The Outcasts (garage rock band) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Outcasts are a 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...

and psychedelic rock

Psychedelic rock

Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts 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 United States and the United Kingdom...

band from San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...

that released a total of five singles between 1965 and 1967. They are justly famous for two classic songs, "I'm in Pittsburgh (And it's Raining)" and "1523 Blair", although their recordings have been reissued on literally dozens of compilation album

Compilation album

A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...

s of this type of music. According to the Ugly Things

Ugly Things

Ugly Things is a music magazine established in 1983, based in La Mesa, CA. Editor is Mike Stax, born 1962, England. It covers mainly 1960s Beat, Garage rock, and Psychedelic music...

compilation album listing, they are the best known of at least 10 bands of this name that were active in the mid-1960s, followed by the band from Manhasset NY (see below for other bands of that name).

History of the Band

The Outcasts were formed in late 1963 by Buddy Carson, Rickey Wright and Denny Turner. In late 1964, Jim Carsten and then Jim Ryan joined the band. This line-up prevailed until the band's fifth single, when Galen Niles replaced Denny Turner on guitar. In 1964, Denny designed a logo and slogan for the band, "Music from the OUTER LIMITS" (inset), taken from the name of the popular science-fiction TV show of the period, The Outer Limits

The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)

The Outer Limits is an American television series that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1965. The series is similar in style to the earlier The Twilight Zone, but with a greater emphasis on science fiction, rather than fantasy stories...

. The band had the logo emblazoned on the backs of their uniforms and also issued business cards with a similar design.

Early direction for the band came from Mike Post

Mike Post

Mike Post is an American multi-Grammy and Emmy Award winning composer best known for scoring some of the most popular TV theme songs in the United States, for primetime series such as Law & Order, NYPD Blue, The Rockford Files, LA Law, Quantum Leap, Magnum, P.I., Hill Street Blues, among numerous...

, whose many later musical credits include producing the first three albums for the First Edition

The First Edition

The First Edition was a country music/rock band. Its stalwart members being Kenny Rogers , Mickey Jones and Terry Williams...

and creating the theme music

Theme music

Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...

for Law & Order

Law & Order

Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...

, the Rockford Files

The Rockford Files

The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...

, Hill Street Blues

Hill Street Blues

Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...

and many other TV shows. Post was the songwriter and producer of the band's first single. He also recruited the Outcasts as the back-up band for a performance by Jimmy Carlson (who was active in the New York folk music scene) and Jimmy Hawkins

Jimmy Hawkins

James F. Hawkins , known as Jimmy Hawkins, and later, Jim Hawkins, is an American actor and film producer whose career began as a child actor to such Hollywood stars as Lana Turner, Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, and Donna Reed...

(who later worked in Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

films and on the Donna Reed Show

The Donna Reed Show

The Donna Reed Show is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the upper middle class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz appears as her pediatrician husband Alex, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children Mary and Jeff. The show originally aired on ABC at 10 pm from September...

).

By 1968, however, the band had broken up, as is true of nearly all of the garage rock bands of this period.

Brushes with fame

As documented on the website on the band created by bandmember Denny Turner, the Outcasts had all of the trappings of a successful rock band: a succession of managers (Sally Senter and Major John Carson), go-go dancers, a fan club with a regular newsletter, and adoring fans. Their many performances at area military clubs led to their being an opening act for Herman's Hermits

Herman's Hermits

Herman's Hermits are an English beat band, formed in Manchester in 1963 as Herman & The Hermits. The group's record producer, Mickie Most , emphasized a simple, non-threatening, clean-cut image, although the band originally played R&B numbers...

in San Antonio and Austin

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

. In 1965, the Outcasts were even invited to appear in Houston with 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...

but turned down the opportunity; the Five Americans took their place in the concert.

In May 1966, the Outcasts shared a twin bill with the legendary 13th Floor Elevators

13th Floor Elevators

The 13th Floor Elevators were an American rock band from Austin, Texas formed by guitarist and vocalist Roky Erickson, electric jug player Tommy Hall, and guitarist Stacy Sutherland, which existed from 1965 to 1969...

