The history books will tell you all you need to know about the great recording centres of the past such as Nashville, New Orleans, Memphis and Chicago, as well as the hit factories of New York and Detroit in the days when recording locales retained distinctive individual characteristics. Yet, there are parts of America that hardly figure at all in the annals of rock'n'roll and the farming state of Wisconsin in the upper mid-West is one of them. It is the state rock'n'roll forgot. Even neighbouring Minnesota gets a look in, mainly because Bob Dylan came from there, while remote North Dakota attracts a passing mention as the State where Buddy Holly met his end in a plane crash. It is also the birthplace of 60s teen idol Bobby Vee. Wisconsin, on the other hand, is more famous for the breweries of Milwaukee and for its dairy produce than for its contribution to music.
Amid this oasis of indifference, Jim Kirchstein set up a recording studio cum-label-cum-workshop, which came to dominate the Wisconsin recording scene fop a decade without the benefit of either publicity or very many hits. Several hundred singles ranging in style from rock to country to polkas were released on Kirchstein's Cuca label and its subsidiaries during that time, and dozens of young Wisconsin musicians owed him their start.
Kirchstein founded the Cuca label In the tiny town of Sauk City, Wisconsin in 1959. His great grandfather, a Prussian emigrant, had settled there in the 1840s and Kirchstein's parents ran three grocery stores in the town during the 1920s. When the businesses went to the wall during the Great Depression, the Kirchsteins moved down to Florida where James was born in 1931.
However, further reduced circumstances soon forced a return to Wisconsin in the heart of America's 'Dairyland' where the Kirchsteins began selling farm produce from a Sauk City street stall. Within a decade, Kirchstein senior had opened a large grocery store housed in a former truck factory downtown. Located on the Wisconsin River about 25 miles northwest of the state capitol Madison, Sauk City could not have been further removed from the mainstream of the record business. The majority of its 2000 or so residents were descended from German and Scandinavian immigrants and the town served as a resource centre for the agricultural trade, farming being the predominant industry.
Jim Kirchstein grew up hearing the traditional 'old time' music favoured by Sauk City's German-Swiss population -polkas, waltzes and schottisch.es - together with a little country music. ("I like old-time music. It's in my blood," he was later to remark,) Although he'd dabbled with the trumpet in High School, Kirchstein did not set out to pursue a career in music. After graduating from Sauk High in 1949 he attended Business College. During the Korean War, he served in the Navy for four years as a cadet and taught electronics at the San Diego naval base in his final year. By the mid-1950s, he was pursuing his interest in electronics at the University of Wisconsin where he attained a degree in the subject in 1958.
Kirchstein had married and found it hard to make ends meet on the meagre funds provided by the GI Bill, so he began selling records from the basement of his brother's Toy & Hobby shop, located next to their parent's grocery emporium at 123 Water Street, Sauk City. This basement store, which traded as Hi-Fi Records, was where Kirchstein learned the rudiments of marketing and distribution. The next step for the ambitious electronics buff was to set up a small recording facility as an outlet for the jobbing musicians and vocalists of central Wisconsin. He bought a second-hand Ampex for $300 and an ancient RCA radio announcer's mike and also purchased a record cutting lathe from the widow of a recently deceased label owner, enabling him to cut lacquers on the spot for his clients and later to prepare his own masters, saving on pressing costs. "That first studio was in a small room in the basement, forward of where I was retailing records," explains Kirchstein. "It was approx 18x20x8 feet with acoustical tiles on the ceiling and walls and a carpeted floor."
This development led, in turn, to the formation of his own record label, which initially amounted to no more than test marketing small batches of pressings ordered from the RCA pressing plant in Chicago. The first release recorded in that small room was by a local country artist named Don Chambers. Next came 'Midnight Express', a rock instrumental by Willie Tremain's Thunderbirds, a long-forgotten band from Mauston, Wisconsin about whom Kirchstein cannot recall a single fact. Kirchstein had originally launched the label under another name but realising his "dumb mistake" quickly changed it to Cuca during the second pressing run of 'Midnight Express', a record that sold quite well over a period (Cuca was the nickname for a Mexican cousin of Kirchstein's wife and he was inspired to use it while calling RCA to ask them to alter the name of his label). A third release, 'Rockin' Fool' c/w 'Rocker', two tough sides by a band from Winnecone named the Montereys, failed to spark much interest outside Wisconsin. However, Cuca's next release was to shape Kirchstein's destiny.
