--They dress as mummies when they play live and drive around in a hearse. I don't know what they dress like off stage but I like to think they dress like mummies all the time.
--They call their music "Budget Rock" because they play used, outdated and often broken equipment. They recorded their first singles on a cassette four track. They recorded everything live and mixed as they recorded. In other words, one of the band members ran the board as they played.
-They recorded their early tunes on their own, "Pre-B.S" record label.
--Their music was influenced by sixties garage bands like The Wailers and The Sonics.
--For years they refused to release any of their albums on CD. They have since relented.
--The Mummies broke up around 1994 but re-group a few times a year to play festivals.
--They have a website now but hate social media, so no Facebook, Twitter etc...
On this episode of the podcast I will be playing all vinyl from my really scratchy record collection. As always recorded in beautiful lo-fidelity. Pops, scratches and skips included! Featuring music by The Edgar Winter Group, The Sir Douglas, Quintet, Papa John Creach, The Lovin' Spoonful, Booker T. & The Mgs and one of the weirdest records to hit the Billboard charts. LISTEN
PLAYLIST
Beautiful Delilah. The Kinks
Hip-Hug-Her. Booker T. & The Mgs
Ambrose Part 5. Linda Laurie
Make Up Your Mind. Lovin' Spoonful
Hippy, Hippy Shake. The Swinging Blue Jeans
Topsy (Part 2) Cozy Cole
She's About A Mover. Sir Douglas Quintet
I Got News For You. Edgar Winter Group
Batman Theme. The Ventures
Time Out For Sex. Papa John Creach
I first ran across "The Cave" by Gary "Spider" Webb a few years ago on a digital compilation called, "Beats From Badsville". The album consisted of a bunch of rare and strange 45s from The Cramp's (Lux Interior and Poison Ivy's) record collection.
Having always had a penchant for cheesy low budget records from the early sixties, I instantly fell in love with this recording.
The record came out on Bamboo Records back in 1961. Bamboo was one of the dozens of small independent record labels that popped up around Los Angeles as rock n roll was taking off. Unlike most of the major labels at the time, the Indy labels seemed to put out just about anything they could in hopes of making the charts or, at the very least, making the record company a couple of quick bucks.
I am not sure what exactly Bamboo's motive was by releasing this record but I am sure happy they did. Basically, "The Cave" is a combination of a Disney storybook record gone bad and The Sufaris' "Wipeout".
Gary "Spider" Webb (far left) with The
Hollywood Argyles.
The 45 acts out the story of two teenagers stuck inside of a cave. How they got in there no one knows, but they sure are having trouble getting out. To make matters worse, they have been separated and can't find each other in the dark. And there's bats.
While the kids call for each other and scream, the musical accompaniment rocks in fine sixties fashion with a cool guitar lick and crazed drumming. The crazed drummer just happens to be, our hero, Gary "Spider" Webb.
Who exactly was Gary Webb? To tell the truth, I haven't been able to find much information.. From what I can find, he was a touring member of The Hollywood Argyles of "Alley Oop" fame. Althoug he toured to support the song, he apparently was not on the recording.
In addition to "The Cave", he also released a single called, "Drum City" on Donna Records a couple of years later. A very cool surfesque instrumental, it is a much more mainstream recording than his first release.
"Drum City" (1963) Donna Records
And that is pretty much all I know about the mysterious Gary "Spider" Webb. I ran across some comments about him on YouTube from a guy who claims to be his nephew. I tried to make contact but never received a reply.
Did Mr. Webb release more recordings? Did he do any session drumming on any records?. Who came up with the crazy idea for "The Cave"?
One of the stranger things I ran across recently was a recording called, "Science Friction Parts 1&2" by The Sci-Fis. It was released in 1964 on Era Records and is pretty much your standard early sixties instrumental. Except, about half way through part 1 of the recording, the guitarist and the drummer briefly go into a note for note ripoff of the riff that was played on "The Cave". Could the Sci-Fis drummer be you know who?
If you know Gary "Spider" Webb, please tell him how much I like his record. If you have any information on any of his recordings or anything else he was involved in, let me know. You can drop me a line at, rnrcasey@gmail.com
In the meantime, take a listen to, "The Cave". If you like the sound of a couple of distressed spelunkers backed by So-Cals answer to Gene Krupa, you're gonna dig this record.
