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O'Connell and
Milkovich were knocking-about musically for about a
year with Randy Laberty (singer), Laberty knew
Tasseff and the band was O'Connell, Milkovich,
Laberty, Tasseff and Craig Spenser. Spenser quit so
Tasseff knew of the Dempsters (Laberty was not
"alpha" about band). The band quickly solidified
and landed a premier gig at Dick Clark's series of
"Carnaby Street" shows at the State Fairgrounds
where they opened for the likes of the Yardbirds,
Surfaris, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, Velvet
Underground and more. The Wha? also played Ann
Arbor's fabled Fifth Dimension club (again opening
for the Yardbirds), and shows with other emerging
area talent such as The Rationals, The Underdogs
and The Woolies. Most significantly, the band
grabbed a spot in the opening weekend lineup at the
Grande (October, 1966) following a chance meeting
between O'Connell and "Uncle" Russ Gibb "Dempster
and I met Russ Gibb at Northland about one or two
weeks before the Grande's first night. He had reams
and reams of those "Seagull posters". Gibb was
handing them out at Northland, he hussled us, or we
hussled him, into being an opening act for the
first night.... perhaps it was the second night a
Saturday...... in any event it was to my
recollection because the Chosen Few had broken up
and canceled the show...... Scott Richard was then
forming, so we took one of the opening slots."
"So, Russ Gibb gave us heaps and heaps of those
"Seagull" posters..... so many I covered my entire
bedroom wall with them...... still had stacks of
them to staple in the basement, write notes to my
parents on, paper airplanes....... not one of them
survived! Had to pay 50 bucks for a re-issue by
Gary Grimshaw two years ago!" Following that, they
became a regular opening act at Grande shows,
frequently for the MC5 and Scot Richard Case in the
early days of the Ballroom."We could do the
Yardbirds fairly accurate, also the Stones covers
and...we looked good."
O'Connell, Tasseff, Milkovich, and Dempsters lasted
until Tasseff was sent to St. John's Military
Academy. Performances were infrequent based on
Tasseff's weekend visits home and holidays.
Eventually Tasseff was replaced by Doug Daller
(keyboards) a High School friend of O'Connell's,
when the guitarist pushed his Super Beatle
amplifier off the stage and quit.
"Tasseff was heartbroken over his girlfriend so he
quit the band...... I think it was Elaine Edgar who
also had the coolest Beatle jacket, (see last
Beatle concert cosutmes), I had a big time crush on
Elaine that Tom didn't know about at the time. I
remember my dad driving Tasseff home before we
finished the set so he wouldn't have to mix-it-up
with Tom and Bob Dempster after the show. Tasseff
was a pretty fearless fella."
In the summer of 1969 The Wha? played a few final
gigs, after which Detroit's proverbial
"warm-up" band then scattered.
O'Connell
talks about how The Wha? got their name...Click
here!
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Personnel:
Daniel O'Connell - bass/vocals
Tom Tasseff - guitar/vocals
John Milkovich - drums
Tommy Dempster - guitar
Bob Dempster -vocals/fashionable clothing
and hair
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Influences:
Stones,
early R&B, Yardbirds. Also: Stones,
Yardbirds...Yardbirds, Stones... Stones,
Stones, Yardbirds, Stones, Yardbirds and
Stones, Stones, Stones, Stones,
Yardbirds.......
Major influences from "local musician
legends":
O'Connell: Greg Arama of the Gang as well
as a deep appreciation of Jim Butler
(drums in the Gang).
Milkovich: Jim Butler of the Gang and Pete
Berg of the Red White and Blues Band.
Tasseff: Will anyone ever come close to
knowing the mind of Tasseff?
Tommy Dempster: I think Tommy was
influenced by his brother Bob more than
anyone else.
Bob Dempster: Bob seemed to pay attention
to John Brake of the Lords, Dave O'Brien
of the Gang and perhaps just a bit to Rob
Tyner of the MC5, but only during the
early days of the MC5.
Doug Daller: Doug was the classic
keyboardist who spent huge chunks of his
childhood practicing piano and organ. Doug
never displayed any "local" influences
that I'm aware of.
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Setlist
Sample:
Over Under Sideways Down, Train Kept A
Rollin', I'm A Man, Lost Woman, Shapes Of
Things (Yardbirds) It's My Life, We Gotta
Get Out Of This Place, Boom Boom, House Of
The Rising Sun, I'm Crying, Don't Let Me
Be Misunderstood, Hey Gyp (Animals),
Around And Around, Satisfaction, Play With
Fire, Last Time, Going Home (Stones), I'm
A Man, Gimme Some Lovin', Keep On Running
(Spencer Davis Group), Ain't Got Nothin'
Yet (Blues Magoos), Still In Love With You
Baby (Beau Brummels), Glad All Over (Dave
Clark 5), Respect (Rationals), Love's Gone
Bad (Underdogs), Hey Joe
(Hendrix).
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Equipment:
O'Connell: Vox Westminster, Red Epiphone
solid body bass.
Tasseff: Vox Super Beatle. Placid-Blue
Gibson SG Deluxe
T Depmster: Red Gretch Guitar.
Milkovich: Slingerland drums, Zildjan
cymbals.
B Dempster: one of those great big phallic
like chrome Shure mics made for stand
mounting.
Vox columns and one of those
state-of-the-art Shure
amp/mixers.
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Rehearsal
Space:
O'Connell's
house at 19724 Glastonbury
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Band
Vehicles:
The
"Whamobile" a 1965 White Ford Econoline,
lovingly driven either by O'Connell's
mother Helen or father Bernard.
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Fashion
Statement:
We were
Belushi's KILLER BEES ten years BEFORE
Belushi was! Brown pants, tan chucka
boots, yellow and brown stripes roll-neck
sweaters identical to SNL's Killer
Bees
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Best
Gig:
Carnaby
Street with Dick Clark at the State Fair
Grounds. The Surfaris, Sam the Sham &
Pharaohs, Royal Guardsmen, Velvet
Underground....... and we opened for the
Yardbirds!
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Gig
from
Hell!:
An MSU
fraternity one winter. The frats were
"rushing" that particular evening. Short
version: Treated the band (anyone other
than their homo-erotic male group) very
badly. Three cheers for corporate
America!
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Last
Gig:
A dance
at Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) in NW
Detroit. We were "burned" (not paid) by
our disc jockey host Dick Purtain. "Dick"
promised us (my father included) $20 cash
for gas-money. This was a standard
courtesy to groups back then in the ol'
days when musicians shot their own
breakfast.
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