By Devorah Ostrov
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| "Primordial Ooze Flavored" (Hysteria Records - 1983) |
This is relevant. Because for Shelley, the '60s never ended. The bands he favors are the Seeds (the above quote came from their song, "The Farmer"), Count Five, the Syndicate of Sound, the Standells, and numerous other even more obscure '60s garage-rock groups. And with his band's recently released six-song EP, "Primordial Ooze Flavored" (Hysteria Records), Shelley says he hopes to bring back the feeling and the fun of that era!
We began the interview by gathering some background information on our fave rave.
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| The Unclaimed - early publicity photo with Shelley Ganz and Sid Griffin. |
Shelley: I was born in Hollywood, at the southern edge of Hollywood.
Q: As a kid, were you a big fan of '60s garage rock when it was happening?
Shelley: No, I was too young at the time it was happening. I only became aware of pop music a couple of years later, during the bubblegum era. Garage hit me when I was in boarding school in New York — which is too horrid an episode to get into. Luckily, I had a transistor radio so I could tune in to WCBS-FM, an "oldies" radio station. They played everything from Doo-Wop through surf and British Invasion to garage and bubblegum. It was literally the only thing that kept me from jumping out of a window.
Q: What it was that appealed to you so strongly about garage rock?
Shelley: It just hit me on an internal level. You get it or you don't. It talks to you or it doesn't. You hear something and it instantly grabs you. I remember very clearly hearing the intro to "Liar Liar" by the legendary Castaways on WCBS. I just froze. It was just... fantastic is not a strong enough word. I thought, "Oh my god, this is just the greatest!"
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| Poster for a 2015 show with the Outta Sites, the Unclaimed & the Ogres at the Elbo Room in SF. |
Shelley: I'm very tempted to laugh uproariously! You know the Stones covered "I Wanna Be Your Man," and you know the Beatles wrote it. Now, the Beatles' version is a very likable pop tune. But the Stones' version is this wicked cool, kick-ass, demonic death ray! And that's the difference between the two bands. A writer friend of mine put it this way: "The Beatles were more romantic; the Stones were more sexual." It's a profound statement. I don't profess to being that clever; I would just say that the Stones are more visceral.
Q: So, you're listening to oldies on WCBS-FM... Were you already thinking about forming your own band?
Shelley: No, not at that point. I loved the music, and I was very heavily into the Stones, but I was still quite young. So, when that school uhmm... thought I should be elsewhere, to put it mildly, I came back to LA and finished high school and started college. And that's when I became super garaged-out! One day, I was listening to KRTH — they were almost identical to WCBS; they played everything that WCBS played. So, I was listening to "Time Won't Let Me" by the Outsiders on KRTH... and BANG! I wanted to be the Outsiders. My thought was, I'm never gonna see the Outsiders, so I felt I had to become them. That's how passionate I was about garage rock. That's when I thought, I'm gonna have to put a band together that's devoted to garage. And that's when I started putting ads in The Recycler looking for like-minded people. And it slowly came together, but it was very slow.
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| The Unclaimed at the time of this interview (publicity photo) |
Shelley: Well, it did take a few years to find the right group.
Q: Was it because no one understood what you were trying to do?
Shelley: That's one way to put it. It was tough because it's really a pigeonhole. The original garage scene only lasted for a couple of years.
Q: What kind of people responded to your advert?
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| Shelley onstage in 2013 at the Ugly Things 30th-anniversary party. |
Q: Which guy from Blue Cheer?
Shelley: Oh, I don't know. He played drums and he was a hippie. We played "Bad Girl" [by Zakary Thaks], but he couldn't quite get it. And we played "Dinah Wants Religion" [by the Fabs], but he couldn't quite get that, either. He wanted to go into a drum solo for five minutes. Haha!
Q: Were you called the Unclaimed from the beginning?