In December 1959, a record rep named Ronny Conway stopped by Kirchstein's store with a homemade tape of 'Muleskinner Blues' by the Fendermen, an amateur rock duo from the State capital Madison, £5 miles away. It was a gimmicky stripped down (just two guitars) rock adaptation of an old country song penned in 1931 by the legendary Jimmie Rodgers. The recording had been made in Madison by another music storeowner, William Draeger, using patched together equipment similar to Kirchstein's.
What 'Mulesklnner Blues' lacked In production values, it made up in sheer energy. Kirchstein pulled the tape off the shelf on New Year's Day 1960, assigned to it the catalogue number Cuca 1003, and sent it to RCA in Chicago together with an order for a thousand copies. Kirchstein sent out promos to radio stations with a note saying: "This is new, we're little. Please give it a listen." This continued through the spring of 1960 - but to little avail. "We had a trunk full of the Cuca 46 and nobody would buy them," one of the Fendermen, Jim Sundquist, told Gary Meyers. "We had given up on it totally." Sales only picked up when a deejay named Lindy Shannon on station WKBH in La Crosse, Wisconsin began playing it. This exposure eventually attracted the interest of Soma Records, the recording arm of a powerful record distributor in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In an unusual contractual feint, Soma had the Fendermen faithfully re-record 'Mulesklnner Blues' In their own studio, Kay-Bank. The original flip side, 'Janice' (a vocal published by Kirchstein) was replaced with an instrumental, 'Torture', to which Soma held the publishing rights. It was this marginally improved re-cut that was to become a major hit on both sides of the Atlantic. However, the recriminations were almost immediate. The follow-ups flopped and hy the end of the year the dream had ended for the Fendermen.
A dispute over royalties led to Kirchstein filing a lawsuit against Soma. Two weeks prior to the hearing, the litigating parties settled for a sum of $50,000 with each side agreeing to pay their own costs. Kirchstein was left with $9,000 which was put towards re-modelling his little recording studio at 123 Water Street, along more professional lines - a mixing desk, more mikes and improved acoustic isolation.
By early 1963, Kirchstein had accumulated the knowledge and resources to be able to expand his studio to three times its original size, an area capable of housing a 30-piece orchestra. Fortunately, he had allowed for future expansion when he'd opened the previous studio a couple of years earlier.
"It was a new structure tied to the back side of the old Hobby Shop and it was considerably larger than the old (second) studio," he explains. "There were columns of lights floop-to-ceiUng, that had different coloured bulbs in them for different types of music and moods. The first eight feet were below ground, which helped with isolation from the outside, although there was not much traffic in a town of 2000. However, since many sessions ran through the night, the isolation prevented our sessions disturbing neighbours. The control room for the new studio was moved from the studio proper to the basement of the Hobby Shop where the concrete wall was opened and two large thermoplanes of glass put in which gave an excellent view of the studio with full isolation. Incidentally, the whole complex was demolished in 2003 for the construction of a new clinic.
Kirchstein's early success with the Fendermen may have lulled him into believing that hit records happened more by chance than design because further hits proved harder to come by. However, by prudently keeping things small and manageable, Cuca gradually came into its own as its reputation as a recording locale began to spread. In 1962, teen idol Bobby Vee brought his brother's instrumental group, the Strangers, to record at Cuca a couple of times, while country star Bobby Bare also produced some sessions there around the same time.
Kirchstein rarely advertised his releases in the trade press (though he usually mailed review copies to Billboard and Cashbox) and depended in the main on the income from the studio to sustain his business. While he was always on hand to proffer advice, artistic decisions were pretty much left to the artists themselves while Kirchstein concentrated on reproducing their efforts as faithfully as possible. He was a stickler for employing what he called "a German acoustical philosophy" in his recording technique, meaning he tried to achieve "un-muddied, undistorted sound through good studio acoustics". This partly stemmed from his fascination with the pristine "Nashville Sound" of the early 60s.
(Much of Cuca's bread and butter income was derived from its old-time releases. These encompassed four major styles - Slovenian, Dutchman, Bohemian and Polish. Other styles such as Swiss yodels also went on record. Wisconsin boasted a greater variety of polka styles than any other State and Cuca marketed most of them.) Kirchstein had radio contacts in Milwaukee such as deejay 0 C White who would send him black American performers. Among the first was soul singer/songwriter Harvey Scales who began his recording career on Cuca as Twistin' Harvey in June 1963. (There were so few black Americans in the area that whenever white residents saw a black face, they automatically assumed that person was a musician or singer.)
