Biography
The psych-punk group the Jelly Bean Bandits came together in Newburgh, New York in 1966, with singer Billy Donald, guitarist Jack Dougherty, bassist Fred Buck, keyboardist Michael "Mr. Addams" Raab, and drummer Joe "Laredo London" Scalfari comprising the lineup. At first they performed as "the Mirror" and drew consistent crowds to regional clubs such as Trade Winds, Poughkeepsie's Buccaneer Nightclub, and Burlington, Vermont's Red Dog. A three-song demo they cut earned them a three-album deal with Mainstream Records, yet the label did not realize those tracks represented the band's complete repertoire at the time, which left the musicians scrambling to generate enough new songs for a full album inside a single week. Their self-titled 1967 debut nevertheless stands as a strong freakbeat cult classic, marked by Dougherty's emotive guitar lines and inventive production choices, all captured in one twelve-hour session. Mainstream rejected the results and ended the contract as the group began work on a follow-up, so only the song "Salesman" was tracked before the sessions ended. The band broke up shortly afterward, but a 1998 reunion prompted them to record the additional material they had written for the shelved sophomore album, though Donald chose not to take part; that project surfaced in 2001 under the title Time and Again. A live recording made at the Buccaneer on September 3, 1967 reached CD the next year.
Albums
