The Hangmen (Washington, DC band)
| The Hangmen | |
|---|---|
.JPEG.jpg) |
|
| Background information | |
| Origin | Rockville, Maryland and Monument, Maryland, Washington, DC, United States |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1964-1967 |
| Labels | |
| Associated acts | The Reekers, The Button, Graffiti |
| Past members |
|
The Hangmen were an American garage rock a band from Rockville, Maryland who were active in the 1960s. In an effort to distinguish themselves from other American groups and tie-in with the popular British Invasion, they lured Scottish vocalist Dave Ottley to join the group. Eventually they became the most popular band in the Washington, DC area, having a huge regional hit with "What a Girl Can’t Do", that appeared on Monument Records, but had actually been recorded by an earlier local group, the Reekers, whose membership included two future Hangmen, Tom Guernsey and Bob Berberich. The single was nonetheless credited to the Hangmen. The song became so popular that the band was greeted with near "Beatlemanic" adoration from fans, whose enthusiasm on one occasion erupted into a near riot. The group followed-up with the single "Faces", which featured more aggressive sound, replete with a snide vocal from Ottley and a razor-like fuzz-driven guitar riff. Ottley shortly thereafter departed from the band and was replaced by Tony Taylor. The group, now with Taylor, went to Nashville to record the album Bittersweet, which displayed a more eclectic and relaxed approach, which, despite its closing song, a raucous version of Van Morrison's' Gloria", stood in marked contrast to their previous efforts. The album's opening cut was sitar-embellished version of "Dream Baby, which was also released as a single. After additional rounds of lineup changes and in an effort to emphasize their increasingly psychedelic orientation, the Hangmen changed their name to the Button. As the Button, they taped an unreleased set of songs for RCA Records in New York, but subsequently changed their name to Graffiti and recorded briefly for ABC Records.
The Hangmen were founded in 1964 by bassist Mike West and rhythm guitarist George Daly at Montgomery Junior College in Rockville, Maryland. In 1965 they recruited fellow Montgomery students guitarist Tom Guernsey and drummer Bob Berberich previously from a band called the Reekers, who were on indefinite hold after two members Joe Triplett and Mike Henley departed for college. Guernsey, who had been the Reekers' leader and principal songwriter, was reluctant at first to leave his former band for Hangmen, but later changed his mind and joined. The Hangemn now needed a vocalist and, wishing to project an image that would be in line with the British Invasion, guitarist George Daly contacted the British Embassy asking for a British singer. He was first referred to a female vocalist, but she, in turn, introduced the group to Dave Ottley, a hairdresser for Vincent Hair Stylists, who had been in the United States for two years. Ottley was from Glasgow, Scotland, though some newspaper articles covering the band at the time suggested that he was from Liverpool. The first news story about the band appeared in the Washington Evening Star on April 3, 1965 mentioning their appearance in a battle of the bands at the Shirlington Shopping Center in which they lost to the local band the Shadows. In
...
Wikipedia