In fact the next two hits to emerge from Cuca's studio were both by black American artists. In late 1962, a young producer from Chicago brought soul songstress Jan Bradley to Kirchstein's studio where she recorded 'Mama Didn't Lie' for Formal, a tiny Chicago outfit, Chess subsequently purchased the master and pushed 'Mama Didn't Lie' to #14 nationally in early 1963.
"Black musicians, especially the young R&-B bands loved to come to this little town since they were treated as royalty," remarks Kirchstein. "Often I would hear 'Hey, there ain't no black people here!!' And my folks' grocery store next door (which I had the keys to) was always opened for bread and bologna before the late sessions started -with a quick trip downtown for wine; one could buy carry-out liquor up to midnight in those days. It really was a lot of fun then, not work even, though the sessions were long."
Later that year, Kirchstein signed Birdlegs And Pauline, a married couple from Rockford, Illinois whose debut 45, 'Spring', first appeared on Cuca prior to being leased to Vee-Jay Records of Chicago. It became a sizable R&B hit and also briefly dented the pop charts. "Chicago liked us because we were out in a little hick town and nobody was tapping our studios," Kirchstein explained. "In Chicago they tapped studios, literally. Out in Sauk City that didn't happen so we had a lot of strange groups coming out. Very often the promoters who were often mafia types, would come into the booth and when they'd sit back in their chair, we'd see a gun pop out of their shoulder holster."
For a State that rock supposedly forgot, Wisconsin had an awful lot of working bands, almost as manyt hi fact, as Merseyside in the early 60s, only the world rarely got to hear about them. Wisconsin kids, weaned since infanthood on polkas, were so starved of rock that they lent their keen support to the thriving local scene and would also turn out in numbers for any visiting chart star who'd taken the trouble to make it that far into the sticks. Some of the earlier Wisconsin bands found the going tough to begin with.
"In the early days," recalled Allan Bauman of the Crossfires, a lot of places had never had rock'n'roll bands, so it was either turn it down and play softer music, or the opposite - everybody just went crazy. There didn't seem to be any middle ground." Another veteran of the era, Vilas Craig, recalled: "They didn't like us - especially my father! We had to be very careful what rock song we dared do in the late 50s. If you did anything wild like 'Jailhouse Rock', they frowned on that. We'd play "That's All Right Mama' and they wouldn't know how to dance to it. Often, to secure a booking, I had to guarantee the band could play polkas!"
However, the Wisconsin rock scene had coalesced somewhat by 1962 and many of the younger bands were landlocked surf Instrumentalists dreaming of cutting a hit as big as, say, 'Wipeout' or 'Boss'. Kirchstein would either sign bands directly or offer them a competitively priced custom deal. They would come in, do their session and receive 300 records for $37-50. Some such releases appeared on Cuca while others came out on affiliated logos such as its main subsidiary Sara (named after Kirchstein's first wife), Night Owl and America. Business was so brisk that Kirschstein began pressing records in-house too. He had four presses: two for LPs and two for 45s. (Kirchstein was doing so much custom business that he began using different numbering systems, most notably for Sara releases, creating a discographical quagmire.) It is this rich vein of raw, primitive instrumental rock that has been tapped here.
About the artists:
1. SCALPING PARTY (Gordy Hastreiter)
THE TORNADOS (1962)
2.7-0-7 (Ben Held)
THE TORNADOS (1962)
As Jim Kirchstein's studio grew in popularity, the random nature of custom recording led to the release of three Cuca singles by separate bands all named the Tornados, within the space of a few months during late 1962. These particular Tornados comprising Gordy Hastreiter (guitar); Denny Hastreiter (bass guitar); Bob Olsen (sax/guitar); Teddy Vernick (guitar), and Dan Peterson (drums) got together to perform at 'sock hops' in Woodruff, Wisconsin in 1959 and underwent several line-up changes before eventually disbanding in 1965.
They made their debut on Cuca with the wild double-sides 'Scalping Party' c/w '7-0-7' in June 1962 and followed through with a revival of 'Last Date' a year later.
"We played, for a lot of private groups like the Mars Candy Co. and Johnson's Wax. They all had these big estates up here, " Denny Hastreiter told Gary E Myers. "As a result we had a lot of good bookings down in Chicago and places like that."
