After playing with The Starliners and with The Deadbeats at minor circles,
Hill Bros., Rocky & Dusty, started The Warlocks with
Frank Beard, in Dallas, Texas.
Beard came from Fort Worth: previously he had played with The Hustlers and with The Cellar
Dwellers (a single to their credit).
Such as first recording they backed the singer Lady Wilde on a 45rpm that Ara, a small
Texan label, released.
The Warlocks recorded two 7inch: one for Ara and one for another still more obscure Paradise.
They changed their name into American Blues so that one mightn't mistake them for other bands of that time. Before the year ended, they went into Robin Hood Brian's studio for recording their first album under Scotty McKay's production.
Is Here! was released through Karma Records on a limited edition. The
cover of Tim Hardin's If I Were A Carpenter
stood out from among the other tracks… It
became their favourite piece: it will be released on a single the next year too. The
long-playing turned out particularly successful from the point of view of the performance,
mixing all the influences of each member: blues, garage and psychedelia, blended into a
hard rock from whose source several Texan groups will draw. Not long after, thanks to
clamour stirred up at local spheres, the band signed for UNI, a subsidiary label of MCA,that was in the position to assure them a
distribution at home level. In August the trio, accompanied on organ by Doug Davis, was again
at studio to record the new album.
Do Their Thing kept on the way drawn by the previous record but it hadn't the same creative inspiration, resulting less genuine and sharp. Failing commercial returns, UNI got rid of them and not succeeding in spreading out their name beyond Texan borders they disbanded. In Houston Dusty and Frank met with Bill Gibbons and joined in his ZZ Top firmly.
(U.S. unless indicated otherwise)
Bad Day - Call (Steffek 1921) 7inch (1965)
Another Year - Poor Kid (Ara 1915) 7inch (1965) credited to Lady Wilde
If You Really Want Me To Stay - Good Time Trippin' (Ara 1017) 7inch (1966)
Splash Day - Life's A Misery (Paradise 1021) 7inch (1966)
American Blues Is Here! (Karma
1001) LP (1968)
American Blues Do Their Thing (UNI
73044) LP (1969)
If I Were
A Carpenter - All I Saw Was You (Karma K45-101) 7inch (1969)
American Blues Is Here! (Microdot AB 1) LP (UK) (198?)
Is Here - Do Their Thing (Afterglow AFT 011) CD (1994)
(compiles both American Blues' albums plus The Warlocks' single If You Really Want Me To
Stay - Good Time Trippin')
Bad Day (The Cellar Dwellers) on Texas Punk, Vol. 9
(Cicadelic CIC-971) LP and Acid Visions The Complete
Collection, Vol. 3 (Collectables 8811) 3CD
If You Really Want Me To Stay (The Warlocks) on Flashback, Vol. 1
(Flashback FR 1001) LP
Life's A Misery (The Warlocks) on Acid Visions, Vol. 2 (Voxx VXS 200.054) LP and Acid
Visions The Complete Collection, Vol. 1 (Collectables 8807)
3CD
A Journey To Tyme, Vol. 1 (Phantom PRS-1001) (LP)
includes If I Were A Carpenter and All I Saw Was You (American Blues)
If I Were A Carpenter also on Reverberation, Vol. 4
(Reverberation IV) CD (UK)