I first got interested in playing guitar when I was 11 or 12 years old. My sister’s boyfriend had an acoustic guitar and showed me how to play one little riff. I learned all of the surfing hits like “Wipeout” and “Pipeline.” My favorite band at the time was The Beach Boys.
Then, The Beatles came along. Soon, I formed my own band, “The 007’s” (I was a big James Bond fan back then). I played lead guitar and sang. There was a drummer, a rhythm guitarist, and an electric piano player. We did all covers of top 40 songs of the day – The Beatles, The Who, The Animals, etc. That band morphed over time into the band “Happiness” – two guitars, bass, and drums. At that time, we started to write some of our songs in addition to Beatles covers and the like.
That band played mostly parties, but we did play one short set after hours at the Hollywood night club, The Hullabaloo. It turns out that The Yellow Paiges and The Palace Guard also played that night. Terry Rae, future drummer of The Hollywood Stars, and Michael Rummans, future bassist of The Hollywood Stars, were both playing that night! I don’t recall having met either one that night, however.
That band broke up, and I went off to college where I began to play local clubs in the Newport Beach area as a folk singer. During that time I began to write a lot of songs and tried (in vain) to get Warner Bros. to be my publisher. Their advice was – get a band!
I played off and on at that time playing some big concerts with a band called “Little Billy and the Astros” with my former bandmate, Steve Goddard (Little Billy), and future Oingo Boingo guitarist, Steve Bartek. A friend from high school approached me in 1972 to audition for the heavy metal band, “Adrian.” I ultimately did join that band that had huge ramifications on my future.
We played some gigs around LA including one night at Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco. On July 28, 1972, we played at Ray Engel’s Straight and Swingers Ball. It turns out that Kim Fowley was in attendance when I got arrested on stage for lewd conduct! A woman from the audience grabbed me in a provocative way that led to the arrest. Ultimately, I pled guilty to disturbing the peace and paid a small fine. This event made a big impression on Kim!
Shortly after that, Adrian moved the band back to Boston where they were from, and I went with them. I dropped out of college and flew to a place I’d never been. Soon, we were rehearsing and started to play at various places in Massachusetts. Eventually, that band broke up and I joined another band with four guys from upper Michigan in a band named “Marfi.” By early fall of ’73, I left the band and drove across the country back to my home, LA.
On my first night back, I went to Rodney’s club where Kim Fowley approached me to be the lead singer of a band he was putting together. He wanted this band to be the “West Coast answer to the New York Dolls” made up of local musicians that hung out in Hollywood. We held auditions and pulled together the band with Ruben de Fuentes, Terry Rae, and Gary van Dyke (bass). We began rehearsing, and, almost immediately, Mark Anthony joined the band. Mark and Kim wrote some songs and we also got some from Mars Bonfire and a couple of others.
At the end of November, we played a private show at Studio Instrument Rentals (aka SIR). A few weeks later, we played The Whisky A Go Go. Before long, we had a lot of buzz and were signed to a record deal with Columbia Records with The Eagles’ producer, Bill Szymcyk, producing. We continued to play around Southern California. Unfortunately, later in ’74, we were dropped by the label, and the band broke up.
Shortly after that, I joined the band “Hero.” We got a manager, Con Merten, and a record producer, Michael Lloyd. We got signed to Mercury Records and released an album (“Hero”) in 1977 along with a single, “You Are The People.” We were dropped from the label before we had a chance to tour.
We then signed a record deal with Twentieth Century Records and released a second album (“Boys Will Be Boys”) and a single (“Boys Will Be Boys”). After playing mostly local gigs, the band broke up in 1980.
Since 1976, I had been working full time in Information Technology. When the band broke up, I decided to retire from music. In 1996, I moved to Connecticut. In 2008, I got a divorce, bought a guitar and a little amp, and started singing and playing a few gigs with some friends of mine in the area.
I had kept in touch with Ruben over the years, and in 2013, he told me that Terry had been contacted about releasing our shelved 1974 LP on vinyl. I connected with Terry who put me in touch with the producer, Robin Wills. I late 2013, Light In The Attic released a limited edition of the album on vinyl. That release prompted Ruben, Terry, Gary, and I to get back together to make a music video of “King Of The Night Time World” written and directed by my son, Brian Phares.
Time went by until 2018. I was in LA for another reason, and Terry, Ruben, Michael Rummans, and I met at The Rainbow and developed plans to reform the band even though I still lived on the East Coast. We added, Chezz Monroe and began playing gigs around LA.
