records. We agreed provided we were allowed to record our originals which were: 'No More Tomorrows,' 'Nightfall,' 'Dream On Little Girl' and 'Moving out,' which is still a very popular track for garage bands even in Europe.
We also released a 45-RPM record entitled 'She's So Alone' on the I.D.L.E. label. It was backed with 'Night Fall.'
RS: The story I remember is Barry Oslander, the A&R man from Audio Fidelity, heard us at The Metropole and liked us.
60s: Where did The Teemates record?
RP: We recorded at Bell Sound Studios in Manhattan (which later became The Hit Factory). I do not recall too much of those early morning sessions. I was too involved in my favorite indulgences...drinking beer mostly.
RS: We recorded at Bell Sound Studios in New York City. I remember this like yesterday. As we were leaving, I remember the Four Seasons were going in to record. At the time, I didn’t know you would play all your instrument tracks and then your vocals. It was a really good recording. Audio Fidelity was famous back then for quality recordings. I remember some takes over and over again because we couldn’t get some things right. About that time period we hung out with Eric Burdon and The Animals at The Paramount Theatre where they were doing a show. During this time period, our drummer, Bryan, broke his hand and Dino Danelli from The Young Rascals filled in for us at The Metropole for a couple of weeks.
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60s: Who was the band's primary songwriter?
RP: Joe Shefsky wrote the lyrics. Rich and I wrote the music, including editing a lot of the lyrics.
RS: This is where I have another problem. Technically, Joe Shefsky wrote the songs and has credit for them but Joe, while very talented, played the organ and was a “show tunes” writer. The songs he presented to us were not “rock ‘n roll” type songs. Although the basic concept or idea was there, the songs were totally redone by the band to get them usable. We got no credit for the writing or arrangements. Robbie, Bobby and I redid ‘No More Tomorrows’ and ‘Movin’ Out’ and I pretty much rewrote and rearranged ‘Dream on Little Girl.’ The original sheet music I had at one time is nothing like the finished songs on the record.
60s: Did The Teemates make any TV appearances?
RP: Yes. We made many appearances on The Clay Cole Show on WPIX television. I think we appeared on Hullabaloo as well. (Note: If they did appear, it was a local version and not the NBC-TV version.)
RS: We played on The Clay Cole Show, WPIX, Channel 11in New York Citlyquite a few times. Somewhere there is a video that has been lost. My father knew Les Paul and invited him over to our house in Northern New Jersey where the band was playing for a neighborhood cookout. There were many videos taken. My father died some years ago and my mother has no idea where they are. Interesting note: My brother had a body shop in Jersey and repainted some of Les Paul’s guitars for him.
60s: When and why did the band break up?
RP: The band broke up in December 1965. We did not like one another, and we had problems with our parents and manager. Then Rich and Robbie went off to Vietnam; both survived.
RS: The Teemates broke up first, but the band actually continued on after that. After break with our first manager, the name was changed to The Kickers. Why The Kickers? Our new manager, Bill Blackburn, was involved with the management of the New York Jets. We played quite a few New York Jets’ parties with Bill. We were actually (known as) The Kickers when we played at The Rolling Stone, Scott Muni’s club. Barry Oslander from Audio Fidelity was working with us to put out a new album at the time. I still have the songs that were never recorded. The Kickers finally broke up because of Vietnam. Robbie and I both joined the military in 1965.
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60s: Did you join or form any bands after The Teemates?
RP: Shortly thereafter I formed another band modeled after The Vagrants called Nickle-Bagge. It was a very popular Manhattan band. We continued performing in the Metropole. Differences between the bass player, Jerry Vance, and I forced me to break up that band. I then formed another group called The Stockbroker. After a few months, we decided to call it Prince Vernon and The Stockbrokers. We toured down South and in New York City until Mid-summer of 1968.
In 1971, I changed my performing name from Polhemus to "Calumet" and went solo. I moved to Sydney, Australia and became well known as a solo singer/songwriter. I was Don Lane's protege (Don Lane was a night show host there similar to Johnny Carson.) I was signed to a musical publishing contract with Leeds Pty. Ltd. which was the British arm of MCA Records. I returned home in 1972 and went into a booze frenzy. I got sober awhile and then formed another Nickle Bagge which opened for many acts at a New Jersey Park called Great Adventure. One of the bands I opened for was Three Dog Night. Chuck Negron the lead singer and I remain close to this day.
I entered recovery in 1976 (haven't had a drink since) and have performed all over the country as a solo acoustic act while also opening for various Sixties acts like Roger McGuinn from The Byrds (in Santa Cruz in the mid-'90s). I continue to travel and perform where I can. I mostly do a lot of coffee houses and Starbucks. I do benefits for cancer, animal rights issues and the environment. I have three guitars--a vintage 1953 Gretsh Electromatic, an early '80's Fender Strat and a new acoustic electric Ibanez.
RS: I have played right up to the present. When I joined the Navy we always had rock bands on the carrier. The four years I was a technician in an F4 Phantom squadron, I never stood regular duty in port on our Med and Vietnam cruises. We were released from duty the whole time in port to play at the USO clubs. Interesting fact, I was on the USS Forrestal in 1967 when it exploded in Vietnam. John McCain was there too. After the Navy I went back to school to finish my electronics degree and worked for a Cessna dealer here in Charlotte fixing autopilots and test flying them to make sure they worked before some customer killed himself. During this time, I played in some local bands and did some backup studio work but have mostly have done a single act, overdubbing all my instruments and vocal background tracks and plugging in my mike and guitar. I used to do it with a Revox reel-to-reel, but now I use all digital recording and midi on NTRACK Studio. I’m still playing old ‘50s and ‘60 stuff in clubs here (customers still love it) and I play with my church band on Sundays, either lead or bass.
After the Cessna dealer, when general aviation pretty much dried up in the mid ‘70s, I went to work for Xerox and stayed there for 22 years. I took an early out about 12 years ago and started my own company, Yorkshire Graphics in Charlotte. I have played in many places in Charlotte; some I was at for quite a few years. I have slowed down some with four grandchildren, but my son and daughter both play guitar and keyboards and we have a lot of fun playing the old stuff. I will be playing steady at some clubs in Charlotte this summer. My hobby is collecting guitars. I have some old classics including a rare 1967 Guild Starfire 12 electric, a ‘66 Starfire 4, a ‘65 Strat, a ‘67 P bass and others.
60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with The Teemates?
RP: I would not trade a single day with the Teemates for anything. It was where I grew up and learned about being a brother. The experiences of playing with that band continues to produce many opportunities to this day. Though I am kind of low on the booking pecking order, I do manage to find some nice gigs without using a booking agent simply because I was one of The Teemates. We are all still alive and well, though I had a heart attack a few years ago. There was no damage to my heart muscle; just a blocked artery replaced with a stent.
RS: They were some of the best times of my life. We were a good band and going places if not for the war. Bill Blackburn told me he could get us out of it but that was not for me at the time. We had a lot of fun and great times playing together. Robbie, Bobby and I are still in contact and stay in contact with each other. Bobby and I would like to get together and play somewhere for old times’ sake. We have temporarily lost Bryan but will reconnect with him. Of course, the best times for me are now. My wife and I have been married for 42 years; we have four great grandchildren, four dogs, two Harley Davidson’s, a big camper and a lot of fun. I wouldn’t trade it to be a rock star.
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