Shelley: No, there were a lot of names. I think we were called the Popes at one point. And we were the Uninvited for a little while. And from the Uninvited, we became the Unclaimed. There was a fantastic garage band called the Uncalled For. Oh, my god, they were so great! They had a song called "Do Like Me," and I was in love with that song. We used to cover it. And I kind of went, "The Uncalled For... The Unclaimed. That's it!"
Q: Where did the band make its debut?
Shelley: It was at the Nugget at Long Beach State. We opened for the Plimsouls.
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| Flyer for "another savage performance" by the Unclaimed at the Troubadour in Los Angeles - January 30, 1980. |
Shelley: Yeah, it was good! We played two sets. I remember the first song we played; it was "Little Girl" by the Syndicate of Sound — the greatest band of them all.
Q: What else did you play that night?
Shelley: Well, you see... I'd met Dave Gibson, who eventually produced our Moxie record, and he sold me a stack of singles for basically nothing. These were very rare and very obscure singles. So, our first set included a plethora of extremely obscure garage covers combined with some well-known '60s tunes by groups like the Chocolate Watchband.
Shelley: We were friends for a good two or three years prior to that. We would hang out and go to record stores. He's a very good cat, and he was very complimentary about our first set. He was very generous and kind with what he said when he saw us.
Q: This would have pre-dated the garage rock revival by quite a while.
Shelley: It pre-dated everything!
Q: What did the audience think?
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| The Unclaimed four-song EP (Moxie Records 1980) Features two songs written by Sid Griffin and two written by Shelley Ganz, including "Run from Home." |
Shelley: I only have a recollection of our performance, and I just remember Peter beaming. That's all I can recall. I can't even see the audience. Presumably, they enjoyed it, but I just don't remember.
Q: In 1981, the Unclaimed track "Run from Home" was included on the Voxx Battle of the Garages LP. How did that come about?
Shelley: That was Greg Shaw's vision of what contemporary garage music was like, but half the group had left by then; that was the pivotal point. Sid was really into a more country sound, and I was into the grungier, punk sound of that period. So, we couldn't really come together on songwriting. We sort of did his songs and then we did my songs, and there was a constant battle. So, he split. But we're still pals.
Q: In 1981, the Unclaimed track "Run from Home" was included on the Voxx Battle of the Garages LP. How did that come about?
Shelley: That was Greg Shaw's vision of what contemporary garage music was like, but half the group had left by then; that was the pivotal point. Sid was really into a more country sound, and I was into the grungier, punk sound of that period. So, we couldn't really come together on songwriting. We sort of did his songs and then we did my songs, and there was a constant battle. So, he split. But we're still pals.
Q: Wasn't "Run from Home" one of the two songs you wrote for the Unclaimed's 1980 Moxie EP?
Shelley: Yes, it was. But I thought the original version was recorded much too quickly, and in general, it's rather poor quality. We reworked it a bit for the Voxx LP. We enhanced the vocals and some of the guitars.
Q: Battle of the Garages was supposed to be a real Battle of the Bands, with write-in votes. Was an actual winner chosen from the entries?
Shelley: I don't know, it was probably the Chesterfield Kings. They did a cover of the Chocolate Watchband's tune "Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In)."
Q: Speaking of your East Coast rivals... The Chesterfield Kings offered 14 covers of obscure mid-'60s nuggets on their debut album. Meanwhile, you wrote five out of the six songs on "Primordial Ooze Flavored." What's your take on this difference between the two bands?
Shelley: I think the Chesterfield Kings are a great band! I think they chose superlative songs to cover and they did it brilliantly. Both our bands are very evocative of that stock mid-'60s sound. I'm pretty sure if you found their album and "Primordial Ooze Flavored" in a stack of records from 1966, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them and the originals. Not from a production end, anyway.
Q: But I also think it's amazing that you're writing new songs which could easily be mistaken for the genuine article.
Shelley: Thank you! The Unclaimed's songs are strong. They may not be as great as the '60s punk hits that we all admire, but I don't think there's any loss of texture or quality in our original material. We just didn't think there was any point in recording covers because those songs are masterpieces. So, we were never really into that.
