In the spring of 1963, at
the tender age of 14 at 999 Par Avenue in beautiful
downtown Frayser, Tennessee, a suburb of Memphis,
my twin brother Dave Miller and I (Don Miller),
along with James McDaniel, started playing around
with folk and pop music. Later we called ourselves
"The Seltaeb Trio" (which spells Beatles
backwards), and played a few school assemblies. By
the spring of 1964 Robert "Butch" Johnson had
joined in on lead guitar and Al Cannon came in on
drums. We now had a bona fide garage band. Actually
it was a carport band; we couldn't afford a garage.
James, who played rhythm bass on a six-string
silvertone guitar, decided he preferred his
"Maywood day daddy" (Maywood being a local
picnic-swimming pool-park), over the band, so
Lonnie Caldwell stepped in on bass. After a few
rehearsals we decided to come up with a new name.
Al Cannon suggested "A. C. and the Sparks" gee I
wonder why. We had a lotta trouble with egos back
then, I don't know if it ever really went away ha!
Al's out of town girlfriend sent a list of
suggestions and on that list was the name "THE
CASTELS" pronounced Kass as in Mama Cass and tells
as in she tells me your ok, Kass'tells you got it,
ok let's move on. We all agreed on "THE CASTELS".
We played a couple of Westside High assemblies,
Skateland Frayser, a few sock hops, were coming
along pretty good when Robert got into a fight with
his little sister Kim, and his mother made him quit
the band for punishment. Someone told us
about a guy named Ronnie Scaife ("The Whiskey Ain't
Workin' Any More" plus many others, songwriting
fame) who went to Frayser High and played lead
guitar. So we went to his football practice to get
him, he was so embarrassed, here four guys show up
at his football practice in camel blazers with a
"C" on the pockets and Beatle boots. He kept saying
get outta here go away, go away. Later we
practiced. Ronnie taught Dave and me how to sing
harmony. The first harmony song we learned was
"Sometimes I Cry", thanks Ronnie, you helped us a
lot, I really mean that. The first band songs we
learned were "Stormy Weather", "Shop Around" and
"House Of The Rising Sun". All Dave had was a $15
Truetone guitar. Later we found a used Sivertone
electric with one round pick up for $25 and thought
we were in high cotton. I wrote my first song with
that guitar called "She's A Woman". We played some more
gigs, thought we were getting pretty good, when Al
Cannon's mom told him and us he "could not play on
Sundays". Well we had a gig at the Tonga Club on
Madison Avenue on you guessed it, Sunday. Enter
Jimmy "James Elwood" Pierce on drums. I ain't gonna
tell ya where we found him. Somewhere in all this
changing, Richard "Poncho" Clements entered in on
rhythm guitar, I think Daddy met him at the Frayser
Station post office, where he (Laddie E. Miller)
worked. One day we're rehearsing,
Dave and Ronnie get into a confrontation about
whose gonna do what and a fight broke out right in
the middle of the living room. We broke up the
fight, everybody kissed and made up, then we had to
go out in the backyard and tell Mother and Daddy
what happened, which did not go over very well.
This was when we asked Daddy and Mother (Laddie and
Agness Miller) to manage us. Daddy had known Bill
Black (Elvis Presley's bass player and Bill Black
Combo fame) for several years and Dave and I had
been doing his yard work. Bill Black was my
inspiration to later play bass guitar. I went into
his garage to get gas for the lawn mower and saw a
bass case on the floor. I looked around to make
sure no one was looking and opened it to see the
most beautiful thing besides Cathy Cook and Pam
Atkinson (Westside cheerleaders), I'd ever seen, a
Fender sunburst Jazz bass. A few years later I
would buy my own. Another time, we were getting
ready to cut the yard, when Bill came out in an old
ragged t-shirt with holes all in it, black tuxedo
pants, you know with the shiny stripes down the
sides, and worn house shoes, and said "what's
happenen cats. Would y'all mind helping me and
Evelyn put these cotton hulls around them rose
bushes over there". I found out later, the night
before "The Bill Black Combo" along with "The
Beatles" played The Palladium in England on
national television. I saw the poster in his
garage, "The Bill Black Combo" in large bold
letters, with "The Beatles" in small print below.
The BBC got top billing, isn't that a scream, far
out. One day he came out and said get in the car.
Here we are, nothing on but cut offs, been working
in the yard and we all get into his Bonnieville
convertible and go to Lyn-Lou recording studio on
Chelsea avenue and get our first studio experience.