According to Myers, Peterson later became a band instructor in New London while Bob Olson went on to conduct the Omaha Philharmonic.
3. WASTED! (Larry Krecowski)
THEZAKONS (1961)
5. TRACKIN' (Larry Krecowski)
THE ZAKONS (1961)
Larry Krecowski (aka Babe Austin!) vocals; Bill Joswick (lead guitar); Tom Tropp (rhythm guitar) and Ronnie Pagel (bass guitar) cut 'Trackin" c/w 'Wasted!' for Cuca in 1961, using a stand-in drummer. Once the record had been released, they recruited drummer Bob Beird who eventually assumed leadership of the band following a series of personnel changes.
In 1963, following a residency at the Piccadilly Club in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Beird put together an entirely new group, the Millionaires, who also cut a solitary 45 for Cuca in April 1964.
4. MOON RACE (Ted Kaspa)
THE CITATIONS (1963)
15. SLIPPIN' AND SUDIN' (Semi-Vocal!!) (Richard Penium&n, Albert Collins, Edwin Bocage, James Smith) BMO Mufllo Pub Ltd/Sony/ATV Music Pub (UK)
THE CITATIONS (1963)
The closest Cuca ever came to scoring nationally with an instrumental on the scale of, say, 'Pipeline' by the Chantays or 'Penetration' by the Pyramids was with 'Moon Race' by the Citations. Comprising Ted Kaspar (lead guitar); Dave Gustin (rhythm guitar); Joe Halser (bass guitar) and Leon Klekowskl (drums), the Citations got together in High School in 1962. Their expectations were modest: "We recorded 'Moon Race1 In someone's attic," Dave Gustin explained, "and put a dub of It on the radio because our ilniinniMi'';; sisUm- worked for (station] WOKY. They asked the listeners to vote on it and I think we came in first."fluoh was the reaction that the band somehow acquired a manager who promptly bought the masterand had a few hundred copies pressed up on Cuca's new Sara subsidiary. On the strength of strong regional sales, he succeeded in shopping 'Moon Race' to Epic, a staid offshoot of the mighty Columbia label which was attempting to tap into the burgeoning market for surfing instrumentals. However, Epic's limited presence in the rock market hindered its chances and it failed to fulfil its potential. (Incidentally, 'Moon Race' was the only Cuca single to be released in the UK.) Arguments with their manager over earnings, together with Beatlemania, soon precipitated the break-up of the Citations, though a revised line-up cut a couple of vocal 45s (as Brad Meyers & The Citations and then as Paco 8e the Citations) for Sara in 1964-65.
6. ROCKER (Wes Phillips, Rudd Hager)
THEMONTEREYS (1959)
Released roughly in tandem with Willie Tremain's 'Midnight Express' (Cuca 1001) in the lull before-the-storm months that preceded the release of 'Muleskinner Blues' by the Fendermen (Cuca 1003), 'Rocker' appeared on the b-side of 'Rockin' Fool', a vocal pounder by the Montereys on Cuca 100S. Hailing from Winneconne, Wisconsin, they comprised Kenny Loehrke (vocals); Wes Phillips (lead guitar); Orville Luebke (rhythm guitar); Rudd Hager (bass guitar) and Don 'Pudge' Pinnow (drums). The band stayed together well into the 60s and in 1962 they made a second 45 ('Whiplash' c/w 'Swamp Girl') for another label. According to Myers, this latter 45 was produced by WAPL deejay Bob Falkner who owned the Gold Nugget in Appleton where the band frequently appeared.
7. FALL OUT (Rick Henry, Wally Messner)
THE STAGE-MEN (1964)
27. ROCK CASUAL (Wally Messner)
THE STAGE-MEN (2005)
Wally Messner (lead guitar); Bob King (rhythm guitar); Ed Lenop (bass guitar); Eric Henry (drums).According to Myers, "The Stage-Men went through various stages between 1958-68. In the early 70s Wally Messner did studio work, both in Wisconsin and Nashville. This Nashville work included some releases with Chuck Glaser of the Glaser Brothers. Messner also recorded back in Wisconsin with Radio Flyer on the End Of The Trail label. He continues to play in the 90s."