Q: How did you go about recording the "Primordial Ooze Flavored" EP? Did you try to get an "old" feeling?
Shelley: No, you see, we aren't trying to do it. We just do it. We know what we want, and we do it.
Q: So, you were able to use a regular, modern-day recording studio?
Shelley: Well, most of the studios are solid-state as opposed to tubes. But I think it's more like, if you know what you're doing and you sound how you want to, it's not really that important. A lot of the stuff was piecemeal recording, y'know, various bits and pieces here and there. We got bits of time for nothing or very, very cheaply. So, we just went up there and did as much as possible in the shortest period of time.
Q: You produced the EP yourselves?
Shelley: Yeah! We had an engineer, but we essentially knew how to get the sounds. The problem with some bands is that they try too hard to capture "a sound." When the Seeds went to record, they didn't think: "Who are we going to emulate?" They just did it. Beatle boots and bowl haircuts are cool, but anyone can wear them. And that's not the criteria for cool anyway. A bunch of the mid-'60s garage groups look like physics students — like they'd be late for chemistry!
Q: Are you happy with how "Primordial Ooze Flavored" turned out?
Shelley: Uhmm... three-quarters happy. We learn more every time we go into the studio. We're not complete experts, and we were on a limited budget.
Q: Have you seen any reviews of "Primordial Ooze Flavored"?
Shelley: A local writer in a local paper said that it was easily the most stock sounding thing he'd heard, and why we weren't stars was beyond his imagination. Stuff like that. He liked it a lot! He was really nice; I thought about sending him some fruit.
Q: Have you had the opportunity to hear your songs on the radio?
Shelley: Yes! They played "Walk on the Water" on Rodney's [Bingenheimer] show, and they played "No Apology" a lot 'cause that's a very hot track. Rodney is always good to us.
Q: Are you hoping to get picked up by a major label?
Shelley: Y'know, that's like every kid's dream! That and a free trip to Hawaii! But yeah, it would be nice if we could make a living on what we like to do.
Q: The EP cover artwork is really interesting. How did that design come about?
Shelley: The cover is kind of hard to define. I got the idea from Fizzies. I dug some up and thought, "This wouldn't be bad." So, that's where I got it. But I dig it! The whole kinda cruddy, amusement park meets Halloween, meets B-horror movies, meets cotton candy that sticks to your shoe!
Q: Do you ever feel like you've held yourself back by locking yourself into such a specific musical timeframe?
Shelley: No! Because I love that timeframe. I worship it! I adore it! I can honestly say it's my religion. This is all I listen to. Other than bubblegum and a few notable exceptions, like the New York Dolls, the Ramones, and the Damned, I don't buy records that came out after Brian Jones died. I kinda feel like he took all the coolness with him. After '69, rock 'n' roll became big business and it became really serious. But if you just dig around there's stuff out there that is such a gas to listen to. The greatest things are songs like "Little Girl." It's utterly simple, and it really floors you!
But wait! The Unclaimed story isn't over. They've got a new self-titled, four-song EP on Groovie Records. You can listen to one of the fab tracks ("You Never Come") and find out how to order your copy here: theunclaimed.bandcamp.com
"I like to refer to our new songs as bubble-garage," says Shelley. "I've always adored bubblegum music. It followed garage chronologically, and these new songs have both qualities — garage and bubblegum forged together. And I think they're delightful!"
Q: Battle of the Garages was supposed to be a real Battle of the Bands, with write-in votes. Was an actual winner chosen from the entries?
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| Still rockin'! The Unclaimed in action at the Redwood - April 2019. Photo: Boni Wolf Florian |
Q: Speaking of your East Coast rivals... The Chesterfield Kings offered 14 covers of obscure mid-'60s nuggets on their debut album. Meanwhile, you wrote five out of the six songs on "Primordial Ooze Flavored." What's your take on this difference between the two bands?