I could tell you a lot more but space doesn't
allow, maybe someday I'll write a book. One of the first
songs we recorded at Black's Lyn-Lou studio in
Memphis was "Tell Ann" written by Ronnie Scaife and
I'm here to tell ya Bill Black and Larry Rodgers
tested our metal that night. I don't know what was
going on but I think they were trying us to see who
could take it and who would break. Bill took
Lonnie's piece of crap bass off his neck and put
his Fender Jazz bass around Lonnie's neck. Lonnie
was about to freak. "I'm playing Bill Black's bass"
he kept saying over and over, he just could not
believe it. Ronnie's face turned red more than once
that night, especially when he tried to tune Bill's
bass when Bill was tuning it. Richard just stayed
out of the way. Dave and I just looked at each
other like "what is going on". Jimmy shrugged his
shoulders and kept on playing the drums. Somewhere
in the middle of all this entered Chris Ellis, whom
Laddie E. appointed as our publicity manager &
band graphic arts designer, and changed his name to
Damn Ellis. Chris, a lifelong friend, was then, and
still is an actor, with stage, television, and over
forty movies to his credit. By the way Chris I
thought you did a great job in "YOU CAN'T TAKE IT
WITH YOU" at the Westside High auditorium using
Paul Woodard's voice (our principal), it was a
great and wonderful time. We are all very proud of
you, ride on. Chris designed our
business cards, posters, signs and painted "The
CASTELS" in black letters with gold background on
the back side panel windows of our 1958 Plymouth
station wagon, he affectionately named the "Green
Richard" except he used the four letter synonym, if
you get my drift. You know; had you rather be
called Richard or Dick. Anyway this long green
penile vehicle became our official bandwagon until
we got our V.W. bus. Anytime Chris went on a gig,
road trip, vacation, or just was out with us, it
turned out to be memorable. Like the time he and my
girlfriend Sandy got arrested in Sardis,
Mississippi by officers Leck Hopper and Billy
Mothershed for fishing without a license, and we
were all taken before this one armed bandit judge,
if I'm lying I'm dying. Chris didn't even have a
hook on his line. It wasn't funny at the time, but
in hindsight it's halarious. Like something out of
a sitcom. Then there was the time at
the Frayser Drive-in movie (when they had gravel
for a parking lot). We were watching "The Birds",
when Chris came out of nowhere, jumped on the
windshield of the station wagon starting flapping
like a bird and scared the crap out of all of us.
The Smoky Mountains, Ripley, Tennessee
skating-rink, Moscow, Tennessee gig, all night
poker games, I could go on and on, never a dull
moment with Chris around. Some of the things we
pulled, it's a miracle we're all still alive.
Praise God, we love ya Chris. I wouldn't take
anything for all those memories. In the spring of
1965, after a prom gig in Barton, Arkansas, Ronnie
had bigger fish to fry and quit the band. We called
Bill Black in a panic, we needed a lead guitar
player bad, to which he replied, "don't get all up
in your drawers cats; I thought something bad
happened, let me go out in the yard and kick a
bush, two or three ought to fall out". It wasn't
thirty minutes John Gloria was knocking on the
door. John was a tall lanky young fellow from
Philadelphia, PA who happened to be here attending
Memphis State University. John brought education
and change to the band. We learned to tune to
pitch, learned new chords, music theory, songs we
had never heard and introduced to Gibson and
Fender. John turned out to be quite a
blessing. Shortly after John
came in, Lonnie quit and Richard took over on bass.
We now have "THE CASTELS", Dave, Don, Jimmy &
John, with Richard "Poncho" Clements on bass, that
cut the first 45 in the spring of 1965. "SAVE A
CHANCE", produced by Bill Black, recorded at
Lyn-Lou, written by John Gloria and Archie Wolfe on
the WILDFIRE label #105B flip "I'LL BE THERE",
record #105A, written by Bobby Darin, was recorded
between Bill's brain tumor operations. "I'll Be
There" would sadly be Bill Black's last production.
A brain tumor would cause his physical death at age
39. We were all heartbroken. On October 21, 1965
his spirit returned unto God who gave it (Ecc.
12:7). We miss you Bill, thanks for the inspiration
and all the memories. "The plans of mice and
men". Here we were, teenagers, getting air play,
going on television (thanks to George Klein's
Talent Party), getting press releases, playing all
over the mid-south, MGM and LONDON records calling
saying we got a potential hit record. Bill's in a
coma and we're like an old hound dog that don't
know "come from sic-um" about record deals. If Bill
hadn't died it would have been a whole different
story, but God's in control, and Father knows
best. Poncho quit the band
and asked if I would take up the notes on his
Gibson EBO bass, I agreed and became bass player as
well as singer. Now we're down to Dave, Don, Jimmy
and John. It wasn't long before we were back in the
studio, this time Sam Phillips on Madison Avenue,
along with two of "The Swinging Yo-Yos". Rick Allen
on organ and Bill Vance on bass (my bass skills not
adequate yet), recording a remake of "SAVE A
CHANCE", this time with 12 string guitar and organ
added to the mix, and "CHILDREN WHO DREAM", also
written by John and Archie. Stan Kesler engineered
the session for Goldwax Records. Fellow classmate
Larry Cianciola played farfisa organ on one of the
"Children Who Dream" sessions but I don't remember
which one. Stan is a great engineer, a joy to work
with and has quite an impressive career. He was
part of the Sun rhythm section, produced "Wooly
Bully", "Little Red Riding Hood", and a bunch of
other hits, plus wrote several Elvis hits like "I
Forgot To Remember To Forget", "I'm Left, Your
Right, She's Gone", "If I'm A Fool (For Loving
You)" and others. "Save A Chance" and
"Children Who Dream", were sold to Tom Phillips of
Select-O-Hits and released on his BLACK GOLD label
#306 in 1965-66. S-O-H is still in operation, for
more info check out www.selectohits.com.
