The Gang Detroit, Michigan 1964-1969

The Gang '64 - '66 The Gang '66 - '69

Editor's Note: I feel it's important to put my two cents in here about the Gang, my personal favorite"local" band at the time that I was playing and going out to see other local bands play. They were an extremely big influence on a lot of up and coming bands in the Detroit area at large, and in our neighborhood in Northwest Detroit in particular. Along with Ted Nugent's first band The Lourds, (although I was firmly in the Gang camp) they set the standard to which we all aspired...they had the look, they had the chops. On a personal note, I was in the audience at the Rosedale Park gig Don mentions as the Gig From Hell. A bunch of greasers from Brightmore (a tough neighborhood in NW Detroit) showed up and words were exchanged between a couple of guys... next thing you knew, fists were flyin'. I remember that the band kept playing in an effort to keep everybody cooled out. In '66 our band, (we were calling ourselves The Banned at the time) shared a bill with The Gang at the BMF club, above Woolworths in Old Redford. I doubt very much that they would remember us, but I do recall that one of them mentioned liking our cover version of Love's "Little Red Book"...high praise indeed. Also notewothy is to mention that two members of it's original lineup (Steve Farmer and Greg Arama) went on to join Ted Nugent in the legendary Amboy Dukes. O'Brien and Butler wound up for a time in Wilson Mower Pursuit, while Henderson took The Gang into the next phase with Doug Gunch, Ken Bash, and drummer Lenny Mintz. The following are comments about the band by two of it's original members: Jim Butler (drums) and Don Henderson (lead guitar). We start off with Jim's recollections about the early days of The Gang, followed by Don's remarks on joining the band, and it's evolution. -Dan   Jim Butler: The Early Years We started out in 9th grade (early 1964) as a 4-piece combo with our music teacher Mr. David Williams (piano), Dave O'Brien (vocals), Jim Williams (guitar) and me, Jim Butler (drums). I think I got the spot because I was the only one in school who had a complete drum set… though that didn't mean I could play well. The name of our first band was "The What 4". Our first gig was an Emerson Junior High School music concert. We played mostly Beatle songs on the auditorium stage. In 10th grade, Terry Boosey replaced Mr. Williams, and we changed our name to "The Fade Aways". I'm not sure if we had any paying gigs, but a few friends (Barb, Trish) were nice enough to let us play in their basements or backyards. We also played at the Emerson ice cream social with an all-girl band called The Debutantes. I wonder whatever happened to them? A Learning Experience During that time, another local band from Redford High School was playing everywhere. It was "The Lourds" who consisted of John Brake, Jon Finley, Pete Primm, Tom Noel and Ted Nugent. As it so happened, their drummer, Tom Noel, came down with a case of mono. I'm not sure why, but I was asked to sub for Tom until he got better. What a difference between the two bands. All these guys did was practice, practice, and practice. We actually practiced so much that my hands would bleed. I remember playing at Benedictine High School and The Walled Lake Casino. We opened one time at The Casino for Billy Lee & The Riverias (who would later become Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels). We knew that if we sucked the crowd would throw garbage at the band. As a 16 year old, that scared the hell out of me… We played the smaller stage, which was some sort of balcony, and we had to hand our equipment up thru a trap door. That night nothing was thrown. I also received a lesson standing back stage watching Johnny B. play. The Lourds always enjoyed stopping by the Toodle House on Grand River to grab something to eat. Some of the guys (rhythm section) enjoyed tipping an older waitress by "mooning" the place as we left… The Gang would later go on to play at The Casino a few times until it burned to the ground on Christmas Day 1965. After about 8 weeks Tom was better, so he returned to The Lourds, and I returned to The Fade Aways. I learned so much from the Lourds. Their sound and song list had so much drive. Putting The Gang Together I had met Tom Noel's girlfriend, Joanie Henderson, who had a younger brother who played guitar. Donny was looking for a band. Soon Don was playing with us, and before Terry left the group, we started to make some progress. We were still light years behind The Lourds, but we were improving. Jimmy Williams was the next to leave. Don had a friend at school, Steve Farmer, that played guitar. They had another friend, Greg Arama, who didn't play guitar but might be able to learn to play bass. Don & Steve strapped a bass guitar on Greg & off we went. With Dave still on vocals, The Gang was now complete. We started to practice as often as we could. We changed our song list, added some better equipment any way we could, and took aim at The Lourds. Even though the competition was always friendly, our big break came when Ted was moving to Chicago with his family. They were big shoes to fill and, althoughThe Lourds may disagree with me; they were never the same again. And we did finally manage to get the majority of the jobs. The Gang made their mark with Don doing his Pete Townsend/ Keith Richards style leads, Steve's driving rhythms, vocals & chord solos ( Down the Road a Piece ), Dave's version of Mick Jagger vocals, stage moves & the famous glare, and Greg's bass runs while looking like Bill Wyman himself. It was an experience to play behind these four guys. Adventures Along the Way Wesley, a friend of Steve's, was taking a few promo shots of us behind the Redford Theater. Four or five neighborhood "punks" thought we looked like sissies and were harassing us pretty bad. From around the corner came Greg's older brother Nick & his sidekick " Murph". These two guys were huge. Nick was our manager & Murph was an assistant. The punks took a look at these two and beat a hasty retreat. Thru our friend Elliot Sherman who was attending Wayne State University, we met Dennis Thompson of The MC5. Members of the group would stop by to jam or sit in if we were short a player for the night (BMF over Woolworths).We were playing the BMFs all over the place and anyone who was carrying equipment in with the band got in free. We must have been getting 10-15 people in free each night. Well, the club manager, Harvey Plascov, finally caught on and after that each band member only got to bring in one guest per night. I remember playing one night at a Redford High School dance. We were having a running dialogue with a few "greasers" in the crowd. It started to get out of hand so we ended up with a police escort to our cars. That didn't really work too well as they just followed our cars. I made the mistake of turning down a dead end street. It turned out that Bob Wehrly, who was riding with us, knew some of the guys in the other car. Bob was able to get them to back off. The crowds (especially at the Rosedale Community Center with its great stage and acoustics) always played an important part to the band. The spontaneity of the band to extend songs, change tempos or repeat songs (I'm a Man) was driven by crowd reactions. Special Thanks: To Dan O' Connell (from The Wah?) for helping me rediscover the passion for the music that I had misplaced. Also, to Dan and Keith from MFB for all their encouragement and patience.     Don Henderson: When I first saw the Beatles I wanted to be one of them. I wanted a guitar for my birthday and got one. I think it was a Silvertone, which are pretty popular now, but the action on the fret board was probably 2 inches. It wasn't the easiest guitar to learn on, but I managed. I also had a friend who got a guitar so it was constructive competition. I played all day every day for about a year before it started to come together. I moved on and my friend didn't. My first band was called The Medeiros. I have no idea how we developed that name but we did. It was started in 8th grade and we played for school only. We had fun practicing though. We were together for about a year. Then my sister was dating Tom Noel, the drummer from The Lourds, and everything changed from that point on. I used to go to their rehearsals and watch mostly Ted Nugent. I never thought I would be as wild and crazy as him (and I was right). Ted fixed me up with Jim Butler, a drummer - and he brought Dave O'Brien, a vocalist - but we still needed a rhythm and bass. I knew Steve Farmer played guitar so I invited him over and he fit right in. We didn't know what to do for a bass so we invited Greg Arama over and strapped a bass on his neck. He didn't know how to make a sound so I taught him some basics and before long the Gang (1) was formed. The Gang (1) lasted from 1964-1966. After that Ken Bash from Farmington called and wanted to get together. We had been dissolved for a little while. He brought Over Lenny Mintz and Doug Gunch from Glen Frey's band, the Mushrooms, and we started The Gang (2). My sister had met Ken Bash at the Walled Lake Casino where Mitch Ryder was king and told him about me. He called me the next day and wanted to jam with me. When I went over there, Doug Gunch and Lenny Mintz were already there. I plugged in and WOW - we clicked. When I found out Doug and Lenny were from the Mushrooms, it was even a better feeling. Glenn Frey trained them, so we ended up with great harmonies to our vocals. Don Henderson's comments are taken from his interview with Mike Dugo from 60sgaragebands.com For the complete interview (and lots of other cool garage band info), see Don's interview with Mike archived at Beyond The Beat Generation The What 4: Dave O'Brien, Mr. Williams, Jim Williams, Jim Butler The Fade Aways   Personnel: '"Gang 1" '64 - '66 Dave O'Brien - Vocals Don Henderson - Lead Guitar Jim Butler- Drums Steve Farmer - Rhythm Guitar/Vocals Greg Arama - Bass "Gang 2" '66 - '69 Don Henderson - Lead Guitar Doug Gunch - Rththm Guitar /Vocals Ken Bash - Bass/Vocals Lenny Mintz - Drums Influences: Gang 1 - Stones, Yardbirds, English Groups Gang 2 - The Who Setlist Sample: Gang 1 - Route 66, Down the Road Apiece, Last Time, Around-n-Around, It's All Over Now, Heart of Stone (or almost any other song by The Rolling Stones), Gloria, Mystic Eyes/ Them, Shapes of Things, Over Under Sideways Down, I'm a Man/ Yardbirds, Shake a Tail Feather/ 5 DuTones, Hey Joe/ The Leaves, Tobacco Road/ Nashville Teens, It's Alright / Adam Faith, Just a Little Bit/ Roy Head, I've Been Loving You Too Long/ Otis Redding, Walkin' the Dog/ Rufus Thomas, Shake your Money Maker, Born In Chicago/ Paul Butterfield Blues Band, I'm Crying. It's my Life/ The Animals, or versions of Mustang Sally, Hi Heel Sneakers, Train Kept a Rolling, Midnight Hour, Fever, Little Red Book Gang 2 - Substitute, Happy Jack,, etc. Equipment: Gang 1 - Vox Gang 2 - Vox Rehearsal Space: Gang 1 - Butler's Basement Gang 2 - Bash's Basement Band Vehicles: Gang 1 - Parent's Cars Gang 2 - VW Bus and Dodge Van Fashion Statement: Gang 1 - Bad Boy Look Gang 2 - Same Bad Boy Look and custom threads Best Gig: Gang 1 - Grosse Point country club - "wild" English Groups Gang 2 - Grande Ballroom...got to meet all the headlining acts Gig from Hell!: Gang 1 - Rosedale Park Community Center "total brawl" Gang 2 - Grand Haven -"don't ask". Last Gig: Gang 1 - Probably BMF club Gang 2 - Grande Ballroom Comments: We (Gang 1) were very popular because we were one of the first bands around. Worked hard, played all over and had fun.