Shelley: I think the Chesterfield Kings are a great band! I think they chose superlative songs to cover and they did it brilliantly. Both our bands are very evocative of that stock mid-'60s sound. I'm pretty sure if you found their album and "Primordial Ooze Flavored" in a stack of records from 1966, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them and the originals. Not from a production end, anyway.
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| Flyer for an Unclaimed gig at Club 88, with support from the Salvation Army & the Bangs (soon to become the Three O'Clock & the Bangles respectively). |
Shelley: Thank you! The Unclaimed's songs are strong. They may not be as great as the '60s punk hits that we all admire, but I don't think there's any loss of texture or quality in our original material. We just didn't think there was any point in recording covers because those songs are masterpieces. So, we were never really into that.
Q: How did you go about recording the "Primordial Ooze Flavored" EP? Did you try to get an "old" feeling?
Shelley: No, you see, we aren't trying to do it. We just do it. We know what we want, and we do it.
Q: So, you were able to use a regular, modern-day recording studio?
Shelley: Well, most of the studios are solid-state as opposed to tubes. But I think it's more like, if you know what you're doing and you sound how you want to, it's not really that important. A lot of the stuff was piecemeal recording, y'know, various bits and pieces here and there. We got bits of time for nothing or very, very cheaply. So, we just went up there and did as much as possible in the shortest period of time.
Q: You produced the EP yourselves?
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| Battle of the Garages - featuring the Unclaimed track "Run from Home" (Voxx Records - 1981). |
Q: Are you happy with how "Primordial Ooze Flavored" turned out?
Shelley: Uhmm... three-quarters happy. We learn more every time we go into the studio. We're not complete experts, and we were on a limited budget.
Q: Have you seen any reviews of "Primordial Ooze Flavored"?
Shelley: A local writer in a local paper said that it was easily the most stock sounding thing he'd heard, and why we weren't stars was beyond his imagination. Stuff like that. He liked it a lot! He was really nice; I thought about sending him some fruit.
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| Lost Trails #7 - Italian fanzine featuring an Unclaimed/Vipers split single (1988). |
Shelley: Yes! They played "Walk on the Water" on Rodney's [Bingenheimer] show, and they played "No Apology" a lot 'cause that's a very hot track. Rodney is always good to us.
Q: Are you hoping to get picked up by a major label?
Shelley: Y'know, that's like every kid's dream! That and a free trip to Hawaii! But yeah, it would be nice if we could make a living on what we like to do.
Q: The EP cover artwork is really interesting. How did that design come about?
Shelley: The cover is kind of hard to define. I got the idea from Fizzies. I dug some up and thought, "This wouldn't be bad." So, that's where I got it. But I dig it! The whole kinda cruddy, amusement park meets Halloween, meets B-horror movies, meets cotton candy that sticks to your shoe!
Q: Do you ever feel like you've held yourself back by locking yourself into such a specific musical timeframe?
Shelley: No! Because I love that timeframe. I worship it! I adore it! I can honestly say it's my religion. This is all I listen to. Other than bubblegum and a few notable exceptions, like the New York Dolls, the Ramones, and the Damned, I don't buy records that came out after Brian Jones died. I kinda feel like he took all the coolness with him. After '69, rock 'n' roll became big business and it became really serious. But if you just dig around there's stuff out there that is such a gas to listen to. The greatest things are songs like "Little Girl." It's utterly simple, and it really floors you!
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| Vintage Fizzies packages |
★ ★ ★
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| The new Unclaimed EP (Groovie Records) |
But wait! The Unclaimed story isn't over. They've got a new self-titled, four-song EP on Groovie Records. You can listen to one of the fab tracks ("You Never Come") and find out how to order your copy here: theunclaimed.bandcamp.com
"I like to refer to our new songs as bubble-garage," says Shelley. "I've always adored bubblegum music. It followed garage chronologically, and these new songs have both qualities — garage and bubblegum forged together. And I think they're delightful!"
* Follow the Unclaimed on their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/TheUnclaimed
* Join the Friends Who Like The Unclaimed Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups
* Watch the video for "You Never Come" on YouTube: www.youtube.com
