The American Revolution

Sometimes having all the necessary connections does not lead to great success. Although managed by Casey Kasem and designated as American International Pictures’ (AIP) house band, The American Revolution never became the national group that perhaps their talent and ability should have warranted. They did, however, appear in two films (and were cut from a third) and recorded an excellent album.

American Revolution bassist John Keith had earlier recorded with Scottie & The Tissues and The Band Without A Name (a persecutor to The American Revolution) and then later with Edge. He is still actively performing and recording and has several solo CDs available for sale at his website.

An Interview with John Keith

60sgaragebands.com (60s): How did you first get interested in music?

John Keith (JK): I was around music from the time I was born. My mother had studied classical piano, and was quite good, although not professional. She played organ and piano at our church. I was in choir by the time I was seven, and also taking piano lessons. From there, I switched to trombone, then "borrowed" my sister's guitar when I was 13. She never got it back. It was around the time of the folk revival (1963). Then, when The Beatles (arrived), I decided I wanted to be a bass player, so I got an old St. George bass for my 15th birthday, and I was off.

60s: What was the name of your first band?

JK: I'm not sure which band was my first. I played with a few guys from high school, and then started a band with a guy from church. He brought in two friends, and I believe we called ourselves The Victorians. We lasted maybe six months, three or four gigs, but one of the members was Richard Barcellona, who was also in The American Revolution. Richard and I left to join some of my schoolmates in a band called Scottie and The Tissues, unfortunately. We did some recording for the Wilder Brothers, who had a studio behind a barbershop on Santa Monica Boulevard (there is a new studio there now, but the barbershop is gone): three sides of mine (I still have copies of one 45) and one side written by Richard and Donnie Branker, who later hosted the Midnight Special on ABC-TV. Donnie was our manager for a while. Unfortunately, we couldn't land a major record deal.

The Tissues were: Dave Goldberg, vocals; Bob Goldberg, lead guitar; Richard Barcellona, rhythm guitar and vocals; John Keith, bass and vocals; John Stern, drums; Randy Schiller, guitar (left after six months or so); and Bob Chabre, organ (replaced Richard in 1966, after he joined The Band Without a Name).

The band was formed in 1965, and stayed together until I left at the end of 1966. The two singles we recorded for the Wilder Bros. were "Just a Good Show" b/w "I'm Not Coming Home," released locally by the Wilders, and "The Shadow of Your Soul" b/w "They Don't See You" released as The Night People, also by the Wilders. Richard and Donnie Branker wrote "The Shadow of Your Soul." I wrote the other three sides.

I graduated from Westchester High School in Los Angeles in 1967 (although I didn't attend my graduation ceremony because I was playing grad nights- two a night). Famous alumni from Westchester: Howard Kaylan (original surname Kaplan) and Mark Volman of The Turtles, later Flo and Eddie. The most popular band at Westchester while I was attending was a band called The Roosters (Ray Mangigian, Leavitt Earhart, Jim Peters, Floyd Fletcher and Tim Ward). They had a couple of singles in the mid-‘60s. We were friendly competitors.

60s: Why was one of the singles released as by The Night People?

JK: Dave Goldberg came up (with the name) Scottie and The Tissues. The rest of the band thought it was stupid, but nobody could come up with anything better. Then Dave started booking us, using that name, so it just stuck. I was pretty surprised when the Wilder's put out the first single under Scottie and The Tissues. I was embarrassed by that name.

60s: How did Scottie and the Tissues hook up with The Wilder Brothers?

JK: I don't really remember. The Goldberg's father, Barney, was a deejay at a jazz station in Los Angeles, so it may have been his connection, or it may have been Donnie Branker, who, while not much older than us, seemed to know a lot of people.

60s: Where and when was The American Revolution formed?

JK: The American Revolution was a name given by American International Pictures to a band called The Band Without A Name, which had been formed by Eddie Haddad probably about 1963 or 1964. One of the original members was David Marks, who was in The Beach Boys for a short time. Richard Barcellona joined The Band Without A Name in 1966, after a falling out with the rest of the Tissues. He called me a few months later when their bass player left, asking if I would be interested in joining. I was tired of the Tissues, and it was a step up, so I said, "sure."

The Band Without A Name was managed by Casey Kasem, who at that time was a deejay at KRLA and also managed The Knights of Day. He put on dances all over Southern California, and we played all of them on a rotation basis with another band he managed. We also did road shows at various high schools around Los Angeles for Dick Biondi, another KRLA deejay. The Band Without A Name had put out a 45 of "Turn On Your Lovelight" that had been produced by Mike Curb, who the band met through Casey. I came in after the single. Sometime in late 1967, Mike Curb, who had been doing soundtracks for American International Pictures (AIP) made a deal with them to supply them a band with the idea of turning that band into a cinematic Monkees. We were that band. They put us under contract, put us in the studio (we already had a few tracks in the can) with a producer who wrote all kinds of syrupy bubblegum crap, and started putting us in movies. I was just out of high school.

