The Fabulous Wailers: The Early Years

The Fabulous Wailers: The Early Years

Marissa M. Edwards June 4th, 2017 T ARTS 225 University of Washington Tacoma

The Fabulous Wailers: The Early Years

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The Tacoma, Wash. music scene has a long history of being leading of edge. During the 1950’s rockabilly music was filling the clubs like The Black and Tan, Birdland, and Evergreen Ballroom in Tacoma. It was in the early 1960’s when the rock music explosion hit the northwest.

The Wailers are recognized as the first American garage rock band. (Skok, 1993) The beginning years of the band are important to understand how they became this influence to grunge and rock music today. To explore how this came to be, I will review who they are, their sound, records, touring, and where are The Fabulous Wailers today.

Who are the Wailers The Fabulous Wailers were founded by Kent Morrill and John Greek in 1957. They were originally known as the Nitecaps. The teens both came from military families that were stationed at McChord air force base near Lakewood, but were born and raised in the Tacoma area. All the teen members of the band were in high school and when they got their first record deal only one member, Greek, was old enough to sign the legal document. (Blecha, 2009.)

The Wailers were an instrumental based band with guitars, keyboard, drums, and a saxophone. Most of their early music has no singing or vocals, but as the band progressed vocals were accompanied with their music. The band consisted of Rich Bangel on guitar, Mike Burk on drums, Mark Marush on saxophone, Greek and guitar, and Morrill on vocals and keyboard.

Morrill was a leading founder of garage rock band. He also was skillful in songwriting and wrote Lucille, Isabella, Baby Don't Do It, Dirty Robber for the band. Greek left in 1960’s and Buck Ormsby took his place. It was reported that Greek left beside of differences and issues with a beer budget while promoting the band in California.

During the 1960’s there was all new band member except for Morrill. The new band consisted of Neil Andersson on guitar, John “Buck” Ormsby on bass and backing vocals, Kent Morrill on vocals and keyboard,

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Ron Gardener on saxophone and vocals, and Dave Roland on drums and vocals. They also had guests vocalist, Rockin Robin Roberts and Gail Harris. Gail was only 13 years old at the time. Roberts and Harris were also previously viewed as competition because the were performing in different local bands.

The Sound of the Wailers The Wailers are an instrumental based band with trumpets, saxophone, and keyboard. The music influence was R&B, as there was lots of speakeasies and jazz night clubs in the Tacoma area during the time.

The Wailers brought that sound with rock or folk rock to produce garage rock or commonly known now as grunge. Tall Cool One was their first national hit in June 1959 putting them in 36 spot on the billboards.

Another song that brought the band spotlight was a remake of Louie, Louie in 1961. “Shocked that the song being cut was none other than "Louie Louie," the record exec-wannabe bolted out of the studio and rushed an already pressed (but label-less) 45 of his band's "Louie Louie" right over to KJR radio where the kingpin DJ, Pat O'Day, put it on the air and an instant hit was born. (Blecha, 2009.)” Today Louie Louie is heard on the radio and the rock version is performed by school bands at pep assemblies. Kingsman also remade this song and stole the shine from the band. (Broven, 2014) Record In 1959 the high school group signed with Golden Crest Records in New York, but later ending up breaking the contract to come home. When The Wailers returned back to Tacoma, "Rockin' Robin" Roberts (vocals), Morrill (piano / vocals), and John "Buck" Ormsby (bass) established Etiquette Records in 1961. The three young musicians created an “enterprise that broke all the old rules,” according to Peter Blecha. “Etiquette made history as possibly the first successful rock 'n' roll company even run by young musicians.” Etiquette ruled the Pacific Northwest's rock 'n' roll scene by creating and promoting loud and gritty music that was favored by their fans. (Blecha, 2009) The Wailers used their own label to record and self promote their own music at the time. Over a six year span, 1961 to 1967, The Wailers released 26 45’s and 8 LPs from Etiquette.

