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| The Gants, 1965 |
By all appearances, by 1966 the Gants were headed for
national success. Their songs were some of the most melodic this side of
the Atlantic, and opening for British bands
like the Dave Clark Five and the Animals exposed the band both to new audiences
and to some great musicians, elements of whose style they skillfully massaged into
their own music. But, with that greater visibility came some problems, problems that
would wind up being band’s undoing.
In this digital, any-kind-of-music-anytime-you-want-it world we in which we live today, it’s hard for some to remember – or even imagine – a
time when radio was king. To get hits – and see any kind of payday – artists
needed its support. The DIY approach so common with artists now was decades away from even
being imagined.
In the ‘60s, rock and roll was still pretty much considered
a teenage thing – teenagers listening to the music and teenagers making it. The
Gants were no exception. The band was offered a chance to do a more extensive
East Coast tour that would have exposed them to a much wider audience. Herring
– and most other observers – believe this would have put them on the national
radar. The problem was, they were all in still in high school or the early
years of college.
“We had a radio tour booked up and down the East Coast,”
Herring recalled. “If we could have done that, it would have put us on the map.
But our school principal wouldn’t let us go.”
This might, at first glance, sound like an uptight grown-up trying to make sure his
students didn’t get mixed up with that nasty rock and roll. But there was more
at play here – namely a war in Vietnam,
and an increasingly controversial one at that. You don’t need a history lesson
here, but as you may remember there was also a draft. School was one of the few firewalls young men had between themselves and the jungles of Southeast Asia. Had Herring and company dropped out of school, they
could quite possibly have found themselves talking to a draft board. The
principal – and eventually the Gants themselves – realized this.
“He was doing what he thought was best for us,” said
Herring. “If we had left school, we would have been drafted. So, the tour got
shot down. You couldn’t have radio stations back you then turnaround and say “sorry, we can’t
do it.”
The other misfortune that struck the Gants was actually born
in Belfast, Northern Ireland , one that blew
up big stateside – the song “Gloria” by the Van Morrison led-Them!. The song, now
one of rock’s most iconic, contained a few lyrics that made American AM radio
programmers a little jittery.
The Gants cut a more radio-friendly version of the song that
lost none of the original’s punch. Their version did get regional airplay and
by all accounts was well-received. But, the band’s label, Liberty, for reasons still murky, wouldn’t
release it.
“If Liberty
had out our version of ‘Gloria,’ we know it would have been huge,” Herring lamented.
“We did everything but beg them. Finally, the Chicago-based Shadows of Knight cut it and it
took off for them.”
The remake hit number 10 on Billboard’s singles charts,
becoming a huge hit for the Shadows of Knight and catapulted that group to become one of garage rock's most successful. Herring said he wasn’t quite sure
why the label refused to release the Gants' version. He suggested that perhaps Liberty had other
things in mind for the band – but not the kinds of things the Gants were too keen on doing. The Gants became another victim of an all-too-common misadventure in the music biz. Over and over again, bands and artists have seemed to have huge success within grasp, only to have the Suits interfere, meddle and manipulate them right out of the spotlight.
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| Sid Herring (left) with Peter Noone |
"Liberty wanted us to come to California which we
weren’t keen on,” Herring said. “They also wanted us to do things like a lot of
covers we didn’t want to do. They wanted us to do some Herman’s Hermit’s type
stuff (in his younger days, Herring bore a strong resemblance to Peter Noone),
which, not to say anything bad about them, but it’s just not us. All of that
just knocked our legs out from under us.”
The Gants did make their way to Los Angeles, where they recorded with future
Bread leader David Gates producing. But the Gants didn’t last very long afterwards and were finished by 1967.
But Herring wasn’t finished with music. He stayed in Los Angeles for a while longer, working as a songwriter
for Liberty. Johnny
Sanders went to medical school and went on to have a successful practice in Tupelo. Johnny “Freakie”
Freeman rejoined the band for the final days of its first go-round.
More importantly, Herring met Sandee Jones, who was Miss
Teen USA in 1967 and shortly thereafter, became Mrs. Herring. The couple made
their way to Memphis
where Herring would work for a time with the great Steve Cropper.
