Biography
Two mid-1960s ensembles from the broader Bay Area happened to adopt an identical name, though the Sacramento unit operated at the same time as a Marin County counterpart that later evolved into the Sons of Champlin. The Sacramento musicians had first assembled in 1965 under the surf-rock banner of the Avengers, with Ed Dunk handling vocals, Don Wright and Hal Hanefield on rhythm guitars, Larry McGlade on lead guitar, Brent MacIntosh on bass, and Jack Androvich on drums. Wright later recounted that the eventual handle Opposite Six derived from a discarded earlier idea, Six and the Single Girl, itself a nod to a briefly admired El Camino High vocalist nicknamed Jezebel. Their lone 45, the Wright-penned “I’ll Be Gone,” appeared on Spectre in January 1966 after being tracked at local broadcaster Bill Rase’s rudimentary facility. Citing the Kinks for the track’s “gronky” chords, Wright grafted a shuffling rhythm—echoing the Turtles’ 1965 B-side “Almost There”—onto a loping guitar figure and a congested, head-cold vocal delivery. The resulting proto-punk rave-up landed stylistically between the Castaways and the Sonics; a major regional hit, it remained the group’s calling card. Following high-school graduation the Opposite Six disbanded. Wright then returned to the studio in fall 1966 with MacIntosh and Androvich, releasing “Why Did You Lie?” backed with “Draft Dodger Blues” on Spectre under the name Don Wright and the Head Set. The A-side, originally the flip of the Opposite Six single, was re-recorded for the new release, and both “I’ll Be Gone” and the remake of “Why Did You Lie?” later surfaced on the Big Beat compilation Nuggets From the Golden State—The Sound of Young Sacramento (CDWIKD).