(ticket pictured) and also appeared at Texas Teen Fairs and other venues with such popular music stars as Lou Christie

Lou Christie

Luigi Alfredo Giovanni Sacco , known professionally as Lou Christie, is an American singer-songwriter best known for three separate strings of pop hits in the 1960s , including his 1966 smash, "Lightnin' Strikes" and his incredible 3 octave vocal range.-Biography:Sacco was born in Glenwillard,...

, Gerry & The Pacemakers

Gerry & the Pacemakers

Gerry and the Pacemakers were a British beat music group prominent during the 1960s. In common with The Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein and recorded by George Martin. They are most remembered for being the first act to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart with...

, Peter and Gordon, and the Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

.

The Outcasts regularly participated in "Battle of the Bands" competitions, usually placing first or second; and in 1966, the band won the statewide competition. This is truly an amazing feat during that peak year of garage rock fervor, considering the large number of superb bands that were active in Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

then. No other state is so heavily collected today in compilation album

Compilation album

s of garage rock

Garage rock

and psychedelic rock

Psychedelic rock

music; as one example, the landmark Highs in the Mid-Sixties series

Highs in the Mid-Sixties series

rightThe Highs in the Mid-Sixties series is a group of 23 compilation albums of garage rock and psychedelic rock recordings that were issued by AIP Records in the mid-1980s. This series is a companion to the Pebbles series of similar music; the title is technically preceded by "Pebbles Presents:"...

devotes 5 of their 23 volumes to bands from Texas.

Musical highlights

"I'm in Pittsburgh (And it's Raining)" is a classic garage rock

Garage rock

song that embodies much of the innocence and charm of this style of music, along with the general lack of slick production that either attracts or repels listeners. This was the band's most successful single, receiving national airplay and charting locally in San Antonio and also in Houston and Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas

. The opening lyrics – I'm in Pittsburgh and it's rainin' / I'm sittin' in the subway here complainin' – combine a near non sequitur with an error of fact (Pittsburgh does not have a subway system – which cooled off the initial rush of record sales in that city after listeners began to notice). No matter: The strong musicianship made it a natural for inclusion in the first of the Pebbles

Pebbles, Volume 1

Pebbles is a compilation of US underground and garage single record releases from the mid- to late-1960s. It had a limited original release in 1978 and a more general release in 1979 ; this album was followed by several subsequent Pebbles compilations and albums...

compilation album

Compilation album

s. The album's original liner notes

Liner notes

Liner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes.-Origin:...

call this song a "blistering punk-rocker, which has been compared to the Pretty Things

The Pretty Things

The Pretty Things are an English rock and roll band from London, who originally formed in 1963. They took their name from Bo Diddley's 1955 song "Pretty Thing" and, in their early days, were dubbed by the British press the "uglier cousins of the Rolling Stones". Their most commercially successful...

at their best."

As testimony to its status as a touchstone for garage rock fans everywhere, numerous bands have released covers of this song over the years. Probably the best known is the 1990 cover by the Cynics

The Cynics

The Cynics are an influential Garage rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The band, consisting of guitarist Gregg Kostelich, drummer Bill Von Hagen, vocalist Michael Kastelic, bass player Steve Magee, and keyboardist and later founder of New York City's Bellwether gallery Becky Smith, debuted...

, who were from Pittsburgh; others have been recorded by the Flies, the Vibes]] and the Go-Devils. The original version of the song was re-pressed in 1977 as a bootleg recording

Bootleg recording

A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...

in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

and marketed to new wave

New Wave music

New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

fans, with the band name changed to the Kicks.

The band's final single, "1523 Blair" is something else again, with an introduction of a sort of wind-up followed by searing guitar riffs played at a furious pace, then barely intelligible lyrics – few psychedelic rock

Psychedelic rock

songs are ever played so fast. The title is taken from the address of the Doyle Jones recording studio in Houston. One recent reviewer remarked: "The music on this selection is jarringly experimental, the spirit is possessed fervor. '1523 Blair' is one minute and forty seven seconds long because it couldn’t have possibly been any longer". This song inspired the name of a British psychedelic rock

Psychedelic rock

band, Blair 1523 (Bomp! Records

Bomp! Records

Bomp! Records is an Los Angeles-based indie label formed in 1974 by fanzine publisher and music historian Greg Shaw.-History:The label has featured punk, pop, powerpop, garage rock, new wave, old school rock, neo-psychedelia among other genres, and its roster has included artists such as The Modern...

released their single album in 1993 but only after the band had already broken up).