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The Wailers first album was Live at the Castle & Co. (1962) This album was a local bestseller, and sold 40,000 copies within the region. This album featured "Rockin' Robin" Roberts and Gail Harris. (Skok, 1993) Wailers and Co. (1963) was the second album released. Harris left for Hollywood and Roberts left the band to pursue college in Oregon, and when he left the band he sold his part of etiquette to Ormsby and Morrill. In 1963 Marush also left the band and Gardener replaced him on sax. (Blecha, 2010) The band took a new path in 1964 wanting to become more professional for their next album. They were striving to be like The Beatles and so they traveled to Coast Records in San Francisco, California. The third album was Wailers, Wailers, Everywhere (1965). Dangel also left in 1965, because he did not like the direction the band was going and wanted to stay true to the local music scene.There are other albums recorded including Merry Christmas (1965), Out of our Tree (1965), Outburst with United Records (1966), and Walk thru People (1968). (Blecha, 2010) Influences The Wailers being leaders of the garage rock have influenced the rock genre to what it is today. Notable influences include The Beatles, Elton John, The Eagles, and Ted Nugent. Another influence was to then a kid named Jimi Hendrix. “One story in particular that Mr. Morrill shared with me was the band's frequent interactions with a then-young Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix's first song he ever learned on guitar was "Tall Cool One" after attending a Wailers show in Tacoma, Washington one weekend. After that,the gangly teenager was hooked. "He used to come up to us before every show and tell us that if an amp blew while we were playing, don't worry because he brought one with him. (Minster, 2009)” This story is just one of many documented on the influence on the Seattle rock scene.

The Beatles boom was occurring during the same time The Wailers Tall Cool One was released. “In a quiet moment, when the Beatles were overrunning America in 1964, Galehouse postulated that the Wailers could have been the American equivalent of the Liverpool mop-tops. “Tall Cool One” was reissued at the time and made No. 38 on Billboard. (Broven, 2014)” This was the stemming point of the popularity of the Tacomabased band.

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Touring After The Wailers release Tall Cool One, they traveled out to New York to sign with Golden Coast Records. The band had appearances on the Alan Freed Show and American Bandstand with Dick Clark.

(Broven, 2014) For the short time the band was in New York, they did a short tour along the east coast. Shortly after the band returned back home to Tacoma. The created Etiquette and continued to play local venues. When the band was trying to take a new direction in the 1960’s the briefly travelled to San Francisco, but failed to succeed from there. (Sutton, 2009) Where are the wailers today The Wailers split up in 1969. All the band members went on with their lives and did not join any other bands. The band did have some reunion performances in late 1970’s and 1980’s. “Today a new wave of interest and fans all over the world have enticed the Wailers to once again pick up their instruments and play their rock 'n' roll. (Skok, 1993)” The Wailers have played multiple shows in the past few decades to represent their roots in rock music.

Another event The Wailer’s participated in was “Grunge Fest of the early 1990s put the spotlight on Northwest rock. There were numerous calls for the granddaddies of the whole shebang to reunite, and so The Fabulous Wailers returned to the stage with a lineup that included Kent, Buck, and original axeman, Rich Dangel - another late, great Wailer. (Palao, 2011.)” Grunge music was huge in Seattle at the time, and it was discussed it was necessary for The Wailers to attend.

The Fabulous Wailer’s music was inventive and shaped rock music today. The Wailer’s were the first American garage rock band and built the base of rock music in the Pacific Northwest. Their music has inspired various successful rock artist today, as well as got highschool pep band’s playing Louie Louie. Although the band is not the same as in the early years, the members today still represent the originals with respect. They also represent historical influences for communities to learn about the history of rock music in the Tacoma area.

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Reference Blecha, P. (2010, April 04). Etiquette Rules! The Northwest's Reigning '60s Garage-Rock Record Company.

Retrieved June 05, 2017, from http://www.historylink.org/File/8947 Broven, John. "The Wailers." Golden Crest Records - The Wailers. N.p., 2014. Web. 05 June 2017.

Minster, T. (2009, April 09). Coffee with a Legend - Kent Morrill of The Fabulous Wailers . Retrieved June 05, 2017, from http://www.concertlivewire.com/wailersint.htm Skok, N. (2013). The Wailers. Retrieved June 05, 2017, from https://www.history-of-rock.com/wailers.htm Sutton Merri, Kent Morrill, Dwight Gaskins, Gary Favier, Neil Rush, Billy McPherson, John Hanford, Lance Lambert, Allen Lynn. "Wailers." The Fabulous Wailers - Tacoma, WA (1958 - 2011) with a little break in the middle. N.p., Oct. 2016. Web. 05 June 2017.

'Tall Cool One,' The Wailers and the Northwest scene. (2013, July 18). Retrieved June 05, 2017, from https://heraimistruemovie.com/2013/07/18/tall-cool-one-the-wailers-and-the-northwest-scene/