The original Gang: Don Henderson, Greg Arama, Dave O'Brien, Jim Butler, Steve Farmer
Poster: Grande Ballroom November 24, 1967 Gary Grimshaw
Gang 2 lineup: Don Henderson, Doug Gunch, Ken Bash, Lenny Mintz.

Dave O'Brien (vocals) and Jim Butler (drums) with The Wilson Mower Pursuit on local teen
dance show "Swingin' Time with Robin Seymore"

Where are they now?

Dave O'Brien , Steve Farmer, Don Henderson & Jim Butler are all living & working in Michigan. Unfortunately, Greg Arama died in a car accident in California in 1979. Drugs were NOT involved as some misinformed reports/rumors have stated. Lenny Mintz now lives in Atlanta, GA where he has for the last 25 years. He does not play much anymore and has not been in a band since his teens. Doug Gunch - California, Ken Bash - NY

Greg Arama in May, 1979 (four months before he died). Playing at the Spring Music Festival in Camarillo, California at Oak Grove Park with Silverail. Photo courtesy of Greg's sister, Linnea Hamilton.

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Fall, 2003
The Gang recently reunited for a benefit show along with
members of other prominent bands from the late 60's, early 70's.
for Dan's review of their show, click here:
The Gang Reunion

 Information and photos contributed by
Jim Butler jake0228@comcast.net
and Don Henderson henderwash@aol.com