The Daily Flash
Encyclopedia
The Daily Flash were an American folk rock
and psychedelic
band founded in 1965 and active for about three years, originally based in Seattle and later in Los Angeles
. The group was composed of guitarist/singer Steve Lalor, lead guitarist Doug Hastings, bass player/singer Don MacAllister and drummer Jon Keliehor. According to Mike Stax, they "had become a major force in the growing Seattle underground scene by 1965." Their sound, which incorporated elements of folk music
and jazz
as well as rock
stood in contrast to the garage rock
sound typical of the Pacific Northwest
at the time, anticipating the sound that came to be identified with San Francisco.
trio called The Willow Creek Ramblers; Lalor had dropped out of college in Ohio
in January 1963, spent some time in San Francisco where he had met future core members Jefferson Airplane
and Quicksilver Messenger Service
, then traveled north to Seattle, where he made some good connections and ended up appearing regularly for a time on a music program on a Seattle television station. MacAllister and Lalor began to play together informally.
Lalor returned to San Francisco, where he played for a time in the Driftwood Singers, the house band of the hungry i
with Alice Stuart and Mike Hall, and recorded on single for Seattle-based Jerden Records
. MacAllister convinced him to move back north and form a group in Seattle. Originally they planned to recruit drummer Don Stevenson (later of Moby Grape
), but instead Stevenson joined the established local band The Frantics and that band's departing drummer Jon Keliehor (who had a background in jazz and classical music) joined MacAllister and Lalor. Several months later they recruited another guitarist, Doug Hastings, still in college at the time and playing occasionally with another local oufit, The Dynamics.
" sound that dominated the Pacific Northwest. Their flair for publicity was such as to get the band press before they even got their first gig. They devised a sound system that suited their tight harmonies, pioneered new venues and aimed beyond a teen audience, and aligned themselves with the emergent hippie
counterculture.
Around the end of 1965, local record distributor Ron Saul got the group a deal with Parrot Records
, a division of London Records
. Their first single was a cover of Bob Dylan
's "Queen Jane Approximately
". The B-side
was originally supposed to be Dino Valenti's "Birdses", but Saul shelved that, releasing the funkier "Jack of Diamonds," recorded at the same Tacoma, Washington
studio favored by The Wailers
. The latter track would eventually find its way onto the 1998 CD re-issue of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968.
The single, released in spring 1966, was not a commercial success. However, it did get them the attention of Sonny & Cher
's then-manager Charlie Greene. On the lookout for additional acts to manage, that year he signed both The Daily Flash and Buffalo Springfield
. The band headed to Los Angeles
to record a stronger version of "Queen Jane Approximately," but that also met a lukewarm response in the market.
Still, their reputation as live act was growing. On the way south they headlined a pair of Bill Graham
-promoted shows at San Francisco's Avalon Ballroom, supported both nights by the Rising Sons
(a band that included future stars Ry Cooder
and Taj Mahal
); the additional act on Friday night was a pre-Janis Joplin
version of Big Brother & The Holding Company and on Saturday The Charlatans (featuring Dan Hicks
). At the end of July 1966 they played the Vancouver
Trips Festival. According to Keliehor, that was the only time they ever played a gig under the influence of a mind altering substance (LSD
provided by Owsley Stanley
).
The band—now based in Los Angeles but probably more popular in San Francisco and viewed as hometown heroes in Seattle—traveled the West Coast, supporting acts such as the Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds
, and The Turtles
in Los Angeles and playing repeatedly in San Francisco at the Avalon Ballroom on bills with such bands as Country Joe & The Fish and the Quicksilver Messenger Service. Their repertoire ranged from Dylan and Eric Anderson
to Herbie Hancock
, Cannonball Adderley and Gabor Szabo
.
Early in 1967 their second single was released: Ian Tyson
's "French Girl" b/w Dave Van Ronk
's "Green Rocky Road" on the L.A.-based UNI Records. Greene arranged the band's first East Coast tour to coincide with the release, kicking off with a successful two-week residency at the Club Ondine in Manhattan
. They also played a gig with the Jefferson Airplane at Stony Brook University.
The single did well in California (though less so elsewhere), netting the band a guest appearance on the TV show The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.
