Biography
The Avengers VI might initially register as yet another unearthed rock and roll act from the 1960s, drawing intense interest from surf music specialists while slipping past most casual audiences, yet bypassing this particular outfit would amount to a genuine mistake. The musicians proved not merely competent but exceptional, especially given that their average age hovered near 16 at the moment they turned semi-professional and 17 when they laid down their sole extant recordings, which fully match the ensemble’s storied standing. The group began as a threesome of schoolmates from one Anaheim, CA neighborhood. Rick Bastrup, Bob Gallant, and Curt Pickelle, all mid-teens in early 1964, had been close since toddlerhood and shared a passion for surf sounds exemplified by Dick Dale and the Lively Ones along with the assorted pseudonyms, including the Rip-Chords, employed by Gary Usher, Terry Melcher, and Bruce Johnston. Their enthusiasm extended to replicating those sounds, moving from casual imitation to actual instruments. Rick Bastrup opened on drums before shifting to guitar once Bob Gallant committed to a superior kit his friend could then envision possessing; Curt Pickelle simultaneously moved from guitar to bass, yielding a functional trio that began refining favorite instrumentals. Jim Goodwin’s second guitar transformed the lineup into a quartet, the added instrument welcomed because premier surf outfits such as the Pyramids and the Astronauts typically featured at least three. In 1964 the four tested their local reputation by accepting a junior high school dance booking in Anaheim. Far from failing, the performance astonished them when the audience danced enthusiastically and demanded repeats of their narrow set, then limited to “Tequila” and comparable instrumentals. Bastrup later suggested, in remarks recorded for music scholar Robert J. Dalley’s essay, that their near-peer status with the younger teens fostered connection, as did their evident affection for the material; countless hours mastering parts from singles such as “Pipeline” and “Tequila” proved worthwhile. The evening also yielded an unplanned 25 percent bonus, an extra $10 beyond the contracted $40, a sum that in that era covered seven movie tickets, more than twenty gallons of fuel, or ninety to one hundred comic books and exceeded typical teenage allowances or adult haircuts with gratuity.
The quartet progressed steadily, yet one trait set them apart from most high-school ensembles: they continually sought to elevate both performance and technical ability. Shortly after local school dances began, they encountered Jim Ferguson, a year older and far more dedicated to guitar than Bastrup or Goodwin had been, practicing eight hours daily, composing and reading music, and already performing at a level the others were only beginning to imagine. His addition resembled surf guitar’s equivalent of Eric Clapton. Mike DeYoung soon joined on organ as the sixth member, bringing formal classical training absent from the others’ backgrounds. On the resulting recordings DeYoung and Ferguson sometimes evoke the Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore of the California surf circuit, albeit with greater mutual enjoyment. The tracks convey that all six musicians genuinely relished collaboration, a dynamic amplified by their youth and the prevailing surf-music atmosphere, which together pointed toward substantial achievement.
Bookings soon extended past Anaheim throughout Orange County, including the Disneyland Space Bar, an expansion that stood out amid the British Invasion’s 1964 disruption. While many surf bands faced shrinking audiences as younger listeners gravitated toward Merseybeat, the Avengers VI cultivated a robust regional following despite the shifting climate; California’s scale makes the accomplishment easy to understate, yet an equivalent draw in Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, or Illinois would have placed them in front of national acts. Their breadth helped: youngsters responded to surf staples such as “Pipeline,” while adults appreciated mood and soundtrack pieces including Henry Mancini’s “Mr. Lucky,” Max Steiner’s “Theme from a Summer Place,” and Edvard Grieg’s “Hall of the Mountain King,” the last arranged by Bastrup and Ferguson, who also authored strong originals. By late 1965 the band ranked among Southern California’s best-equipped instrumental groups, channeling rising earnings into premium Fender guitars and amplifiers plus an onstage light show that further increased their rates. Within two years they shared bills with the Astronauts they had idolized, still teenagers themselves.