While the Gants may have become history, the band and its
music never quite faded to the dustbin. People continued to enjoy their music
over the next few decades. Herring said he wasn’t sure exactly what it was that
kept fans – both new and longtime – listening long after the band broke up, but
offered what seems quite a good guess.
“I kind of think that when I wrote those songs, I was innocent
and that youthfulness comes through,” Herring surmises. “I was experiencing
life at the same time I was writing those songs. There is a joy in the music.
The emotions of the time got captured somehow, so when you hear the music, the
emotion sticks. I find with a lot of songwriters today, their music, though
good, is not quite as personal.”
“I’m surprised myself (that people are still talking about
the music 50 years later). It’s still getting played on radio stations all over
the world and I have a royalty check that I love having come in.”
One of those fans who stayed interested in the Gants was one Little Steven Van Zandt, the force
behind Little Steven’s Underground Garage. LSUG was perhaps the most widely heard outlet
playing the Gants’ music. Because of that, the Gants were about to experience
déjà vu all over again.
“Word (over the internet) started getting out about us, and
things started happening again,” said Herring. “Little Steven Van Zandt called
us, and we played three shows in New
York. Then we toured again in Florida. Little Steven is one of the nicest
guys I have ever met in the music business. He gave us a chance to experience
all the good times again, just like what we had in the ‘60s.”
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| The Gants Perform in Tampa Bay |
And in 2000, Sundazed Records released a best-of
compilation, further putting the Gants in the spotlight. Tom Petty has also
publicly praised the Gants and featured their music on his “Buried Treasure”
radio show on Sirius/XM.
But members of the band, no longer teenagers, started
suffering the problems that Father Time dishes up, eventually, to all of us. Over the years the other members of the Gants –
Vince Montgomery, Don Wood and Dr. Johnny Sanders have all
passed on, leaving Herring (and Freeman) as the only Gants left.
It’s mindblowing to realize that the young men who made that music, music that seems to stay forever young and fresh itself, is made by mere mortals who grow old just like everybody else. Though Herring seems quite stoic about the loss of his friends, it’s tough to miss just a hint of melancholy when he talks about them.
“We all loved each other and we were a lot more like
brothers than friends,” said Herring. “In fact, being an only child, they were my brothers. We never missed a
chance to get together and play. If you asked me where is the place I would
most want to be, I would want to be playing music with those guys.”
One of the things that stuck out most about the band was its
cohesiveness. It’s easy to assume that maybe they were a little better trained
than most garage rock bands of the time were. Herring said this was not the case
at all – that what the Gants lacked in technical expertise was more than made
up with simple camaraderie.
“If you take four superstars, they’re all going to be
jockeying for position,” Herring explained. “We, on the other hand, were all
friends. Johnny Sanders was my best friend since I was eight, and I taught him
to play, a little bit each time over many years. Vince Montgomery was a very
talented guy and a strong point of our band.”
“The combination of our talents and staying within our part
in the unit made us closer as a band. There was no confusion – there was an
understanding. We weren’t superstars. We were all just average guys, but when
you put us together, things happened.”
Herring is still
making good music. Last year, Herring
released the very aptly named CD “Full Circle,” which is made up of the kind of
traditional, straight-up blues you’d expect from a native Mississippian. Some of the songs are directly autobiographical and have all the honesty needed to make the music work like a charm. It’s all part of Herring’s belief that once you’re a
songwriter, you’re always a songwriter.
“I still feel the need to make new music, even at my age,”
Herring concluded. “I wish older people wouldn’t give up. I still feel young in
my mind and I don’t think it’s time to stop making music.”
Interviewing Sid and writing this story has made for one of the best times I have ever had as a writer. Not to sound smarmy, but Sid is truly one of the nicest guys I have interviewed and I really appreciate the time he has spent on this.
Next post: I am extremely excited to announce that we will have a feature on the great British band the Pretty Things. Phil May, the lead singer of a band that began in the earliest days of the golden age of British rock, recently chit-chatted with Garagerocktopia.
A reminder that there is a comment section at the end of each post and your feedback is most welcome. Are you involved in garage rock/freakbeat/protopunk/power pop? A musician? a label? a radio person? Do you have a fascinating story that the world needs to know? Well, start by letting me know.
Peace, out!
The official website of the Gants: http://www.thegants.com
Please check out our feature on another fine Mississippi band, the Jesters
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