, which in turn led to a regular spot as a house band on a local Los Angeles teen-oriented TV show Boss City. They continued to gig, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle playing on bills with British supergroup Cream
, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Steve Miller Band
, The Doors
and, in Seattle, The Seeds
and Paul Revere & The Raiders
.
ed originals were really just reworkings of folk material in the public domain
. The band began to grow apart, with members increasingly playing in other configurations. Hastings left to replace Neil Young
in the Buffalo Springfield (a short-lived gig, as Young soon returned to that band) and was replaced by Craig Tarwater. Shortly after that, drummer Keliehor was booted after he chose a Transcendental Meditation
workshop over a gig, and was replaced by Tony Dey.
The reconfigured band added a few original songs, written by Steve Lalor. They played the Avalon Ballroom in July 1967, warming up for The Grass Roots
, then warmed up for the Grateful Dead
at Seattle's Eagles Auditorium and Vancouver, BC's Agradome/Dante's Inferno, returned to played some shows in Los Angeles, followed by another Pacific Northwest tour in late September and early October, including a show at Eagles Auditorium that was recorded: their version of Herbie Hancock's 'Cantaloupe Island' from that show is on the 1985 I Flash Daily album. After that they supported Van Morrison
on a short tour, but in late October this lineup also split, with MacAllister and Tarwater going one way and Lalor and Dey another.
Lalor and Dey briefly formed one further incarnation of The Daily Flash in November 1967, playing six dates in Seattle and Portland, Oregon
with a returned Doug Hastings and Tony Dey's brother Rick, but this was understood by all involved to be a stopgap to raise some money before moving on to other projects.
Hastings played in several bands the next few years, including Rhinoceros
, but in June 1970 returned to college and pursued a career in petroleum geology.
MacAllister and Tarwater went on to a band originally called 'Nirvana' and later 'Two Guitars, Bass, Drums and Darryl'; its other members were Jeff Simmons
(later with Frank Zappa
's Mothers of Invention), Ron Woods (formerly of the Seattle-area band The Dynamics, later a Buddy Miles
sideman), and former Iron Butterfly
vocalist Darryl De Loach; they had one single on Atlantic Records
and recorded the soundtrack for the film Pit Stop
. MacAllister became a session player and a support player in several major touring bands, but died of a drug overdose in late 1969. Tarwater replaced Randy Holden for a time in The Other Half
, then joined Arthur Lee
in a group called 'Band Aid' (he plays on Lee's album Vindicator
, and finally settled in Walla Walla, Washington
, owning and operating a music store.
Lalor and Keliehor continued as musicians. Both went on to play in Bodine, who had an album on MGM records in 1969. Lalor moved back to Seattle, where he performed a variety of folk and blues music before founding a revived Daily Flash in 2002. Keliehor's career has been much more varied, ranging from an appearance on Jeff Simmons' album Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up
' to composing music for contemporary dance, ballet, film, television and theater. His career has been mainly in the United Kingdom
, though he has returned at times to the United States.
Both Dey brothers played recorded a 1972 album on CBS Records
with Barry Melton
and Jay Levy as Melton, Levy & The Dey Brothers. Tony Dey was a session player in the 1970s and '80s before settling in Sacramento, California
and working in a record store. Rick Dey died of an overdose.
in March 1985. The compilation consisted of the group's two released singles and various unreleased tracks. US-based Sundazed Records
released a 45 RPM EP in 1996. The sleeve lists the songs as "Jack of Diamonds", "Girl From North Alberta", "When I Was a Cowboy" and "Grizzly Bear". However, it does not contain "Jack of Diamonds", but another song recorded by The Daily Flash called "Bonny Ship the Diamond".
Hastings, Lalor, and Keliehor played a one-off revival in Seattle in 1985. Lalor is the only original member in the revived version of the band active since 2002. This current configuration of the Daily Flash includes two members of The Kingsmen
.
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
and psychedelic
Psychedelic music
Psychedelic music covers a range of popular music styles and genres, which are inspired by or influenced by psychedelic culture and which attempt to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues-rock bands in the...
band founded in 1965 and active for about three years, originally based in Seattle and later in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. The group was composed of guitarist/singer Steve Lalor, lead guitarist Doug Hastings, bass player/singer Don MacAllister and drummer Jon Keliehor. According to Mike Stax, they "had become a major force in the growing Seattle underground scene by 1965." Their sound, which incorporated elements of folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
as well as rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
stood in contrast to the garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
sound typical of the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
at the time, anticipating the sound that came to be identified with San Francisco.