The Avengers VI outlasted the surf boom, persisting into the psychedelic period. They incorporated vocals without diminishing their reputation for surf-style instrumentals, which continued drawing bookings through 1968. In 1966 they met producer George Garabedian of the small California label Mark 56. The ensemble recorded the album Real Cool Hits in a single overnight session at his studio; it was distributed via Good Humor Ice Cream trucks. Though the record itself was strong, this channel proved inefficient, and the company’s later financial difficulties compounded the issue. Copies nevertheless circulated in Southern California used bins and garage sales for decades, nurturing a cult following through the 1970s and afterward. The original band dissolved at the close of 1968 after a remarkable four-year run, most members still under twenty, ended only by routine musical differences. In mid-1969 Bastrup, Pickelle, Ferguson, and Goodwin regrouped as the Californians, whose expanded sound incorporated more vocals and embraced folk-rock and its progressive extensions. They performed into the early ’70s, securing solid Southern California dates including Disneyland appearances, though they issued no commercial releases and confined themselves to early-’70s demos.
Real Cool Hits survived the Avengers VI by decades, appearing in multiple unauthorized CD editions and one authorized Bacchus Archives version mastered from the original tapes. Few archival finds of this type require neither justification nor excuse to be valued, and the same holds for the band itself. In both sound and backstory, the album and its creators embody what 1960s rock and roll was, or could have been, about.
The quartet progressed steadily, yet one trait set them apart from most high-school ensembles: they continually sought to elevate both performance and technical ability. Shortly after local school dances began, they encountered Jim Ferguson, a year older and far more dedicated to guitar than Bastrup or Goodwin had been, practicing eight hours daily, composing and reading music, and already performing at a level the others were only beginning to imagine. His addition resembled surf guitar’s equivalent of Eric Clapton. Mike DeYoung soon joined on organ as the sixth member, bringing formal classical training absent from the others’ backgrounds. On the resulting recordings DeYoung and Ferguson sometimes evoke the Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore of the California surf circuit, albeit with greater mutual enjoyment. The tracks convey that all six musicians genuinely relished collaboration, a dynamic amplified by their youth and the prevailing surf-music atmosphere, which together pointed toward substantial achievement.
Bookings soon extended past Anaheim throughout Orange County, including the Disneyland Space Bar, an expansion that stood out amid the British Invasion’s 1964 disruption. While many surf bands faced shrinking audiences as younger listeners gravitated toward Merseybeat, the Avengers VI cultivated a robust regional following despite the shifting climate; California’s scale makes the accomplishment easy to understate, yet an equivalent draw in Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, or Illinois would have placed them in front of national acts. Their breadth helped: youngsters responded to surf staples such as “Pipeline,” while adults appreciated mood and soundtrack pieces including Henry Mancini’s “Mr. Lucky,” Max Steiner’s “Theme from a Summer Place,” and Edvard Grieg’s “Hall of the Mountain King,” the last arranged by Bastrup and Ferguson, who also authored strong originals. By late 1965 the band ranked among Southern California’s best-equipped instrumental groups, channeling rising earnings into premium Fender guitars and amplifiers plus an onstage light show that further increased their rates. Within two years they shared bills with the Astronauts they had idolized, still teenagers themselves.
The Avengers VI outlasted the surf boom, persisting into the psychedelic period. They incorporated vocals without diminishing their reputation for surf-style instrumentals, which continued drawing bookings through 1968. In 1966 they met producer George Garabedian of the small California label Mark 56. The ensemble recorded the album Real Cool Hits in a single overnight session at his studio; it was distributed via Good Humor Ice Cream trucks. Though the record itself was strong, this channel proved inefficient, and the company’s later financial difficulties compounded the issue. Copies nevertheless circulated in Southern California used bins and garage sales for decades, nurturing a cult following through the 1970s and afterward. The original band dissolved at the close of 1968 after a remarkable four-year run, most members still under twenty, ended only by routine musical differences. In mid-1969 Bastrup, Pickelle, Ferguson, and Goodwin regrouped as the Californians, whose expanded sound incorporated more vocals and embraced folk-rock and its progressive extensions. They performed into the early ’70s, securing solid Southern California dates including Disneyland appearances, though they issued no commercial releases and confined themselves to early-’70s demos.
Real Cool Hits survived the Avengers VI by decades, appearing in multiple unauthorized CD editions and one authorized Bacchus Archives version mastered from the original tapes. Few archival finds of this type require neither justification nor excuse to be valued, and the same holds for the band itself. In both sound and backstory, the album and its creators embody what 1960s rock and roll was, or could have been, about.
Albums