The Gants
| The Gants | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | The Kingsmen |
| Origin | Greenwood, Mississippi, United States |
| Genres | Garage rock |
| Years active | 1963–1967 |
| Website | www.thegants.com |
| Past members | Sid Herring Johnny Freeman Vince Montogomery Don Wood Johnny Sanders |
The Gants were an American garage rock band of the 1960s.
One of the few outfits of its kind to emerge from the Deep South, the group was originally known as The Kingsmen (but not to be confused with likewise-named Kingsmen who had the hit "Louie, Louie" or a group of musicians from Bill Haley's Comets who also recorded as The Kingsmen) when the band got together in 1963 to play R&B covers and the kind of instrumentals popularized by The Ventures. Their original line-up was Sid Herring (lead vocals and guitar), Johnny Freeman (guitar), Vince Montgomery (bass guitar) and Don Wood (drums).
Several events combined to push the band out of the total obscurity of playing other people's songs at Greenwood, Mississippi dances and into the relative obscurity of 1960s garage-rock history. First, Freeman had to quit, because his parents would not let him play out-of-town shows, and was replaced by Johnny Sanders. Since a name-change was called for they chose The Gants, after a popular brand of shirt with a button-down collar, which is also the French word for "glove". Incidentally, there was another garage-band from West Point, GA also known as the Gants who played one or two gigs in Greenwood as well. That band eventually changed its name to the Outsiders after the [Mississippi] Gants released their popular song Road Runner. At the same time, Herring, who some say resembled Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits and sounded like John Lennon of The Beatles, developed a great interest in The Beatles and began writing original (if somewhat derivative) songs. In early 1965, The Gants were overheard by a U.S. tour coordinator for The Animals while playing in a hotel ballroom and were chosen to open for that band's Florida tour. This turned out to be a typical development for The Gants — playing the first set for more famous groups — but opportunities were limited with half the band still in high school and the other half in college, unwilling to drop out and face their draft board.
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