Origin
Don MacAllister and Steve Lalor first met in early 1964 on the Seattle folk music scene. MacAllister was in a bluegrassBluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
trio called The Willow Creek Ramblers; Lalor had dropped out of college in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
in January 1963, spent some time in San Francisco where he had met future core members Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
and Quicksilver Messenger Service
Quicksilver Messenger Service
Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band, formed in 1965 in San Francisco.-Introduction:Quicksilver Messenger Service gained wide popularity in the Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe and several of their albums ranked...
, then traveled north to Seattle, where he made some good connections and ended up appearing regularly for a time on a music program on a Seattle television station. MacAllister and Lalor began to play together informally.
Lalor returned to San Francisco, where he played for a time in the Driftwood Singers, the house band of the hungry i
Hungry i
The hungry i was originally a nightclub in North Beach, San Francisco. It was launched by Eric "Big Daddy" Nord, who sold it to Enrico Banducci in 1950.-The name:How the club's name came about is something of a mystery...
with Alice Stuart and Mike Hall, and recorded on single for Seattle-based Jerden Records
Jerden Records
Jerden Records was an independent record label which operated from May 1960 through April 1971.It was based in Seattle and majority owned by Jerry Dennon and Bonnie Guitar, both of whom had been involved previously with Dolton Records and the careers of The Fleetwoods on that label. A split with...
. MacAllister convinced him to move back north and form a group in Seattle. Originally they planned to recruit drummer Don Stevenson (later of Moby Grape
Moby Grape
Moby Grape is an American rock group from the 1960s, known for having all five members contribute to singing and songwriting and that collectively merged elements of folk music, blues, country, and jazz together with rock and psychedelic music...
), but instead Stevenson joined the established local band The Frantics and that band's departing drummer Jon Keliehor (who had a background in jazz and classical music) joined MacAllister and Lalor. Several months later they recruited another guitarist, Doug Hastings, still in college at the time and playing occasionally with another local oufit, The Dynamics.
Heyday: the original lineup (1965–1967)
From the outset, two things characterized The Daily Flash. Their eclectic blend of folk, blues, pop and jazz set them apart from the "garage bandGarage band
The term garage band can refer to:* A band that performs garage rock* GarageBand, audio production software published by Apple Inc.* GarageBand.com, a website that helps publicize emerging bands...
" sound that dominated the Pacific Northwest. Their flair for publicity was such as to get the band press before they even got their first gig. They devised a sound system that suited their tight harmonies, pioneered new venues and aimed beyond a teen audience, and aligned themselves with the emergent hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
counterculture.
Around the end of 1965, local record distributor Ron Saul got the group a deal with Parrot Records
Parrot Records
Parrot Records was a division of London Records in the United States which started in 1964. Notable artists whose records were released by Parrot included: The Zombies, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck, Them featuring Van Morrison, Jonathan King, Hedgehoppers Anonymous, Lulu, Bobby "Boris"...
, a division of London Records
London Records
London Records, referred to as London Recordings in logo, is a record label headquartered in the United Kingdom, originally marketing records in the United States, Canada and Latin America from 1947 to 1979, then becoming a semi-independent label....
. Their first single was a cover of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's "Queen Jane Approximately
Queen Jane Approximately
"Queen Jane Approximately" is a song from Bob Dylan's 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited. It was released as a single as the B-side to "One of Us Must Know " in January 1966...
". The B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
was originally supposed to be Dino Valenti's "Birdses", but Saul shelved that, releasing the funkier "Jack of Diamonds," recorded at the same Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
studio favored by The Wailers
The Wailers (rock band)
The Wailers, often credited as The Fabulous Wailers, were an American rock band from Tacoma, Washington. They became popular around the United States Pacific Northwest around the late 1950s and the start of the 1960s, performing saxophone-driven R&B and Chuck Berry rock and roll...
. The latter track would eventually find its way onto the 1998 CD re-issue of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968.
The single, released in spring 1966, was not a commercial success. However, it did get them the attention of Sonny & Cher
Sonny & Cher
Sonny & Cher were an American pop music duo, actors, singers and entertainers made up of husband-and-wife team Sonny and Cher Bono in the 1960s and 1970s. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector....
's then-manager Charlie Greene. On the lookout for additional acts to manage, that year he signed both The Daily Flash and Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield is a North American folk rock band renown both for its music and as a springboard for the careers of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and Jim Messina. Among the first wave of North American bands to become popular in the wake of the British invasion, the group combined...
