Maximum Rhythm and Booze...with The Remains' Barry Tashian!

The Good (Penny), the 'Brawd' (Jonny) and The Ugly (Warren) are back with the NEW Maximum Rhythm and Booze featuring 60's Garage Rock legends, The Remains. America's greatest 'Lost' Band!

Even as a Beatles-obesessed boy, I was fascinated by The Remains, a band who were handed the chance of a lifetime opening up for The Beatles on their '66 US Tour and then literally,disappeared. I could only dream...only imagine how I would feel in the same position. Sharing the same stages. Shea Stadium. Candlestick Park.

So,The Remains. 1966. These are lads now, remember. Months after graduating Uni. Everything they own shoved into a VW van, a few $ for food and off to NYC. Happened be in the right office at the right time when the call came through to the manager they had just hired to help them climb the musical ladder to greatness. "We need an opening act for the Beatles tour."
Not too dissimilar to the story of The Beatles themselves. The stars aligning and you just happen to be in the exact spot where the universe needs you to be. 

So (not surprisingly!) they agree to do the tour, sharing some very intimate time with the FABS. A side not often exposed. One-on-one chats in small planes. Sharing personal thoughts on Vietnam and the social unrest in the US at the time. Remember, this tour was right on the back of Lennon's comments to Maureen Cleave in the London Evening Standard where he claimed The Beatles were bigger than Jesus. It was PANDEMONIUM in the southern US states and following death threats, bomb threats from the KKK etc, they were genuinely scared for their lives.
Barry tells of greeting Lennon as he took a seat beside him on the small chartered plane heading to Tennessee.
"Morning John, how are you?" Barry asks.
"Ask me after Memphis," Lennon replies, his voice laced with genuine anxiety. 

Again...perspective: Here is Barry (Tashian) of The Remains- a 21 year old boy- on a Lear Jet with the largest band in the world seeing and hearing things the press were never privy to at the time. He became very close with George Harrison who took him to a party in LA with rock royalty. The Birds, The Monkees, The Mammas and Pappas. He was dropped back to the hotel squeezed into David Crosby's silver Porche with George, all high and in their prime. Six months before, he was playing in a pub!
You can't make it up!

During the tour, they appeared on 'Hullabaloo', and The Ed Sullivan Show- both MASSIVE at the time. The ad in the NY Times actually said "WATCH them on NBC TV's 'Hullabaloo', SEE them at Shea Stadium, HEAR them on Epic Records." Exposure that was tantamount to anything that had come before or since to create THE next big thing right? Wrong.

So then, the album must have just been crap, right? That's why they floundered? Wrong again. Their cult classic self-titled album is absolutely BRILLIANT and is now widely regarded as one of THE seminal garage rock albums of the 1960's. Recently re-issued for Record Store Day here in the states, get it. Trust me. Download it, steal it...whatever it takes.

So what stopped this band short of becoming household names and rock legends? I've wondered about this myself since I was 12, so I was eager to find out.
I'd highly encourage giving the new MR&B a listen to hear Barry's take on it all rather than my 'Felonius Spunk' paraphrased version. He's very open. Lives with no regrets and actually went on to have a successful career himself in music beyond that magic summer in '66.

Imagine though, you're on stage at Shea. Thousands of screaming fans (not yours, theirs) but who cares right? You're in the moment. Experiencing something impossible to convey to anyone outside of the 4 members of your band and the 4 members of the band who will take the stage after you and then, take the world. You play that gig and then 6 weeks later it happens. The 'coming down'. The hangover from the 'drunken' summer. The realization that, however big The Remains become, they will never, ever achieve that or feel that again. 

The effect that has on a 21 year old mind in the reason why The Remains packed up their guitars keyboards and drums after Candlestick Park and, after a few weeks of taking stock of the future ahead of them, were never heard from again.

SHOW SETLIST:

1. Michael Kiwanuka - Love & Hate

2. The Jam - Going Underground

3. The Ruts - Babylons Burning

4. James Brown - Think

5. Smash - Coming Home

6. Paul Sindab - Do Whatcha Wanna Do

7. The Remains - Why Do I Cry

8. The Remains - Once Before

9. The Remains - Diddy Wah Diddy

10. The Mootherhood - Soul Town