The Leaves
Encyclopedia
The Leaves were an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 garage band
Garage 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...

 formed in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 in 1963. They are best known for their version of the song "Hey Joe
Hey Joe
"Hey Joe" is an American popular song from the 1960s that has become a rock standard and as such, has been performed in a multitude of musical styles by hundreds of different artists since it was first written. "Hey Joe" tells the story of a man who is on the run and planning to head to Mexico...

", which was a hit in 1966. Theirs is the earliest release of this song, which became a rock standard.

History

The band was founded by bass
Bass (instrument)
Bass describes musical instruments that produce tones in the low-pitched range. They belong to different families of instruments and can cover a wide range of musical roles...

 player Jim Pons
Jim Pons
Jim Pons was a bass guitarist and singer for several 1960s rock bands, including The Leaves, The Turtles, and The Mothers of Invention....

, inspired by hearing The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

 while a student at Cal State Northridge 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...

. Originally called The Rockwells, they were fraternity
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...

 brothers who formed a group and then taught themselves how to play. Besides Pons, the line up consisted of John Beck (vocalist), Bill Rinehart (lead guitar, replaced by Bobby Arlin), Tom Ray and Robert Lee Reiner.

They began by playing surf
Surf music
Surf music is a genre of popular music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Orange County and other areas of Southern California. It was particularly popular between 1961 and 1965, has subsequently been revived and was highly influential on subsequent rock music...

 and dance music at parties. Their first actual show was in the school gym with Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band. In 1965 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...

 left their residency at Ciro's
Ciro's
Ciro's was a nightclub in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard, on the Sunset Strip, opened in January 1940, by entrepreneur William Wilkerson. Herman Hover took over management of Ciro's in 1942 until it closed its doors in 1957...

 on Sunset Strip
Sunset Strip
The Sunset Strip is the name given to the mile-and-a-half stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with Hollywood at Harper Avenue, to its western border with Beverly Hills at Sierra Drive...

 after making their first hit, and The Leaves (as they were by now known) were chosen to replace them. It was there they were discovered by popular singer and actor Pat Boone
Pat Boone
Charles Eugene "Pat" Boone is an American singer, actor and writer who has been a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He covered black artists' songs and sold more copies than his black counterparts...

, who got them their first record contract.

Their first single, "Too Many People", was a local hit 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 Leaves released "Hey Joe
Hey Joe
"Hey Joe" is an American popular song from the 1960s that has become a rock standard and as such, has been performed in a multitude of musical styles by hundreds of different artists since it was first written. "Hey Joe" tells the story of a man who is on the run and planning to head to Mexico...

" in November of '65, and dissatisfied with the sound, pulled it. They released a second version in early '66, which flopped. Original guitarist Bill Rinehart left, and the Leaves redid the song again with a fuzztone by new guitarist Bob Arlin. This version of the song, the best of the uptempo versions, became a hit, hitting #1 in L.A. It debuted on both Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

and Cash Box on May 21, 1966. It peaked at #31 on Billboard, while showing a humbler peak position of #43 on Cash Box. The song ran nine weeks on both national charts.

Their debut album Hey Joe followed. It took a run on the Billboard charts for 5 weeks, beginning on July 30, 1966, peaking at #127. The album did not make it onto the Cash Box charts.

The band appeared on TV shows - American Bandstand
American Bandstand
American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...

, Shivaree, Shebang - and briefly in a Hollywood film, The Cool Ones (1967). One more album, All the Good That's Happening, was released before the band broke up in 1967 when Pons left to join the pop group 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 the early 70s Pons played bass 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...

). Arlin went on to form heavy psychedelic band The Hook. The band reunited in 1970 before Pons became a member Zappa's band. The reunited lineup included Jim Pons on rhythm guitar, John Beck on lead guitar, Buddy Skylar, lead singer from The Hook and The Spencer Davis Group, Al Nichols on Bass from the Turtles, and Bob "Bullet" Bailey on drums. The band did some touring and performed at local Los Angeles based nightclubs before disbanding in 1971.

A new generation of music fans discovered the band when their version of "Hey Joe" was included in the classic 1972 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...

 compilation, Nuggets
Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968
Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era is a compilation album of American garage rock singles released in the mid- to late 1960s. It was assembled by Jac Holzman, founder of Elektra Records, and Lenny Kaye, later lead guitarist for the Patti Smith Group...

. According to the Nuggets liner notes, the as yet unnamed band was hanging around a tree-shaded pool, smoking, when a newcomer gave the traditional 60s greeting, "What's happening?" "The leaves are happening", came the answer, which struck them all as a good name for a band.

1960s

  • Jim Pons - bass guitar, vocals, double bass
  • John Beck - vocals, tambourine, harmonica
  • Bill Rinehart - lead guitar, replaced by Bobby Arlin
  • Tom Ray - drums
  • Robert Lee Reiner - rhythm guitar

1970s

  • Jim Pons - rhythm guitar
  • John Beck - lead guitar
  • Buddy Skylar - lead singer
  • Al Nichols - bass
  • Bob "Bullet" Bailey - drums

US Singles

  • "Love Minus Zero" / Too Many People: Mira 202 (1965)
  • "Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go
    Hey Joe
    "Hey Joe" is an American popular song from the 1960s that has become a rock standard and as such, has been performed in a multitude of musical styles by hundreds of different artists since it was first written. "Hey Joe" tells the story of a man who is on the run and planning to head to Mexico...

    " / Be with You: Mira 207 (Nov. 1965)
  • You Better Move on /A Different Story: Mira 213 (1965?)
  • Be with You / Funny Little Word: Mira 220 (1966)
  • Hey Joe / Girl from the East: Mira 222 (1966)
  • Hey Joe / Funny Little World: Mira 222 (1966)

(Mira 222 was issued with two different B-sides)
  • Too Many People / Girl from the East: Mira 227 (1966)
  • Get out of My Life Woman / Girl from the East: Mira 231 (1966)
  • Be with You / You Better Move on: Mira 234 (1967?)
  • Lemmon Princess / Twilight Sanctuary: Capitol 5799 (1967)

Albums

  • Hey Joe (1966) Mira LP 3005 (mono)/LPS 3005 (stereo)
  • All The Good That's Happening (1967) Capitol T 2638 (mono)
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