The Ventures - 2008

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PERFORMERS

The Ventures
BYJOHTsL T E A G L E

F
ifty years ago, a pair o f Tacoma, W ashing' up the arrangement before they had a rhythm section,
ton, construction workers — Bob Bogle W ilson and Bogle devised a strong beat for the rhythm
and Don W ilson —began picking guitars guitar, which became a key element o f the band’s sig­
together in their spare time. The band nature sound. Dolton Records had initially passed on
they formed - the V entures—would estab- hearing a demo o f “W alk Don’t Run” but ended up sign­
Ush itself as the premier guitar-based combo in America. ing the Ventures after the band released the song on its
Beginning w ith 19 60 ’s “W alk Don’t Run,” the Ventures own Blue Horizon label. Dolton’s rerelease o f ‘W alk
created a body o f w ork that remains Don’t Run” rocketed to Number
untouchable b y any other instru­ Two and, a few months later, the
mental group in the history o f rock
The Ventures created
group’s version o f Xavier Cugat’s
62? roll. The band’s influence has a body o f w or\that “Perfidia” hit Number Fifteen.
extended from nascent surf music remains untouchable by The Ventures remained enor­
to the British Invasion, garage mously popular and influential
rock, psychedelia, heavy metal,
any other instrumental
during their first decade; among
new wave, and beyond. Releasing group in the history o f rock acts, only Elvis Presley, the
more than 250 albums and record­ rocl^&roll Beatles, and R ay Charles sold
ing more than a thousand songs, more records in the sixties. The
the Ventures pioneered the use o f Ventures landed in the singles
guitar effects to create sounds never before heard on charts almost every year, earning a total o f fourteen Top
record. A n d over five decades, the Ventures have never 10 0 hits. But singles w ere not where the band found
stopped performing. its hard-core fan base. B y the end o f 19 6 1, the Ventures
In 1958, Bogle and W ilson worked construction had released four charting albums, w ith the debut W al\
sites b y day, playing the N orthw est club circuit at night. D on’t Run reaching Number Eleven. Because the band
Their first recording, a vocal number, w ent nowhere, so w as so busy recording and playing T V shows and con­
the following year they enlisted Nokie Edwards to play certs, its label had to use stand-ins for the first cover
bass. W ith his banjo rolls and “chicken pickin’ ” style, photo session. (The self-titled sophomore album fea­
Edwards had already established himself as one o f the tured the real band on the jacket.) Predating the late-
Northw est’s top guitarists. In i960, they cut jazz leg­ sixties trend toward album sales, at least one Ventures
end Johnny Smith’s "W alk Don’t Run,” albeit inspired release made the Billboard albums chart every year for
by Chet Atkins’s version o f the song, stripped down ten years straight, w ith twenty-nine making the Top 10 0
to a rockin’ exercise in simplicity. The track featured between i9 6 0 and 1970.
W ilson’s opening chords, punctuated b y Bogle’s clever The Ventures’ personnel fluctuated over the years.
lead—riffs that are still played note for note by countless Early on, Bogle swapped roles w ith guitar maestro
guitarists around the world. Having originally worked Edwards and became the band’s bassist. Original drum-

The Ventures: Don Wilson, Bob Bogle, Howie Johnson, and Nokie Edwards (from left), c. 1962
WALK- DON’TRUN’64
and THE CRUEL SEA
W O N
pre-British Invasion surf bands. W ilson’s trademark chord'
ing style, intros, and bass'string glissandos complemented
Edwards’s high'String magic, and, with Bogle and Taylor tak'
ing the rhythm section to new heights, the quartet refined and
THE VENTURES expanded its repertoire. This lineup re'cut “Walk Don’t Run”
in 1964, garnering another Top Ten single
B y the end o f 1968, Edwards had left the band and was
replaced by session ace Gerry McGee. The guitarist’s studio
resume featured recordings with Elvis Presley, the Everly
Brothers, and the Monkees (including the opening chords o f
their T V show theme song). W ith M cGee and keyboardist
John Durrill on board, the Ventures cut the 1969 theme song
to Hawaii Five-O, replacing the horns o f the hit television
series with guitar and keyboards. This would be the group’s
last Top Ten hit, peaking at Number Four.
The Ventures’ recordings often included groundbreak­
ing production techniques - eerie organ, special effects,
sirens, barking dogs, echo, underwater reverb and tremolo,5
gongs, dropped tunings, and possibly the first recorded use
o f fuzz-tone pedal. Gibson introduced its Maestro Fuzz-Tone
The Ventures reprise their breakthrough hit four years later.
unit around 1961, but apparently a custom-made model used
by the Ventures on “The a,000 Pound Bee (Parts One and
mer Howie Johnson, who joined after ‘W alk Don’t Run,” was
Two)” was the first to hit the singles chart, in December 1962.
forced to retire in 1963, following a back injury. His replace­
This device was built by pedal steel player Red Rhodes, who
ment, L A . session drummer M el Taylor, had played on “Alley
also mimicked a theremin and other incidentals on Ventures
Oop,” “The Lonely Bull,” and “The Monster Mash,” among in Space.
other hits. W ith Edwards on lead, the Ventures reached a
Throughout their career, the Ventures have continu­
level o f musicianship that set a new standard for America’s
ally crafted distinctive covers featuring the band’s unique
The late-sixties look: Taylor, Wilson, Bogle, keyboardist John Durrlll, and new guitarist Gerry McGee (from left)