60s: Who all comprised The American Revolution?

JK: Richard Barcellona - guitar; John Keith – bass; Eddie Haddad - organ (originally, he was just a singer, but I taught him a few songs on the keyboard to fill things in); Danny Derda - drums (replaced by Dave Novogroski, of The Boston Tea Party, another of Curb's bands, after the album came out).

We were sent on a promotional tour in the summer of 1968 - 14 cities in 30 days - to promote our album. We started in San Francisco and wound up in New York City. We also played a three-month gig in Honolulu at a nightclub called Russell's Rowboat.

60s: What are your recollections of Kasem?

JK: He ruled us with an iron fist - how we dressed, how we moved. He really wanted the band to be a Vegas-style act. We were constantly rebelling against him. I think he had our best interests at heart; we just had a different vision of what rock stardom was supposed to be like. He and Eddie were hooked up before I joined the band. They were both Arabic; Casey was Lebanese and Eddie was Syrian. So there was a tie there.

60s: How would you describe the band's sound?

JK: On record, it was a very light, pop sound. Our originals were modeled after The Beatles, but the other songs were “Partridge Family-esque,” before there was a Partridge Family. Richard, Dave and I were not happy that AIP and Curb didn't allow us to write the majority of songs on the album.

60s: Did you play any of the local teen clubs?

JK: We were based in Hawthorne, a suburb of Los Angeles, so there were literally hundreds of clubs and dances to play at; some catered to teens, and some to older crowds. I played at the Hullabaloo with Scottie and The Tissues and also the Teenage Fair. There was one in Redondo Beach whose name eludes me now. The Band Without A Name was booked strictly by Casey, and we did mostly his dances, which were put on at various halls around Los Angleses. We opened for The Music Machine (Sean Bonniwell lives close by me now, and we've recorded together) and also The Strawberry Alarm Clock, Van Morrison and Steppenwolf. Casey would get them right after their records were released, before they could raise their rates, and would have them play two or three dances. We would open and emcee for them.

60s: Did any of your groups participate in any battle of the bands?

JK: By the time The Band Without A Name changed to The American Revolution, we were well past the battle of the band stage. Most of them were set up to make the promoter money, and the bands weren't treated very well. Scottie and The Tissues did one that I remember at Ascot Park in Gardena. I don't think we came in the top ten, but the winner was determined by how many tickets you sold, not by how good you were. That was a common format for Los Angeles battles.

60s: Where did The American Revolution record their LP?

JK: We recorded at Sidewalk Sound Studios, Mike Curb's studio. I remember Mike coming over to Eddie's house and listening to some songs that Richard and I had written. He chose four, and we started recording (as The Band Without A Name). Larry Brown was the producer and engineer. When we became The American Revolution, Curb brought in a guy named Harley Hatcher, who wrote and produced several songs, and had studio players on them: Carol Kaye on bass, Larry Knechtel on piano, James Burton on guitar and Hal Blaine on drums. We were pissed, and almost quit en masse. Eventually, they used two of the songs we had recorded with Larry (that we played on), and two more that we wrote, but didn't play on. I arranged the vocals. We also got a song from Michael Lloyd for our single. Richard sang most of the leads, Eddie did a couple, Danny and I sang one each, but I got the lead on the single "Cold Wisconsin Night."

60s: Did The American Revolution write many original songs?

JK: Richard and I wrote together and separately. I think all the songs we wrote for The American Revolution we wrote together. I did orchestrations on the stuff we wrote, and arranged vocals on the rest.

60s: Did you get to interact with Mike Curb much, or did you primarily associate with producer Harvey Hatcher while recording the LP?

JK: We had a lot of contact with Mike. He presented songs to us, introduced us to Mike Lloyd, who wrote and produced "Cold Wisconsin Night." We presented songs to him, and negotiated with him to get our songs placed on the album. He was very involved in negotiations to get us signed by AIP. I remember sitting in an office with him, Casey, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, who was the president of AIP, talking about the idea of them having the band under contract, and what to call us. I liked Mike personally, and he was easy to talk to. He was also all business, so we didn't win a whole lot of arguments with him. We dealt with Harley when we were recording his songs.

60s: Are there any vintage live recordings, or unreleased tracks by The American Revolution?