. The band headed to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to record a stronger version of "Queen Jane Approximately," but that also met a lukewarm response in the market.
Still, their reputation as live act was growing. On the way south they headlined a pair of Bill Graham
Bill Graham (promoter)
Bill Graham was an American impresario and rock concert promoter from the 1960s until his death.-Early life:...
-promoted shows at San Francisco's Avalon Ballroom, supported both nights by the Rising Sons
Rising Sons
Rising Sons was a Los Angeles, California-based band founded in 1964. The original lineup was Ry Cooder , Taj Mahal , Gary Marker , Jesse Lee Kincaid and Ed Cassidy...
(a band that included future stars Ry Cooder
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...
and Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal (musician)
Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music...
); the additional act on Friday night was a pre-Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
version of Big Brother & The Holding Company and on Saturday The Charlatans (featuring Dan Hicks
Dan Hicks
Dan Hicks is the name of:*Dan Hicks , singer and musician*Dan Hicks , sportscaster*Dan Hicks , British historical archaeologist/anthropologist*Dan Hicks , American actor...
). At the end of July 1966 they played the Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
Trips Festival. According to Keliehor, that was the only time they ever played a gig under the influence of a mind altering substance (LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
provided by Owsley Stanley
Owsley Stanley
Owsley Stanley also known as Bear, was an essential and transitional personality in the development of the San Francisco Bay counter-culture. Spanning the Beat-era years of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters scenes, he was equally pivotal to the explosion of 1960's Psychedelia culture...
).
The band—now based in Los Angeles but probably more popular in San Francisco and viewed as hometown heroes in Seattle—traveled the West Coast, supporting acts such as the Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
, and The Turtles
The Turtles
The Turtles are an American rock group led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. The band became notable for several Top 40 hits beginning with its cover version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" in 1965...
in Los Angeles and playing repeatedly in San Francisco at the Avalon Ballroom on bills with such bands as Country Joe & The Fish and the Quicksilver Messenger Service. Their repertoire ranged from Dylan and Eric Anderson
Eric Anderson
Eric Anderson may refer to:* Eric Anderson , British educator* Eric Anderson , English soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross* Eric Anderson , American basketball player...
to Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, Cannonball Adderley and Gabor Szabo
Gábor Szabó
Gábor Szabó was a Hungarian jazz guitarist, famous for mixing jazz, pop-rock and his native Hungarian music.-Biography:...
.
Early in 1967 their second single was released: Ian Tyson
Ian Tyson
Ian Tyson CM, AOE is a Canadian singer-songwriter, best known for his song "Four Strong Winds". He was also one half of the duo Ian & Sylvia.-Career:Tyson was born to British immigrants in Victoria in 1933, and grew up in Duncan B.C...
's "French Girl" b/w Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk was an American folk singer, born in Brooklyn, New York, who settled in Greenwich Village, New York, and was eventually nicknamed the "Mayor of MacDougal Street" ....
's "Green Rocky Road" on the L.A.-based UNI Records. Greene arranged the band's first East Coast tour to coincide with the release, kicking off with a successful two-week residency at the Club Ondine in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. They also played a gig with the Jefferson Airplane at Stony Brook University.
The single did well in California (though less so elsewhere), netting the band a guest appearance on the TV show The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.
The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.
The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. is an American spy-fi TV series that aired on NBC for one season from September 16, 1966 to April 11, 1967. The series was a spin-off from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and used the same theme music composed by Jerry Goldsmith, which was rearranged into a slightly different,...
, which in turn led to a regular spot as a house band on a local Los Angeles teen-oriented TV show Boss City. They continued to gig, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle playing on bills with British supergroup Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Steve Miller Band
Steve Miller Band
The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1967 in San Francisco, California. The band is managed by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals, and is known for a string of mid-1970s hit singles that are staples of the classic rock radio format.-History:In 1965, Steve Miller and...
, The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
and, in Seattle, The Seeds
The Seeds
The Seeds were an American rock band. The group, whose repertoire spread between garage rock and acid rock, are considered one of the pioneers of punk rock.-History:...
and Paul Revere & The Raiders
Paul Revere & the Raiders
Paul Revere & the Raiders is an American rock band that saw considerable U.S. mainstream success in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s with hits such as "Kicks" , "Hungry" , "Him Or Me - What's It Gonna Be?" and the 1971 No...
.
