The Premiers

Last updated

The Premiers were an American garage band in the 1960s, best known for their 1964 hit, "Farmer John."

Contents

Career

The band was formed in 1962 in San Gabriel, California, by Mexican-American brothers Lawrence Perez (guitar) and John Perez (drums), and neighbors George Delgado (guitar) and Frank Zuniga, (bass). [1] They practiced in the Perez brothers' backyard, encouraged by their mother, and soon started drawing crowds to their rehearsals. They were discovered by Billy Cardenas, who managed and produced other Chicano bands in the East Los Angeles area, and won the group slots supporting artists such as Johnny "Guitar" Watson and Chris Montez.

Following The Kingsmen’s success with "Louie Louie," Cardenas suggested that the Premiers record a similar song, "Farmer John," which had been written and recorded by Don and Dewey. [1] Although claimed to have been recorded "live at the Rhythm Room in Fullerton, California," it was actually recorded in a small studio in Hollywood, with overdubbed party noises provided by girls of the Chevelles car club, who had been invited to the studio. [1] The vocals were performed by John Perez and George Delgado singing in unison.

Released on co-producer Eddie Davis’ Faro record label, and later licensed by Warner Bros. Records, the single rose to No. 19 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in the summer of 1964. [2] The group was then rushed into recording an album, Farmer John Live, which consisted mainly of R&B standards, again with overdubbed party noises. [1] They also toured nationally with artists such as The Crystals and Gene Pitney, and opened for such groups as The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, and The Dave Clark Five.

The group recorded several more singles up to 1967, some co-produced by Larry Tamblyn of The Standells, but none were commercially successful. [1] First Zuniga, and then Lawrence Perez, were drafted, and the band split up by the end of the decade.

The Premiers' "Farmer John" was featured on the compilation album, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968 , issued in 1972; according to the album's original liner notes, it was the only song from 1964 to be included on the album.

In 2001, The Premiers reformed with the Perez brothers and George Delgado from the original line-up, to play occasional concerts and record.

Drummer John Perez died in September 2022. [3] [4]

Discography

Faro singles

Other labels - singles

Lil' Ray & The Premiers
Patrolman Vic Virzera with The Premiers
The Premiers
Re-releases

Extended play

Albums

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Lobos</span> American Chicano rock band

Los Lobos are an American rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños. The band rose to international stardom in 1987, when their version of Ritchie Valens' "La Bamba" peaked at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, and also topped the charts in the United Kingdom, and several other countries. Songs by Los Lobos have been recorded by Elvis Costello, Waylon Jennings, Frankie Yankovic, and Robert Plant. In 2015, they were nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2018, they were inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame. They are also known for performing the theme song for Handy Manny.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicano rock</span> Rock music performed by Chicano groups

Chicano rock is rock music performed by Mexican American (Chicano) groups or music with themes derived from Chicano culture. Chicano Rock, to a great extent, does not refer to any single style or approach. Some of these groups do not sing in Spanish at all, or use many specific Latin instruments or sounds. The subgenre is defined by the ethnicity of its performers, and as a result covers a wide range of approaches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manfred Mann</span> English rock band

Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two different lead vocalists, Paul Jones from 1962 to 1966 and Mike d'Abo from 1966 to 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robben Ford</span> American guitarist

Robben Lee Ford is an American blues, jazz, and rock guitarist. He was a member of the L.A. Express and Yellowjackets and has collaborated with Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison, Larry Carlton, Rick Springfield, Little Feat and Kiss. He was named one of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of the 20th Century" by Musician magazine.

Pete "La Roca" Sims was an American jazz drummer. Born and raised in Harlem by a pianist mother and a stepfather who played trumpet, he was introduced to jazz by his uncle Kenneth Bright, a major shareholder in Circle Records and the manager of rehearsal spaces above the Lafayette Theater. Sims studied percussion at the High School of Music and Art and at the City College of New York, where he played tympani in the CCNY Orchestra. He adopted the name La Roca early in his musical career, when he played timbales for six years in Latin bands. In the 1970s, during a hiatus from jazz performance, he resumed using his original surname. When he returned to jazz in the late 1970s, he usually inserted "La Roca" into his name in quotation marks to help audiences familiar with his early work identify him. He told The New York Times in 1982 that he did so only out of necessity:

I can't deny that I once played under the name La Roca, but I have to insist that my name is Peter Sims with La Roca in brackets or in quotes. For 16 or 17 years, when I have not been playing the music, people have known me as Sims....When I was 14 or 15, I thought ["La Roca"] was clever; right now, it's an embarrassment. I thought that it would be something that people would probably remember - boy, was I ever right on that one! I can't make my conversion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freddy Cannon</span> American rock and roll singer (born 1940)

Frederick Anthony Picariello, Jr., better known by his stage name Freddy Cannon, is an American rock and roll singer, whose biggest international hits included "Tallahassee Lassie", "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans", and "Palisades Park".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Carlton</span> American guitarist (born 1948)

Larry Eugene Carlton is an American guitarist who built his career as a studio musician in the 1970s and 1980s for acts such as Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell. He has participated in thousands of recording sessions, recorded on hundreds of albums in many genres, for television and movies, and on more than 100 gold records. He has been a member of the jazz fusion group the Crusaders, the smooth jazz band Fourplay, and has maintained a long solo career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Feldman</span> English jazz musician

Victor Stanley Feldman was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as an adult. Feldman emigrated to the United States in the mid-1950s, where he continued working in jazz and also as a session musician with a variety of pop and rock performers.