Surfin' into a new century: The Ventures sign with Pat Boone’s Gold label, Los Angeles, 2000.
arrangements, resulting in complete remakes o f many songs. Ventures’ 1962 LP M ashed Potatoes & Gravy) w as featured
On Richard Rodgers’s “Slaughter on io th Avenue,” Brahms’s on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. The band’s “Play Guitar W ith
“Hungarian Dances,” and Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight o f the the Ventures” album series taught many novices songs and
Bumblebee,” for example, the group pulled a section o f each licks they could really use, inspiring them to keep learning.
composition, ran w ith it, and made it a Ventures song. Their The first o f this series actually made it onto Billboard’s Top
vast range o f covers veers from surf hits to the incredibly men' 10 0 albums chart, in 1965.
acing “Bat,” w ith its wailing sirens and fuzz guitars. In the case For decades, the Ventures have been a great live act. A s
o f the Frantics’ “N o W erewolf,” the band played the original documented on the 1966 film Beloved Invaders, shot during the
note for note and re-titled it “The Fourth Dimension.” Fre- Ventures’ 1965 tour o f Japan, the band spread out in a straight
quently, the Ventures have mimicked a song’s vocal melody line across the stage, the classic four-piece Gretsch drum set
w ith the lead guitar, as on their versions o f “Ghost Riders in to the left, w ith three white Fender amps in a row to the right.
the Sky,” “W hen You W alk in the Room,” and “I Feel Fine.” The pearly white M osrite Ventures-model guitars and bass
The band also has a penchant for theme albums, such as formed a w all o f vibrating strings, each player contributing a
1963’s Ventures in Space and 1966’s The Ventures Play the Bat­ very distinctive and equally important role. Standouts include
man Theme. A lso released during this prime ’6 3 -6 6 period, “Caravan” (a vehicle for Taylor’s big band-era drum solo, plus
The Fabulous Ventures, W al\ Don’t R un ’64, K noc\ M e Out!, electrifying lead guitar), the bass-driven “Out o f Liinits,” the
L ive on Stage, Ventures A -G o-G o, and W here the A ction Is frantic rhythm guitar o f “ Bumble Bee Twist,” plus the surf
featured original compositions by Bogle/Edwards/Taylor/ classics ‘W alk Don’t Run ’64,” “Diamond Head,” “Pipeline,”
W ilson. Among the band’s hundreds o f originals, ‘W a r o f the “Penetration,” “The Gruel Sea,” and “W ipe Out.” A stripped-
Satellites,” “Journey to the Stars,” “Runnin’ W ild,” “Lonely down “Slaughter on io th Avenue” epitomizes everything an
Girl,” “The Creeper,” “Go-Go Slow,” “Stop Action,” “0 0 7-11,” instrumental band should be - tight, dynamic, and nimble.
“Zocko!,” and ‘Vam p Gamp” are just a few o f the many that The early seventies saw more personnel changes among
have held up remarkably well. In 1995, Edwards received a the Ventures, w ith all members at one time or another taking
double-platinum record when the Lively Ones’ version o f his a break from the road: Edwards returned for a while, then left
composition “Su rf Rider” (originally titled “Spudnik” on the again, as did M el Taylor. Once Taylor came back, he stayed

Onstage in Detroit, 1981: Edwards, Bogle, Taylor, and J.D. Hoag (from left)
until his death in 1996 during one o f the band’s Japanese
tours. Fortunately, he has been ably replaced b y his son Leon.
Today, the group also includes Bob Spalding, w ho has filled
in on bass and lead guitar as needed over the past twenty-
five-plus years. Spalding’s association actually goes back to
197a, when he recorded and toured w ith M el Taylor and the
Dynamics, which also included G erry M cGee and John Dur-
rill. B y the early eighties, Edwards had returned to the band
and w ould sporadically perform w ith the group in the decades
to come.
O ver the years, countless musicians have sat in w ith the
Ventures: Highlights include the Doors’ Robby Krieger har­
monizing w ith Edwards on “Perfidia,” Peter Frampton beam­
ing like a little kid on “Apache,” and the Raybeats doubling up
the rhythm section on “Out o f Limits.” Drummers as diverse
as Keith M oon, M ick Fleetwood, M ax Weinberg, and M arky
Ramone have cited the band’s influence on their playing, as
have bassists Gene Simmons, Stanley Clarke, Paul Simonon,
and Jack Blades. A n d such Hall o f Earners as Jimmy Page, Joe
Walsh, John Fogerty, M ike Campbell, Joe Perry, Tom Ham­
ilton, Lindsey Buckingham, and Eddie Van Halen are among
the guitarists who sing their praises. George Harrison once
exclaimed, “The Ventures’ guitars knock me out!” A nd now
the Ventures - Bob Bogle, Don W ilson, Nokie Edwards, M el Taylor, Wilson, Edwards, and Bogle (clockwise from top), 1981
Taylor, and Gerry M cGee —rightfully join their devoted dis­
ciples in the Rock and Roll Hall o f Fame.

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