8. MOON DAWG (Derry Weaver) Ardmore Se Beechwood Ltd
JOHNNY & THE SHY GUYS (1963)
John Bernadot (lead guitar); Rudy Von Ruden (rhythm guitar); Larry Ganlke (bass guitar); Les King (drums) first got together in Winona, Minnesota but soon headed for La Crosse, Wisconsin 60 miles away across the state line where they teamed up with Lindy Shannon of station WKBH, the influential deejay who had helped spark off the 'Muleskinner Blues' saga three years earlier. Shannon placed them with Cuca for one release, a re-make of 'Moon Dawg', a minor classic originally recorded out on the West Coast by the Gamblers on World Pacific Records in 1960. Though not a hit, the tune was subsequently popularised by a number of surf bands including the Beach Boys who featured it on their first LP.
Johnny &c The Shy Guys underwent several line-up changes, eventually shortening their name to the Shy Guys.
9. HADES (Frank Gay)
FRANK GAY & THE GAYBLADES (1965)
We were unable to discover any information about this group from Rockford, Illinois.
10. REWIND Copyright Control
THE GRAND PRIX (2006)
Hilling from Qreendale, Wisconsin, Grand Prix comprised Rick Berkanovic (lead guitar); Kenny Knoll (rhytm guitar); Don Longhurst (bass guitar) and Jeff Hammer (drums). They recorded just the one 45, “Linda” c/w “San Jose” for Cuca’s Sara subsidiary in April 1962. An out-take, “Rewind”, is issued here for the first time.
11. SANDS OF ARABIA (Wayne)
THE TEEN TONES (1964)
Nothing is known about this combo.
18. WAR PARTY (Harry Wheelock, Bob Dix)
THE OATALINAS (1962)
Al Posniak (rhythm guitar); Harry Wheelock (lead guitar); Bob Dix (bass guitar); Jim Kelly (drums). Formed by Al Posniak in late 1961, the Catalinas managed to trick out the humblest of beginnings into a pro career for more years than they had ever imagined. In the beginning the three inexperienced young guitarists resorted of borrowing drummers from other bands on a gig-by-gig basis. "There are no words to describe how bad we were," Posniak told Gary Meyers, "but we went over."["he addition of a permanent drummer, Jim Kelly, and i semi-permanent lead guitarist, Bob Mattice, (both 'rom the Phaetons) heralded an improvement in their .echnique and the Catalinas local reputation grew to ;he point where they landed a deal with Chess Records )f Chicago, though in the event no records appeared. Phe first release, 'War Party', cut for Cuca in late 1962, was also their most successful. Eventually, the Catalinas graduated from teen hangouts to nightclubs md bars by which time they were known as the Golden Jatalinas and sported gold suits, gold shoes and golden lair. The band persevered through numerous line-up )hanges before disbanding in 1967.
13. ROTATION (Vilas Craig)
THE SIX SHOOTERS (1960)
S3. THIS WAY OUT (Wally Henel)
THE FUSTS (1960)
Though Vilas Craig never made the big time, he must have had something going for him because 40 or so years ago in pockets of Wisconsin, he was never out of work. On longevity alone, Craig and his band, the Viscounts, were closet legends among a lot of blue-collar Wisconsin folk enjoying a weekend razzle.
A farm boy from Richland Center, Wisconsin where he was born in 19S8, Craig liked to see himself as a combination of Elvis and Ricky Nelson, though In truth he did not look or sound like either. Along the way, Craig, who was something of an entrepreneur, got to make quite a few records in his own right and produce sessions for other artists. As band members came and went over the years, the Viscounts became an employment exchange for jobbing musos looking for their next gig. Craig's first record, 'Spring Fever' on the Rif label was recorded on the same day in April 1959 that Bobby Vee & The Shadows came in to record their first hit 'Susie Baby' at the Kay-Bank studios in Minneapolis. The following year, with Jim Klrchsteln's help, Craig set up his own label, International Artists, and began using the Cuca studios as his home base, producing protegees such as Steve Sperry and an instrumental group, the Purys, heard here with "This Way Out' which dates from September I960.
Hailing from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, they comprised Wally Henel (lead guitar); Steve Getschou (rhythm guitar); Dennis Radloff (bass guitar) and Joel Jetzer (drums). Radloff was co-opted into Craig's band, the Viscounts, but was killed in 1961 when their vehicle was in collision with a drink-driver.