JK: We did some songs on some AIP soundtracks. I think we have one on WILD IN THE STREETS, but I'm not positive. We also appeared in, and had some songs on, THE GLORY STOMPERS, a biker flick that Casey appeared in, and BORN WILD. BORN WILD was just another AIP flick, and we were the house band.

60s: We don’t have the GLORY STOMPERS appearance documented. Do you recall anything about that film?

JK: I remember that AIP hired a real biker gang as extras. They weren't Hell's Angels, but they were pretty bad. Filming was interrupted when one of them took offense to one of the caterers, and stabbed him. We filmed in a park just north of Hollywood, where they filmed a lot of westerns.

60s: Orphan Egg also appeared in BORN WILD. Did you have any contact with them during the filming?

JK: I don't remember them.

60s: The Band Without A Name appeared in the AIP movie THUNDER ALLEY. Was this prior to you becoming a member?

JK: I remember the movie, but I don't remember filming it. We had a couple of songs on the album, along with, I believe, Davie Allan and The Arrows. I'm pretty sure I was with the band when it was recorded, but I'm not positive.

60s: The American Revolution also filmed some scenes for WILD IN THE STREETS but they were cut. Do you recall which songs you had performed?

JK: I know we performed a song called "Love Has Got Me Down," which was off our album. I don't know why the scenes were cut. Actually, we are in one scene for about ten seconds. It's the back of our heads, watching Max Frost on TV.

60s: Did the band make any local TV appearances?

JK: I know we were on SHEBANG, which was Casey's TV show. It was sort of a low-budget SHINDIG. We were on it with The Temptations. We were on several shows on our promotion tour, but I don't remember any specifically.

60s: What year and why did the band break up?

JK: After we got back from Hawaii, in November '68, we were called down to the office of AIP, and were informed that Richard and Dave were being fired for breaking the morals clause of our contract. Over in Hawaii, we had a great time, and at our going-away party, someone had toasted us saying, "Between Richard, Dave and John, there's not a joint unsmoked or a girl unfucked on Oahu." Eddie, who was bandleader, and a pretty straight dude, was not amused, told Casey, and that was that. I was offered a place in the new American Revolution, but declined, wanting to stay with Richard and Dave, who I felt a closer musical kinship.

60s: Do you recall the band member names of the "new" American Revolution after you had left the band?

JK: I don't recall any of them, although I probably knew some of them. We all knew each other back then. Eddie stayed, and the band eventually was renamed Max Frost and The Troopers. Eddie was Max Frost.

60s: You then joined Edge…

JK: I was a member of Edge off and on for three years. After we left The American Revolution, Richard, Dave and I hooked up with two guys we had met in Honolulu - Bob and Eddie (can't remember their last names). They came to Los Angeles, and we hooked up with a producer named Norm Malkin, and recorded and released a single, written by Richard and myself. It was called "Something New" b/w "Seen Through the Eyes" (which is available on one of the Pebbles CDs). Eddie and Bob left, and were replaced by a guy named Barry McCoy, who played organ (circa 1969). Donnie Branker came back to manage us. We recorded an album for Norm, but he couldn't place it, and eventually we broke up. We did open for Three Dog Night and Sweetwater. About a year later, in 1970,Richard called me to say that he'd been recording with Dave and a British bass player, but the bass player had had to go back to England. He asked if I’d like to join them? I said okay, but I wasn't playing much bass. I joined as guitarist/keyboard, and played a little bass. We then found a guy named Galen Murphy who could play bass. We finished that album and released it through Nose Records, an independent label, but it was a terrible album. There were too many different styles, and a terrible mix. I left the group soon after and got married.

60s: What keeps you busy today?

JK: Today I am busier than I have ever been musically. I moved out of the Los Angeles area to the Central Valley of California. I live in a town called Visalia. It was only 43,000 when I moved here; now it's over 100,000. I play mostly solo now - fingerstyle blues, a little country, and a little jazz. I also play in two blues bands, a Beatles tribute band, and I play in church. I have released three solo CDs, all of which have sold enough to make my money back, which is all I care about. I have recorded two other CDs with The Loose Gravel Blues Band and with Revolver (the Beatle tribute band, although the songs on this CD are originals, not Beatles covers). I have also spent the last 25 years working for the U.S. Postal Service.

60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with The American Revolution?

JK: It was a learning experience, like everything else. We had some great opportunities, and weren't able to take advantage of them, but I really think it goes to show that success in music is a combination of a lot of things: connections, talent, direction, drive, and luck. We had the connections, and at least as much talent as many of the acts that had hit records. Unfortunately, we were at cross-purposes with our manager and producers much of the time.

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