The band successfully tried their hand at nearly everything, from protest song

Protest song

A protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs . It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre...

s ("Price of Victory"), to blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

("Sweet Mary"), to instrumentals ("Come on Over" and "The Birds"), to romantic ballads ("I'll Set You Free" and "Everyday"). The Outcasts also played fine covers, notably "Smokestack Lightning

Smokestack Lightning

"Smokestack Lightning" is a classic of the blues. In 1956, Howlin' Wolf recorded the song and it became one of his most popular and influential songs...

" and "Route 66

Route 66 (song)

" Route 66", often rendered simply as "Route 66", is a popular song and rhythm and blues standard, composed in 1946 by American songwriter Bobby Troup. It was first recorded in the same year by Nat King Cole, and was subsequently covered by many artists including Chuck Berry in 1961, The Rolling...

."

Annoyingly, the 1995 retrospective album I'm in Pittsburgh and It's Raining

I'm in Pittsburgh and it's Raining

I'm in Pittsburgh and it's Raining is a retrospective album by the Outcasts that was released in CD format.-Release Data:This album was released as a CD by Collectables Records in 1995 as #COL-CD-0591.-Musical Highlights:...

of the band's music by the label Collectables

Collectables Records

Collectables is a reissue record label founded in 1980 by Jerry Greene. Greene was previously associated with New York City's Times Square Record Shop, Philadelphia's Record Museum retail chain, and the Lost Nite and Crimson record labels....

– which has only 15 tracks – omits the band's first single; according to the CD's brief liner notes, it is "not up-to-par with their subsequent releases." Since neither side has yet been issued on a compilation album

Compilation album

, we have only former bandmember Jim Ryan's description: "Nothing Ever Comes Easy" is "a very tender, yearning ballad with some nice changes and arrangement by a talented composer [Mike Post]. The B/side [is] a surf instrumental that rocked in fifths to give that Asian sound."

Confusion with other bands

The Outcasts (or variations on that name) has been a fairly common name for rock bands for many years, and as noted already, at least 10 bands were using this name during the mid-1960s. This has led to some confusion of this band with others using that name.

Probably the most common misconception has to do with the 1960s band The Outcasts from Manhasset, New York

Manhasset, New York

Manhasset is a hamlet and neighborhood in Nassau County, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2010 Census, the population was 8,080....

whose recordings were reissued by Collectables even before the Texas band was featured on that label. In the mid-1980s Cicadelic Records released two archival albums by this group: Meet the Outcasts! (studio recordings, mostly previously unreleased), and Live! Standing Room Only (a 1967 concert). In 1993, Collectables

Collectables Records

reissued both albums on CD, with additional songs that include "Society's Child", and "Get It On". Popular recordings (reissued on compilations) of this band are "Don't Press Your Luck", "I Didn't Have To Love Her Anymore", "Nothing But Love", "Set Me Free" and their unique versions of "Walk On By" and "Gloria".

Another band called the Outcasts backed Linda Pierre King on several tracks recorded in the mid-1960s. She was a featured artist on a compilation album on female garage rock

Garage rock

artists from Texas, We Had the Beat / The Heartbeats & Other Texas Girls of the 60s, and the liner notes suggested that this band had backed her on these songs. This was a natural mistake, since King is from Houston, and the record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

that released the final single by the Outcasts, Gallant Records was based there.

Military connection

The Outcasts have a strong military connection – even their anti-war song, "What Price Victory?" is dominated by military-style snare drum

Snare drum

The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...

s. During his association with the band, Mike Post was in basic training

Basic Training

Basic Training may refer to:* Basic Training, a 1971 American documentary directed by Frederick Wiseman* Basic Training , an American sex comedy* Recruit training...

at Lackland Air Force Base

Lackland Air Force Base

Lackland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located west-southwest of San Antonio, Texas. The base is under the jurisdiction of the 802d Mission Support Group, Air Education and Training Command ....

