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From Mike McFadden (Mile Ends, Superfine Dandelion)
"We did a lot of gigs, I don't remember them all until we auditioned for the Fifth Estate. Once we got that gig we never worked anywhere else except for JD's. As the Mile Ends had been together for about 3 years Ed Black and myself were leaning towards more of a folk sound. So Ed and I had been hanging around with fellow Phoenician Mike Collins and Rick Anderson from the band The Caravels. We already had been promised the gig at the Fifth Estate so we left the Mile Ends and the Superfine Dandelion was born. When we became the Dandelion Jim Musil became our "Manager" and we worked where he told us to work. Most of the recording sessions are a blur to me probably because as they say of the sixties, "if you remember them you weren't really there." Mike Condello helped out on some of the Mile End Recordings, I was in awe of him at the time. Now I miss him terribly."
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The Vibratos during "I'll Be Back" sessions.
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From Jim Vannier (The Vibratos)
"True to his word, Sonny Knight arranged a recording session for us at Audio Recorders. I think it was Steve and Sonny who picked out the Beatles "I'll be Back" as it was on an album but not released as a single. It was 4 part harmony so we all sang. We wanted to do the other side with something completely different, so we chose Eddie Cochran's "Something Else" sung by Gary. We were in the small Studio B at the old Audio Recorders on 7th Street below Indian School, we didn't have a clue about recording...we were in and out of there in probably 4 hours total. Sonny said to listen to KRIZ and ran out with the master to have some discs pressed, and then to the radio station...I think Tony Evans was the on-air DJ who announced, "Here's the just recorded single from the Vibratos. It will be out tomorrow in the record shops," and he played both sides. The record got lots of airplay on both KRUX and KRIZ and went to number 18 or something like that on the Top 40 it's first week, then to number 2 it's second week out. What Sonny neglected to do was get approval from the Beatles, so he got a call during the second week, and the record got withdrawn from release."
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From Mark Bryson (The Hearsemen)
"Closer to the center of our world was 'The Fifth Estate,' a room full of teenagers dancing and listening, Go-Go Girls (April & Charlie) gyrating and The Hearsemen layin' down the sounds. To me it was 'The Cavern' (Liverpool) or the 'Crawdaddy Club' (London) of Tempe. I saw 'The Doors,' 'Them' and 'The Leaves' there on nights we didn't play. As the months flew by the band's sound evolved. I was doing a lot more vocals; harmonica too. 'The Who,' 'Stones,' 'Beatles,' 'Kinks' and 'Yardbirds' populated our songlist. We were sent English releases of songs from Max's penpal, some of which were never released stateside. Surf songs became last year's model."
From Connie J. Shannon (Fan)
"When I first saw and heard The Vibratos, there were five of them. Steve Dodge (Lead Guitar), Jim Vannier (Rhythm Guitar), Gary Melgaard (Bass), David Ledbetter (Drums), and Wally Yohn (Saxaphone). This band was different than any band my friends and I had ever heard. Their sound was exceptional as was their talent and they were all really cute too! After the Sunnyslope Armory, Lee Graber, who ran The Playmate Club was so impressed by The Vibratos that he wanted them for the new teenage club he was about to open called The Pacesetter."
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From Steve Lewis (Black Knights, Your Friends)
"In 1964, I got my first drum set from a "Wards" catalog. It was a gold sparkle "Kent," consisting of a bass drum, tom tom, snare, hi-hat, and a cymbal. I started a band called the "Black Knights." We had Gary Gilbert on the Accordian, Tom Jonas and Gary Llewellan on Guitars, and myself (Steve Lewis) on drums. We wore all black clothing, and combed our hair down so we looked as much like the British musicians as we could. Our first gig was a private party for some high school kids older than us. We didn't know a lot of songs, but were able to crank out stuff like "Tequila" by the Champs, "Green Onions" by Booker T and the MG's, "Gloria" by Them, and "Wipe Out" by The Surfari's. Of course, we played "Louie, Louie" too. It was such a rush that we knew this was what we wanted to do from then on."
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