Changes and breakup (1967)
However, in an era when it was more and more presumed that bands would have original material, none of the The Daily Flash's members were inclined to write songs. Their few copyrightCopyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
ed originals were really just reworkings of folk material in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
. The band began to grow apart, with members increasingly playing in other configurations. Hastings left to replace Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
in the Buffalo Springfield (a short-lived gig, as Young soon returned to that band) and was replaced by Craig Tarwater. Shortly after that, drummer Keliehor was booted after he chose a Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental Meditation refers to the Transcendental Meditation technique, a specific form of mantra meditation, and to the Transcendental Meditation movement, a spiritual movement...
workshop over a gig, and was replaced by Tony Dey.
The reconfigured band added a few original songs, written by Steve Lalor. They played the Avalon Ballroom in July 1967, warming up for The Grass Roots
The Grass Roots
The Grass Roots is an American rock band that charted between 1966 and 1975 as the brainchild of songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri.In their career, The Grass Roots achieved two gold albums, one gold single and charted singles a total of 21 times. Among their charting singles, they...
, then warmed up for the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
at Seattle's Eagles Auditorium and Vancouver, BC's Agradome/Dante's Inferno, returned to played some shows in Los Angeles, followed by another Pacific Northwest tour in late September and early October, including a show at Eagles Auditorium that was recorded: their version of Herbie Hancock's 'Cantaloupe Island' from that show is on the 1985 I Flash Daily album. After that they supported Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
on a short tour, but in late October this lineup also split, with MacAllister and Tarwater going one way and Lalor and Dey another.
Lalor and Dey briefly formed one further incarnation of The Daily Flash in November 1967, playing six dates in Seattle and Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
with a returned Doug Hastings and Tony Dey's brother Rick, but this was understood by all involved to be a stopgap to raise some money before moving on to other projects.
Aftermath
The various members of the Daily Flash went on to a variety of careers.Hastings played in several bands the next few years, including Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros (band)
Rhinoceros was a rock band established in 1967 by Elektra Records as that label's intended supergroup. The band, while well respected in many circles, did not live up to the record label's expectations...
, but in June 1970 returned to college and pursued a career in petroleum geology.
MacAllister and Tarwater went on to a band originally called 'Nirvana' and later 'Two Guitars, Bass, Drums and Darryl'; its other members were Jeff Simmons
Jeff Simmons (musician)
Jeff Simmons, born May 1949 in Seattle, Washington, is a rock musician and former member of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. Simmons provided bass, guitar, and backing vocals for the group between 1970 and 1971. He left The Mothers just prior to the filming of 200 Motels in mid 1971...
(later with Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
's Mothers of Invention), Ron Woods (formerly of the Seattle-area band The Dynamics, later a Buddy Miles
Buddy Miles
George Allen Miles, Jr. , known as Buddy Miles, was an American rock and funk drummer, most known as a founding member of The Electric Flag in 1967, then as a member of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys from 1969 through to January 1970.-Early life:George Allen Miles was born in Omaha, Nebraska on...
sideman), and former Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly is a US psychedelic rock band best known for the 1968 hit "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida".Their heyday was the late 1960s, but the band has been reincarnated with various members. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is the 31st best-selling album in the world, selling more than 25 million copies.-History:The...
vocalist Darryl De Loach; they had one single on Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
and recorded the soundtrack for the film Pit Stop
Pit Stop
Pit Stop is a 1969 film directed by Jack Hill. It stars Brian Donlevy and Richard Davalos.-Cast:*Brian Donlevy as Grant Willard*Richard Davalos as Rick Bowman*Ellen Burstyn as Ellen McLeod*Sid Haig as Hawk Sidney*Beverly Washburn as Jolene...
. MacAllister became a session player and a support player in several major touring bands, but died of a drug overdose in late 1969. Tarwater replaced Randy Holden for a time in The Other Half
The Other Half (band)
For the Canadian 2000s tour band, see: Leslie Carter.The Other Half were a psychedelic hard rock band, based in San Francisco, active in the mid to late 1960s.-History:...
, then joined Arthur Lee
Arthur Lee (musician)
Arthur Lee was the frontman, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist of the Los Angeles rock band Love, best known for the critically acclaimed 1967 album, Forever Changes.-Early years:...
in a group called 'Band Aid' (he plays on Lee's album Vindicator
Vindicator (album)
Vindicator is the first solo album by Arthur Lee, formerly of the rock band Love, released in 1972.-Track listing:#"Sad Song" – 2:20#"You Can Save Up to 50%, But You're Still a Long Ways from Home" – 0:17#"Love Jumped Through My Window" – 2:56...
