The 1960's were the best years of my life as a teenager, and a musician. Rock & roll was hot in Del City, Oklahoma. Music was promoted by a local business owner, Bob Woods (Del City Music & Supply Company). I received my inspiration from the British Invasion—The Beatles, Kinks, Chad & Jeremy, The Dave Clark 5, The Searchers and more.
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Phil Manovsky Recalls The Unknowns
I purchased my first acoustic guitar from Mr. Woods. I think I learned every song on the Meet The Beatles album. Later, after learning to play, my father purchased Silvertone electric guitar, and a Silvertone Twin Twelve guitar amplifier for me from Sears & Roebuck in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I purchased many Gibson & Fender electric guitars and amplifiers.
My first band was called The Cardigans. We sounded like a garage band, and were together for about four months. We performed a few gigs (sock hops) for our high school on mixer night.
My second band was The Pig Town Lords. I met a guy from southern California named Ron Cowan, a guitar player who could really belt out songs by The Bobby Fuller Four. We performed for approximately six months in the Oklahoma City area. Ron was drafted by Uncle Sam's army.
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One fall evening, Keith Chambers, a bass guitarist from Del City, called me over to jam with his band. I did so, and that was how The Unknowns was formed in 1965: Keith Chambers on bass guitar; Rick Townsend on second guitar; Paul Trent on drums and me, Phil Manovsky, on lead guitar. We were a pretty loud garage band...that turned out to be a money-making music machine later. The band developed a professional studio/concert sound. The Unknowns could sound like any band we copied, to list a few: The Animals, The Syndicate of Sound, Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels, Chuck Berry, Gary U.S. Bonds, The Shadows of Knight and others.
Keith Chambers managed our band. He came up with a gimmick—the wearing of black hoods, and the use of black lighting during our performance. The band did more than just play our instruments; The Unknowns were active on stage. Our first gig was opening day for the new Del City Community Center. There were several thousand people there, and good exposure for the band. The Unknowns were a hit with the local teens!
The band made some personnel changes a few months later. Paul got married and had to drop out of the band. We added a drummer named Gary Lewis from Midwest City, Oklahoma and a keyboard player named Paul Phelps, from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Our final addition was a new lead singer named Billy Janacek from Midwest City, Oklahoma. Billy had a Mick Jagger-style of performance. This was the final configuration of The Unknowns 1965 (Billy J. and The Unknowns).
The Unknowns was well known in Oklahoma City and the surrounding area. The band won many local battle of the bands, sponsored by local rock radio stations. The band was the first to perform on KLPR Channel 14, Oklahoma City's first UHF television station. The band had a regular afternoon spot (I can't remember the name of the show; it's been 46 years).
One night, local Midwest City businessman Tom Hayes, owner of Talent Incorporated, walked into The Hanger Club in Midwest City, heard the band and observed the crowd’s reaction to our songs, signing the band to a record deal with Foundation Records. We recorded at A&W Recording Studio in Midwest City, and produced a single 45-RPM record, ‘I Want You Back Again’ (to be featured on both sides), written by Phil Manovsky. That was the only song I wrote and produced at that time but the 45 was never released due to the ongoing Vietnam War.
To my knowledge there are no copies of this original recording except for an acoustic version by me recorded in 1965 on a reel-to-reel that I later digitized. There is a production copy of the song recorded by Prodgeneses, a group I performed with in 2002. It's on their Experiment and Second Study CD albums. You can hear it at here.
The Unknowns were musically doing great, performing in Del City for Del City Music and the City Chamber of Commerce at local street dances, and Midwest City at The Hanger Club, The Tinker AFB Teen Club, The Silverwings Service Club at TAFB, various VFWs and American Legions. The Unknowns also performed at Oklahoma City battle of the bands, and at frat and sorority parties for the University of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City University.
I think our better gigs were the Tinker AFB Teen Club, and performing as a opening act at the Wedgewood Amusement Park in Oklahoma City. As I stated before, The Unknowns performed at the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds for the battle of the bands. The band, with our black hoods and black suits, always placed in the top three out of 12 bands. No one ever knew for sure who was in the band. Our roadies set up and made the sound checks for us. Other bands performing at the battle were The Grave Raiders, The Noblemen, The Devilles, Johnny Hughes and The Fenderbenders, The Executioners, Squatty and The Bodies, The Psychos, The Snowmen, The Sound Pounders, and many more I can't remember.
Keith Chambers, our bass player and manager for The Unknowns, worked in concert with Tom Hayes of Talent Incorporated. The band had accomplished a lot in the two years that we were together. The Unknowns were a teenage household word throughout the state of Oklahoma, 1965-1967.
The success of the band came to an end in the later part of 1967. We all were at the age and eligible for Uncle Sam's draft. The band’s last performance was at a fraternity party at the University of Oklahoma, in Norman, Oklahoma.
To the best of my knowledge, today there are only two members alive: Phil Manovsky and Billy Janacek. Today, I am a young 61 years old, semi-retired. I still record, and play around the house with an Epiphone Les Paul and Washburn Strat electric guitars, pumped through a Marshall 1/2 stack amplifier. I wished I had kept some of the Gibson electric guitars from the 1960's through the ‘70s...but I have to admit the gear I have now actually plays easier, and has a better sound! I have a home studio with electronics, and also play bass guitar. I own an Ibanez 4-string. It is a pretty fat sounding axe. I play keyboard, and record my own tracks.
For more information regarding the band, and for pictures & soundtrack, (remember, it's been 46 years so lots of documents have been either lost or destroyed), visit here.
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