{"id":24323,"date":"2022-12-26T05:30:11","date_gmt":"2022-12-26T10:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=24323"},"modified":"2025-06-15T11:24:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T15:24:13","slug":"it-came-from-asheville-wnc-garage-rock-in-the-60s-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/12\/26\/it-came-from-asheville-wnc-garage-rock-in-the-60s-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"It Came from Asheville! WNC Garage Rock in the ’60s, Part One: Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The garage rock movement of the mid 1960s yielded a bumper crop of rock and roll bands. Inspired by British Invasion groups like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Yardbirds, Kinks, Who and Animals, teenagers across the U.S. picked up electric guitars, basses, drums and combo organs, forming bands of their own. Even though most covered the music of their heroes, a remarkable number of those groups had a good original song or two in them, and a surprising number of them found record labels willing to record and release that music.<\/p>\n

Back in the \u201860s, few of those records were released on major labels, and fewer still made any commercial impact outside of the respective bands\u2019 hometowns. Yet more than fifty years later, music fanatics treasure the innocence and spirit captured in those (often low-fidelity) recordings. A pair of North Carolina-based music historians have curated the new 3CD release. Featuring 80 songs from as many rock combos, the 25th in Gear Fab Records\u2019 ongoing series digs deep into the world of that era\u2019s garage rock scene.<\/p>\n

The Carolinas of the 1960s were known as the home of beach music. But Asheville-based musicologist\/deejay REDACTED*\u00a0 emphasizes that the harder-edged sounds of garage rock were happening right under the noses of the shag-dancing masses. And the collection he has co-curated reflects that, focusing specifically on \u201cbands who intentionally didn\u2019t play \u2018My Girl\u2019 or \u2018Hey Baby,\u2019\u201d he says. And to aficionados of the music, the amateurishness of these bands was a feature, not a bug. \u201cWhat they lacked in expertise, they gained in verve and passion,\u201d says Chapel Hill writer\/archivist and project co-curator Ken Friedman.<\/p>\n

The garage rock movement had an openness about it, a characteristic that connects it with punk of the \u201870s. \u201cThere was a low bar,\u201d Friedman asserts. \u201cYou didn’t have to be the Beatles; you didn’t have to be that expert. You could get out there and create a record.\u201d Playing in a band was often the teenage musicians\u2019 ticket to social importance and popularity. And it was just plain fun.<\/p>\n

REDACTED* was pleased to team up with Friedman for the project. \u201cKen put out the first Carolina collection of garage records,\u201d he says, referring to the classic 18-track vinyl collection Tobacco A-Go Go<\/i>, released in 1984. That would be followed by additional volumes. \u201cBut we jointly made the decision not to regurgitate [those compilations] for the new series,\u201d Friedman says. \u201cIt just seemed cheap to use them again.\u201d Only four or five cuts from those records are found on the new collection.<\/p>\n

Bands from all over the Carolinas are featured on the new set. Some are legendary if only for their names: \u201cHuckleberry Mudflap is the<\/i> name for a psychedelic group,\u201d REDACTED* says with a laugh. Chapel Hill band Arrogance, on the other hand, has its own Wikipedia page; that group featured future R.E.M. producer Don Dixon. And several of the groups whose work is preserved on Psychedelic States: The Carolinas<\/i> in the 60s are from Western North Carolina: the Shadows came from Haywood County; the Jesters were out of Marion.<\/p>\n

While the liner notes (penned by Friedman with contributions from REDACTED*) are extensive, little is known about bands like Hendersonville\u2019s Gary & the Eastmen, and REDACTED* lost touch with former members of Asheville\u2019s own Electric Love many years ago. But members of at least three bands featured on the new archival collection \u2013 The (Fabulous) Wunz<\/a>, The Ron-De-Voos<\/a> and Orange Purple Marmalade<\/a> \u2013 still hold fond and vivid memories of the music they made more than a half century ago.<\/p>\n

Click the links below for stories and photos on each.<\/p>\n