John Tropea is an American guitarist.

<i>How Will the Wolf Survive?</i> 1984 studio album by Los Lobos

How Will the Wolf Survive? is the first major label album of Los Lobos, released in 1984.

Howard "Buzz" Feiten is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, session musician, and luthier. He is best known as a lead and rhythm guitarist and for having patented a tuning system for guitars and similar instruments. Feiten also manufactures and markets solid-body electric guitars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Blues Project</span> American rock band

The Blues Project is a band from the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City that was formed in 1965 and originally split up in 1967. Their songs drew from a wide array of musical styles. They are most remembered as one of the most artful practitioners of pop music, influenced as it was by folk, blues, rhythm & blues, jazz and the pop music of the day.

Robert Glynn Luman was an American country and rockabilly singer-songwriter.

<i>La Pistola y El Corazón</i> 1988 studio album by Los Lobos

La Pistola y El Corazón is the fourth album by the Mexican American rock group Los Lobos, released in September 1988 on Slash/Warner Bros. Records. The mini-album is dedicated to Tejano/Mariachi folk music. It won a Grammy Award in 1989 for Best Mexican-American Performance.

The Blendells were a 1960s Mexican American brown-eyed soul group from East Los Angeles, California. They garnered success in 1964 with their Latin-tinged cover of Little Stevie Wonder's "La La La La La", written by Clarence Paul. During the brief time they were together, they performed at venues such as the famous Shrine Auditorium. Their tours included performances in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon and the state of Washington. They shared the stage with The Dave Clark Five, Roy Orbison, Dick Dale, The Ventures, The Shirelles, The Drifters, The Coasters, and Chuck Berry. Though little known today, The Blendells retain a cult following in West Coast Mexican American communities.

Mark & the Escorts was an American rock and roll band from Los Angeles, California.

"Farmer John" is a song written by Don "Sugarcane" Harris and Dewey Terry, and first recorded by the two as the American R&B duo Don and Dewey, in 1959. Although the original version of the composition did not receive much attention, it was reinvigorated by the garage rock band the Premiers, whose raving remake of the song was released in 1964. The song's raw and partying atmosphere was immensely popular, reaching number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100. Following the group's national success, several additional interpretations of "Farmer John" were released, making the tune a classic of garage rock.

<i>Papas Dream</i> 1995 studio childrens album by Los Lobos with Lalo Guerrero

Papa's Dream is a children's album by Los Lobos with Lalo Guerrero, released in 1995 through Music for Little People/Warner Bros. It features, among others, the Children's Coro of Los Cenzontles Musical Arts Center of San Pablo, California.

The Romancers were an American Chicano rock band from the Eastside of Los Angeles, who were active in the 1960s. They were one of the first East L.A. bands to record and paved the way for acts such as the Premiers and Cannibal & the Headhunters. The Romancers made two albums on Del-Fi Records and a string of singles for Eddie Davis' Linda label. Max Uballez was the group's leader, chief songwriter, and rhythm guitarist. He was involved in song-writing and production, The Romancers' records, as well as other top Eastside bands.

<i>Then Now and Inbetween</i> 1969 promotional album by the Kinks

Then Now and Inbetween is a promotional compilation album by the English rock band the Kinks. Reprise Records issued the album in July 1969 to journalists, radio program directors and disc jockeys in conjunction with the "God Save the Kinks" promotional campaign, which sought to reestablish the Kinks' commercial status in the US after their four-year ban on performing in the country.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 1988. ISBN   0-85112-939-0.
  2. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 499.
  3. "We are saddened to announce that John Perez, drummer and founding member for The Premiers, has passed away, and therefore we are rescheduling today's event for Sat., Nov 5 at 5pm to give the family time to grieve". @MediaArtsSA on Twitter. 10 September 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  4. "POSTPONED: Celebrate Chicano Rock Music at TVGB". Sparkoc. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  5. 45Cat The Premiers (San Gabriel, California) - Discography
  6. Discogs The Premiers
  7. Joynson, Vernon (2007). Fuzz Acid and Flowers Revisited. Glasgow, United Kingdom: Borderline Productions. p. 751. ISBN   1-899855-14-9.