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This wasn't the first rock
band to appear in this bedroom suburb of Boston
during the late 60s/early 70s, the "golden era" of
garage bands in that town. It also wasn't the most
stylish, didn't have the most gear, and certainly
didn't get all the choice appearances. But that
doesn't matter, because it's simply remembered as
the best.
The seeds for Indra were planted by chance in late
fall 1968, when Cobey and Mike were approached by a
group of girls who needed a piano player and
drummer to back their singing appearance in the
upcoming 6th grade talent show. While Cobey was
easily the best keyboardist around and Mike was
just about the only drummer around (and already a
veteran of several aborted attempts at trying to
start a band using the thin local talent pool), the
two had never played together before.
When they did the gig the following May, the girls
and their material were infinitely forgettable, but
Cobey and Mike clicked. More importantly, the
subsequent formation of a band became
inevitable.
That happened the following September, when Cobey
invited in his neighbor Greg (another 7th grader)
to play bass, and Greg in turn invited in Peter, a
younger acquaintance who played guitar.
In a classic garage band scene straight out of
"That Thing You Do," the first big debate became
naming the group. The initial winner was "The
Carpenter's Union Band," a blatant Sgt. Pepper
rip-off. However, within a week or so the endeavor
was opportunely renamed, becoming Indra (the Hindu
god of strength and virtue) after a Mom
insightfully pointed out all things eastern were
becoming trendy.
Peter didn't last long,
getting booted out sometime in late '69 or early
'70, primarily because we found Ken, who was not
only a cool guy but also a much better guitarist
(even at age 13 arguably the best in town). Within
weeks, things took off: the repertoire was
basically determined by the tastes of Ken and
Cobey, Mike did the majority of lead vocals, Greg
became the stereotypical rock-solid,
undemonstrative bassist and Cobey's two older
sisters became our biggest boosters.
Looking back, one
appreciates what a subtle but consistent visionary
Ken was. As example, when the film "American
Graffiti" came out in mid 1973, Ken immediately
realized it was going to single-handedly open up a
big 50s musical nostalgia fad, and soon had us
rehearsing a whole oldies set ("Sixteen Candles,"
"Tell Laura I Love Her," etc.) As a result we got
into that shtick months before anyone else; as well
as adding an interesting extension to our normal
repertoire, which at that time revolved around
playing things like Frank Zappa's "Bwana Dick" and
Jethro Tull's "Aqualung."
And it only got better: '72 and '73 were Indra's
high water era, with local school and coffeehouse
gigs eventually leading to a relationship with a
slick Boston area agent who got us progressively
bigger and better engagements (except for that
horrid Regis College event, which we never forgave
him for). As time went on the band got more into
stage production; during our mid and late tenure, a
big light show (spots, films, slides, the whole
nine yards) became a significant part of the
attraction. And per the textbook garage band
template, we gradually picked up a quirky entourage
that acted as our roadies/sound crew/lighting
techs. The faces continually changed, but they're
frozen in memory, especially Wicky.
Unfortunately, like all
adolescent fantasies, this had to end. Indra's
demise was inevitable, coming towards the end of
the Junior year of High School, as college
applications loomed and members drifted into
different cliques. The drummer and guitarist did
briefly reengage in the late 70s with a different
bassist, but over the years we've all drifted
apart.
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Personnel:
Ken French - Guitar and Vocals
Cobey Gatos - Keyboards
Greg Jacoby - Bass
Michael Marshall - Drums and
Vocals
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Influences:
Hendrix,
Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, Deep Purple,
and every blues group in recorded
history.
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Setlist
Sample:
Southbound, Hush, Moby Dick, Hey Joe,
Purple Haze, Summertime Blues (Who style).
In archetypical garage band fashion, we'd
seriously debate the setlist in advance,
only to immediately start moving, dropping
or adding selections once on stage
depending upon how things were going with
the audience. I can't begin to recall how
many times one of us would be desperately
whispering "uh, hey, what are we doing
now?" right as Ken or Cobey was about to
kick off the next number.
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Equipment:
Well, memories fade with age, but this
much is recalled: vocals were through the
infamous three piece Shure PA. Ken used a
Gibson Les Paul and a Fender stack, as
well as a @$%@load of pedals. Greg played
a Fender Bass through a Fender stack.
Cobey played some forgotten brand of
Farfisa clone through a Kustom head and
home made cabinet, and we also miked a
piano for him (in the rare venues that had
one that wasn't grossly out of tune). Mike
started out with a scholcky four piece
Japanese Maxitone set, but moved up to a
punchy-sounding blue satin flame
Slingerland double tom kit in early 1972.
Cymbals were a stew of Zildjians (hi-hats,
crashes) and Sabians (rides).
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Rehearsal
Space:
The
basement at Mike's (a nice finished one,
not the stereotypical boiler room), and an
enormous waterfront living room at
Cobeys.
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Band
Vehicles:
Borrowed
from Moms: two 1969 Ford LTD Station
wagons (ugly but huge; great for hauling
stuff).
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Fashion
Statement:
Of the
era: faded jeans, initially with generic T
shirts. Cobey's sister Nikki and her
friend Ann seriously improved our look in
1972 when they made custom T shirts for
each of us, featuring a satin shooting
star on front (a play on Deep Purple's
"Highway Star,' our presumed theme song at
the time), our logo on back and our names
embroidered on the shoulder. In fact, I
still have mine, a precious yellowed
artifact my wife wouldn't dare throw
out.
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Best
Gig:
Marblehead,
MA High School dance, early 1973: band at
peak of creativity, wild crowd of
screaming adolescent girls. One of the
first appearances booked by our new agent,
who conveniently showed up to "check
things out" just as the crowd was going
ballistic. It got so hot the amps
overheated, but who cares…
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Gig
from
Hell!:
Regis
College, Weston, MA, February 1973: small,
steamy room at Catholic Girls school. What
was supposed to be a fantasy come true
(performing for a bunch of horny,
inebriated coeds) turned sour when the
nuns complained about the noise level. To
add insult to that injury, drummer (who
had a weeknight job in the school's
kitchen) subsequently got in trouble with
the college over supposed "damage" to a
piano we had used.
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Last
Gig:
Private
Party, May or June 1974. Playing outdoors
after a rainstorm, which was not a good
idea. Drummer's girlfriend got a bad shock
while setting up the light
show.
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Comments:
I've had the
opportunity over the last few years to hear some
local teen garage bands ("performing" at festivals,
fairs, etc.) Boy, have standards
FALLEN!!!!
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