Tom Phillips, a precious man, who loves his family
dearly, worked hard, and would do anything to help
you. Johnny, Skip and Kathy, Tom's children, still
run the family business to this day. Thanks Tom, if
you had not released this record, this session
probably would have been lost forever. By the way,
Select-O-Hits will be distributing our CD. Thanks
guys. While all this was going
on, we played six and seven nights a week at clubs
around town and clubs on the Naval base at
Millington, Tennessee, plus going to High school,
John college during the day. (I think we should
have gotten extra credits in speech, music and
business). Through the Naval base we touched people
from all over the world with our music and persona,
I still get calls to this day. The rigorous
schedule finally got to John and he quit to pursue
college. We still play together on various
occasions to this day. In 1967 Daddy
connected us with producer brothers Stacy and Kenny
Davidson. Along with Roland Janes and his Sonic
recording studio on Madison avenue, we produced
SOLOMON record # 1351 "IN A LETTER TO ME", written
by Kenny Davidson. This is a real gem, got a lot of
airplay and one of my favorites. Flip "WE BETTER
SLOW DOWN" written by Stacy Davidson and Gerald
Tatum. Both sides of this 45 display some of the
closest harmony, if not the closest, you'll find
anywhere: after all Dave and I are products of
cloning by an act of God. Roland, with quite an
impressive track record, playing on a great many
SUN recordings, would become very instrumental in
our careers, as you will see; and more importantly
a life long friend. Thank you Roland for all your
help and friendship throughout the
years. In 1967/68 with the
same crew above, we recorded SOLOMON #1352 and
LAURIE #3444, "ROCKY RIDGES", written by Kenny and
Gerald, flip "I'D LIKE TO KNOW", written by Paul
Selph and Tommy Rasico. Paul was local WMPS radio
personality Paul White back in the sixties. Roland
Janes played a very tasteful lead guitar on this
one. I personally think he totally captured the
intended feel of the overall song. Thank you Perry
York for your professional contribution, friendship
and being there while Jimmy Pierce served his
country with the 101st Airborne Division, in and
during the Vietnam War. In 1968/69 we did
"BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX", a Jimmy Webb song,
at Sounds of Memphis on Camilla. Stan Kesler was at
the controls on this one. This is one of the lost
tapes Stacy found, at my request, in the bottom of
his closet. This one almost didn't make it, but
with a lot of help from Roland it was saved. Thank
you Roland, it would have been a real shame to have
lost this treasure. Billy Adams was our
agent in 1969/70 and wanted us to record "MISS
FROGGIE", written by Warren Smith, SUN record #268,
originally done in 1957. We went to Block 6 studio
with Billy Wayne Herbert engineering, and proceeded
to rock & roll. This session got to cooking so
good that Billy Wayne got out his fender guitar,
sat in the control room while we were recording
live, and using his foot to adjust the controls on
the board, burnt one of the baddist assed guitar
breaks I'd ever heard. You otta seen Billy Adams
out in that studio having a ball, jumping up and
down hollering "get it son, get it son", Billy was
a lotta fun and a great guy. Billy passed on some
years later, but I'll never forget him. This
session would not have happened had it not been for
Billy Adams. Thanks Billy for everything. "MISS
FROGGIE" is Memphis rock & roll in its purist
sense, it doesn't get any better, and it was almost
lost. The tape came apart as Roland was
transferring it to dat. Thanks to God and Roland
Janes expertise we got it, I would have been sick
if this one had gotten away. The next song
"SOMETIMES I CRY", one of Daddy's favorite songs
was written by Gene Thomas and done on the same
session. Billy Herbert spent some extra time with
Dave and me getting the harmony just right. If you
like harmony and a beautiful song, you'll love this
one. Thanks Billy, it came out great. The above is an excerpt
from the liner notes of The Castel's new CD
"Keepsakes" a retrospective of the Miller Brothers
musical adventures from 1964 to the present. The
Castels CD, is available through Shangri-la Records
at www.shangri.com.
Also available from Shangri-La is "A HISTORY OF
GARAGE & FRAT BANDS IN MEMPHIS 1964-1975", by
Ron Hall, which also features information on The
Castels. For more history, photos,
and MP3's from "Keepsakes" available for
downloading, go to: www.gomemphis.com Personnel: Influences: Setlist
Sample: Equipment:
Rehearsal
Space: Band
Vehicles: Fashion
Statement: Best
Gig: Gig
from
Hell!: Last
Gig:
Information contributed by
Don Miller DON.MILLER1@ATT.NET |
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