| The WRESTLESS BREED and The LEFTOVERS  The first real band I was in, was called THE WRESTLESS BREED. The band consisted of: Harry Drechsel (guitar), Al Paolillo (guitar), Pete Giordano (bass), and Greg Henshall (drums).
Al and Pete were from Midland Park, NJ. (next door, and kind of an ex-tension of Waldwick in many ways...but latre to become a rival of Waldwick's "jock" community). We used to rehearse in Al's basement and get soda and snacks from his groovy parents while we belted out classic tunes from the more "Punk" 60's bands like The Shadow's of The Knight, The Rolling Stones, The Electric Prunes, The Thirteenth Floor Elevators, etc. We were the bad guys in town (or so we thought we were) and did many gigs at H.S. dances, The C.Y.O. hall, Pleasureland and Mueller's Park in Oakland, NJ., and even the Worlds Fair (at the NJ Pavillion). At one "Battle Of The Bands" at Waldwick HS, we were briefly joined by David Pflom (aka "Surfer Joe" for a rouseing version of The Seed's "Pushing Too Hard"...(we didn't win). Through connections with my cousins in Pequannock, NJ; we ended up playing there quite a few times, made a lot of fans, and later the Little Brothers Of The Poor were formed from those relations.
Our equpiment was shabby. Most of it was borrowed. And I'm sure that the driving force behind Al & Pete's involvement was that being in a band...brought more "girls" around. Greg and I had been playing together for some time before this, and like everyone at the time, we were looking for that "magic" combination that would take our garage thrashings in front of a real "live" audience. Backyard parties were the first stop, teen clubs were cool, but High School dances were still the coveted gig in those days. The last show we played was supposed to be at the Pequannock H.S.(it was pretty cool when you actually got to play outside your own HS), but Pete and Al never showed up (deciding to go out with their girlfriends instead), so the band broke up and The Splinters from Oakland (another of our local rivals) just happened to be there with their equipment...so they played instead. Neither Pete or Al went on to any other bands (Al ended up owning The Midland Park Inn...and living well). Greg hung around for several "almost" bands before slipping away, and I went on to form The Little Brothers Of The Poor.
The LEFTOVERS were heavily influenced by The Beach Boys, and even wore the striped shirts, white jeans, and "Desert Boots" that were so typical of that genre. The Leftover original members were: Craig Mellor (guitar), Steve Barret, (guitar), Tommy Sinno (drums), Dave Auperlee (bass), Bob Preis (cordovox), and Ted Suhaka (vocals). The Leftovers actually started as a band that Craig, myself, and Jim Dykstra had planned for nearly a year during lunch period in HS. Craig and Steve went on to form many other bands (which I'll write about), Steve has since passed away, Ted became "born-again", Tommy disappeared, and Dave also passed away not too long ago.
As I remember it, The Leftovers were the "darlings" of the High School Dances - getting most of them - mainly because they played more of the songs that were playing on the radio. It was also a definate "Plus" to have a keyboard player in the band at this time, because many of the hits had that cheezy Farfisa sound that everyone loved (since "96 Tears") and later when the Hammond bands made their mark (THE YOUNG RASCALS, THE VANILLA FUDGE, etc) there was no denying the advantage having that "sound" gave you. Although the Leftovers actually had a "Cordovox" (an electrified accordian) instead of a Farfisa, they were able to pull off the songs and sounds with relative ease and to many other band's envy. They were also one of the few bands around that had a "front man" singer with Ted - who actually had a voice (compared to most of us) - crooning the difficult lines and manning a mean tamborine. They had a sharp "clean" look too, that suited the school image and ensured a relatively "safe" event. As things turned out, nobody in this band went on to such a "safe" future (like all of us), and as it were, bands like THE BYRDS, and oddly BLACK SABBATH would change the shape of things to come for the individual members.
One of the highlights of the Leftover show, was when they went into the song "Mona" - Tommy Sinno would get his chance to do a drum solo (of sorts...it was only one beat), and one of the other members of the band would pick up his floor tom (while he was playing)...they would walk to the front of the stage where Tommy would get on his back (still playing while the drum was held over his head)...get back up, and return to the drum set...without missing a beat! This was impressive stuff at the time, and after one such performance, I remember Tommy calling me to the side of the stage where he wispered in my ear: "we'll beat you guys (The Wrestless Breed) anytime". Indicateing just how competitive bands were at the time. Of course we had something better....feedback!
Another interesting "event" that used to take place at many of the Leftover dances: at the time, I was experimenting with Light Shows, and from time-to-time, I would "psychedelicize" their shows for them. For the most part, this consisted of my father's antique slide projector, and a strobe light (that we would rent at the "Head" shop in Ridgewood). Beside projecting pictures of animals (for what reason I don't know), I used food coloring mixed with olive oil in Zip-Loc bags that when crushed into the slide tray would project colorfull pulsateing globs against the band when they played, and of course the strobe light was the dance floor favorite. The big show of course, was during the Vanilla Fudge's cover of "You Keep Me Hanging On" where I just pulled out all the stops and the Waldwick HS cafateria was turned into an earlier version of The Electric Circus - much to the chaperone's shock. It was all in fun, and I'd do anything to re-visit one of these dances.
Next: MORE TO COME!
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