September 1960 also saw the release of 'Rotation' by the Six Shooters, on the b-side of their rehash of Huey Smith's 'Don't You Just Know It' put out by Cuca in an attempt to compete with the Fendermen's version on Soma. 'Rotation' had in fact been waxed a year earlier as 'Spin' by Vilas Craig and the Viscounts on International Artists, before being re-cycled as a Six Shooters b-side on Cuca, the bands being one and the same.
14. CYCLONE (Ron Thompson)
THE NOCTURNES (1963)
Ron Thompson (lead guitar); Larry Gilbert (bass guitar); George Cash (saxophone); Mike Wish (drums) A short-lived band led by guitarist Ron Thompson who recorded the tough one-shot instrumental 'Switchblade' for Soma Records back in 1989. Thompson later formed the Nocturnes and cut 'Cyclone' c/w 'Jambalaya Rock' for Cuca in the summer of 1963. They recorded a second 45, 'Hello Josephine', for Cuca over a year later. Thompson is believed to have moved to Nashville.
15. HICK-O-SHAY (Hugh Pearl, Dale Dechstein)
THE TIKIS (1966)
Bill Sherek (who was born in Spartanberg, South Carolina) began doing session work as a saxophonist at the Cuca studios while still in High School. During his sophomore years at college Sherek took up bass guitar and formed the Tikis with Hugh Pearl (lead guitar) and Dale Dechstein (rhythm guitar). They played mostly fraternity gigs and cut their solitary 46 ('We're On The Move' c/w 'Rick-O-Shay') for Cuca in late 1965. Sherek went on to form a second band, the Tallsmen, who recorded for the Rampro label. After a spell as a booking agent/tour manager, Sherek launched a successful sound company whose clients Included Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Bob Seger and Kiss. The 1980s found Sherek working behind the scenes as a TV executive and in 1994 he was appointed President of the international division of QVC, a TV home shopping conglomerate.
17. THE LONELY HUNS (Michael Pease)
ATTILA & THE HUNS (1965)
Mike Pease (lead guitar); Doug Deul (rhythm guitar); Barry Berdal (bass guitar); Walter Staniec (drums) Attila Sc the Huns were from a later generation of bands having formed in April 1964 in Thorp, Wisconsin. The wistful 'The Lonely Huns' appeared on the flip of their debut 45, 'Cherry', on Cuca's Sara subsidiary in January 1965. From there they switched to the Magic Touch label and later changed their name to Filet Of Soul, cutting records into the early 70s.
18. SPIN OUT (T Kropp)
THE TEEN'S MEN (1960)
Nothing is known about this combo.
19. ODYSSEY (Mickey Lymes)
THE THUNDERMEN (8005)
Al Fremstad (vocals; Rick Hoehn (guitar); Gerry Johnson (bass guitar); Mickey Lynnes (drums) The Thundermen hit big to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, with their self-produced version of Barrett Strong's 'Money' (a staple for Wisconsin bands) on the Soma label. After a gap of nearly a year, they followed up with their version of 'Night Train' released on Cuca as by Al and Gerry Jay & the Thundermen in July 1963. 'Odyssey' (Heard here), is a cut from an unissued follow-up session recorded for Cuca later that year. They were to disband in 1964.
20. RAWHIDE (Link Wray, Milton Grant) Asterisk Music
HE VIKINGS (196S)
Comprising Leon Halverston (vocals); Cliff Hanson (lead guitar); Carl Hintz (rhythm guitar); Bob Hinze (bass guitar) and Tom Stubler (drums) this callow teenaged band cutjust the one 45 for Cuca in June 1962. 'Rawhide' (originally a hit for Link Wray in 1959) appeared as the b-side of the Vikings' revival of Buddy Holly's 'Rave On'.
21. MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (Willy Tremain)
WILIJE TREMAIN'S THUNDERBIRDS (1959)
A small quantity of Cuca's debut release, 'Midnight Express', was pressed on an earlier label (as by Willy Tremain's Thunderbirds) in July 1959 but mid-way through the run. Kirchstein instructed the pressing plant to change the name of the label to Cuca and to amend the artist credit to Willie Tremain's Thunderbirds. The distinctive Cuca logo would not come into use until late 1960 and early releases such as this were labelled in plain script. Of Willie Tremain's group, little is known other than the fact they hailed from the hamlet of Manston, Wisconsin.