, and finally settled in Walla Walla, Washington
Walla Walla, Washington
Walla Walla is the largest city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. The population was 31,731 at the 2010 census...
, owning and operating a music store.
Lalor and Keliehor continued as musicians. Both went on to play in Bodine, who had an album on MGM records in 1969. Lalor moved back to Seattle, where he performed a variety of folk and blues music before founding a revived Daily Flash in 2002. Keliehor's career has been much more varied, ranging from an appearance on Jeff Simmons' album Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up
Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up
Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up is a 1970 album by Jeff Simmons, produced by Frank Zappa under the pseudonym La Marr Bruister. DescriptionIts title track was later rerecorded as part of Zappa's 1979 album, Joe's Garage...
' to composing music for contemporary dance, ballet, film, television and theater. His career has been mainly in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, though he has returned at times to the United States.
Both Dey brothers played recorded a 1972 album on CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
with Barry Melton
Barry Melton
Barry "The Fish" Melton was the co-founder and original lead guitarist of Country Joe and The Fish. Barry appears on all the Country Joe and The Fish recordings and he also wrote some of the songs that the band recorded...
and Jay Levy as Melton, Levy & The Dey Brothers. Tony Dey was a session player in the 1970s and '80s before settling in Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
and working in a record store. Rick Dey died of an overdose.
Compilation album and revivals
Keliehor and Lalor worked with Peter Blecha to put together a Daily Flash compilation, I Flash Daily, released by UK label Psycho RecordsPsycho Records
Psycho records is a UK record label that released the records of some artists such as Majors, The Foundations, comedian Jimmy Jones and Killermeters in the 1970s...
in March 1985. The compilation consisted of the group's two released singles and various unreleased tracks. US-based Sundazed Records
Sundazed Records
Sundazed Records is a record label based in Coxsackie, in the Catskills of New York. It specializes in obscure and rare recordings from the 1950s to the 1970s.Label founders Bob Irwin and his wife Mary started the label in 1989...
released a 45 RPM EP in 1996. The sleeve lists the songs as "Jack of Diamonds", "Girl From North Alberta", "When I Was a Cowboy" and "Grizzly Bear". However, it does not contain "Jack of Diamonds", but another song recorded by The Daily Flash called "Bonny Ship the Diamond".
Hastings, Lalor, and Keliehor played a one-off revival in Seattle in 1985. Lalor is the only original member in the revived version of the band active since 2002. This current configuration of the Daily Flash includes two members of The Kingsmen
The Kingsmen
The Kingsmen is a 1960s garage rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States. They are best known for their 1963 recording of Richard Berry's "Louie Louie", which held the #2 spot on the Billboard charts for six weeks...
.
Original lineup
- Don MacAllister (b. 1942, Seattle, Washington; d. 1969 Los Angeles, California): bass, vocal
- Steve Lalor (b. Sept. 12, 1944, Glens Falls, New YorkGlens Falls, New YorkGlens Falls is a city in Warren County, New York, United States. Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,700 at the 2010 census...
): guitar, vocal - Jon Keliehor (b. Oct. 18, 1941, Lincoln, NebraskaLincoln, NebraskaThe City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....
): drums - Doug Hastings (b. June 21, 1946, Seattle, Washington): guitar
- Reference:
Replacements
- Craig Tarwater replaced Doug Hastings on guitar July–October 1967
- Tony Dey replaced Jon Keliehor on drums July–November 1967
- Rick Dey replaced Don MacAllister on bass for the band's last six performances in November 1967
- Reference:
Revived lineup
Beginning August 2002:- Steve Lalor: guitar, vocal (of Driftwood Singers)
- Barry Curtis (of The Kingsmen): guitar, vocal
- Don Wilhelm: bass, vocal (of Army, Shyanne, White Heart, Heart)
- Steve Peterson (of The Kingsmen): percussion, mandolin, whistles
- Reference:
External links
- The Daily Flash is back!, official site of the present-day Daily Flash
- Nick Warburton, The Daily Flash on the site of the group RhinocerosRhinoceros (band)Rhinoceros was a rock band established in 1967 by Elektra Records as that label's intended supergroup. The band, while well respected in many circles, did not live up to the record label's expectations...
, quite a detailed history, including photographs and posters - The Daily Flash (1960s Bands of Puget Sound)
- The Daily Flash on AllMusic.com