22. TIC TOC (Jim Kirchstein)
THE CONTINENTALS (1961)
The mainstay of this short-lived band, which cut a solitary instrumental, 'Tic Toe' c/w 'Sue' for Cuca in November 1961, was lead guitarist Vince Megna. The remaining personnel comprised: Roger Roessler (rhythm guitar); Ron Evans (bass guitar) and Lee Breest (drums). A vocalist, Rusty Harding, and a vibist Dennis Madigan (formerly of the Bonnevilles) were subsequently added to the band. Milwaukee born Megna re-located to LA in 1966 where he worked as a sideman with a number of name artists including Bobby Hart (of Boyce and Hart), Moby Grape and Ray Peterson before becoming a practising attorney in the mid-?0s. According to Myers, "Since 1982 Megna has been selling prints of his drawings of famous baseball players."
24. THE VOODOO WALK (Betty Moore, Harvey Scales)
THE VOODOOS (1963)
'The Voodoo Walk' originally appeared as 'Voo Doo Walk', the instrumental B-side of 'Long Hot Summer', an early 45 by Soul songstress Betty Moore released on Cuca in June 1963. It was recorded at the same session as Twistin' Harvey's (Harvey Scales) Cuca 45 'The Clock' and the musicians featured on this exotic rocker are likely to be members of a Caucasian rock band named the Del Reys who also played on the Twistin' Harvey sides. 'Voo Doo Walk' was later re-issued as 'The Voodoo Walk' by the Voodoos on an obscure Cuca compilation titled "Badger A Go Go" - Wisconsin being known as the Badger State.
25. SIDE-WINDER (Jim Maas) Copyright Control
THE VIBRATONES (1962)
Jim Maas (guitar); Jerry Schroeder (guitar); Roger Bader (keyboards); Reggie Roznowski (sax); Dickie Leigh (bass guitar) and Gary Van Sistine (drums). According to Do You Hear That Beat, "the Vibrations began in 1958 and continued for 35 years with only a few personnel changes." They enjoyed a hit in some areas with the version of 'Money', on which 'Side-Winder' (heard here) appeared as the flip. Myers goes on to write "with more of the members working their way through college, the group evolved into a club band, mixing comedy and show tunes with rock'n'roll. Maas, Roznowski and Bader all earned degrees in music. Bader now works in the travel business and serves as church music director." (1994)
26. MONDO CARAVAN (Duke Ellington, Juan Tizol, Irving Mills) Lafleur Music Ltd
THE CARAVANS (1960)
Tom Terry (lead guitar), Jack Roubik (rhythm guitar); Duane Schroeder (bass guitar); Bill Weigel (drums) One of the first rock bands to emerge in Wisconsin back in the late 1950s, the Caravans hailed from La Crosse and were originally known as the TJs. They cut their first 45 'Party Party' under that name for the local Lindy label as early as March 1958. In 1959 the TJs third release, 'Baby Doll', was leased to Liberty Records of Los Angeles after registering strong sales in Iowa. In late 1960 they recorded a bizarre version of Duke Ellington's 'Caravan' for Cuca and changed their name accordingly to the Caravans for that one release, shortly before disbanding.
28. WHEN MY BLUE MOON TURNS TO GOLD AGAIN (Wiley Walker, Gene Sullivan) Peermusic (UK) Ltd
THE CROSSFIRES (1961)
Allen "Ace" Bauman (guitar); Leo Weidenfield (bass guitar); Harry Johnson (drums) and Todd Langmack (sax) were the personnel on this recording, which may have also featured Steve Sperry on lead guitar, before he left to record for Cuca as a solo artist.
Bauman and Weidenfield had been founder members of one of Wisconsin's earliest rock bands, the Teddy Boys who recorded 'She Rocks With Me' for the Northland label in early 1958. The Crossfires often worked throughKen Adamany a musician who ran a small booking agency in Whitewater, Wisconsin and whose own band, The Night Tranes, had one of the earliest releases on Cuca. Adamany was later to manage 80s band Cheap Trick. Bauman later went into teaching while Weidenfield joined United Airlines as a pilot in 1964.
Rob Finnis, 2005
Acknowledgements:
Special thanks to Jim Kirchstein and Dave Travis for their unstinting help. I am especially Indebted to Gary E Myers whose book Do You Hear That Beat (Hummingbird Publishing, 1994, ISBN: 0-964333-9-1) was an invaluable research aid and remains the definitive work on the Wisconsin rock scene of the 1960s. Sarah Fllzen's thesis on the history of Cuca Records, published by the University of Wisconsin, was also a useful source.
All titles published by All Rock Music except where noted.
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