. Galen Niles became the new lead guitarist after Denny Turner joined the U. S. Army to serve as a pilot in the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

. Particularly in the early part of their career, the band mainly appeared at local military clubs. Finally, the second manager of the Outcasts, Major John Carson – the father of bandmember Buddy Carson – wose brother Col. Eugene Carson considers himself a "war hero

Hero

A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...

" and has written on-line books about his wartime experiences.

Post break-up

Denny Turner continues to write and record music, and he also sells and repairs vintage guitars for his store called Denny's Guitars, based in northern Oahu, Hawaii
Oahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...

. He is also a multi-media artist and music teacher and has a home recording studio.
Jim Ryan is a public school music teacher in San Antonio who owns and manages Braindance Ink, a multi-lingual music production company specializing in the creation of songs, dances and games based on folk music for music education classes.
Galen Niles was the guitarist in two well-regarded Texas hard rock bands, Homer and Ultra during the 1970s and is still active in music. The Ultra tracks were reissued on Monster Records in 2000 and on Vintage Records in 2010.
Jim Carsten went into law enforcement and was once a county sheriff; he is now a security consultant.
Buddy Carson died from complications of hepatitis
Hepatitis
Hepatitis is a medical condition defined by the inflammation of the liver and characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the tissue of the organ. The name is from the Greek hepar , the root being hepat- , meaning liver, and suffix -itis, meaning "inflammation"...

in 1968.
Rickey Wright died in an automobile accident in 2000.

Band members

Denny Turner, lead guitar, autoharp
Buddy Carson, keyboards, harmonica, percussion, vocals
Rickey Wright, drums
Jim Carsten, rhythm guitar, vocals
Jim Ryan, bass guitar, vocals'
Galen Niles, lead guitar (replacing Denny Turner for the final single)

The retrospective album

I'm in Pittsburgh and it's Raining
I'm in Pittsburgh and it's Raining
I'm in Pittsburgh and it's Raining is a retrospective album by the Outcasts that was released in CD format.-Release Data:This album was released as a CD by Collectables Records in 1995 as #COL-CD-0591.-Musical Highlights:...

; Collectables Records (#COL-0591); 1995 release on CD

Singles

"Nothing Ever Comes Easy" b/w "Oriental Express"; Outcast Records (#6865)
"I'm in Pittsburgh (And it's Raining)" b/w "Price of Victory"; Askel Records (#102)
"I'll Set You Free" b/w "Everyday"; Askel Records (#104)
"Route 66
Route 66 (song)
" Route 66", often rendered simply as "Route 66", is a popular song and rhythm and blues standard, composed in 1946 by American songwriter Bobby Troup. It was first recorded in the same year by Nat King Cole, and was subsequently covered by many artists including Chuck Berry in 1961, The Rolling...

" b/w "Everyday"; Askel Records (#107) – Alternate version of "B" side
"1523 Blair" b/w "Smokestack Lightning
Smokestack Lightning
"Smokestack Lightning" is a classic of the blues. In 1956, Howlin' Wolf recorded the song and it became one of his most popular and influential songs...

"; Gallant Records (#101)

Compilation albums

I’m in Pittsburgh (And it’s Raining)

Pebbles, Volume 1
Pebbles, Volume 1
Pebbles is a compilation of US underground and garage single record releases from the mid- to late-1960s. It had a limited original release in 1978 and a more general release in 1979 ; this album was followed by several subsequent Pebbles compilations and albums...

(LP and CD)
Great Pebbles, Volume 1 (CD)
Texas Punk: 1966, Volume 2 (LP)
Flashback, Volume 2 (LP)
Acid Visions, Volume 6 (CD)
Acid Visions - The Complete Collection, Volume 2 (CD)
Green Crystal Ties, Volume 8 (CD)
Garage Beat '66, Volume 7 (CD)
Uptight Tonight (CD)
Texas Flashbacks, Volume 2 (CD)

1523 Blair

Mayhem & Psychosis, Volume 2 (LP)
Teenage Shutdown, Volume 4 (LP and CD)
Songs We Taught The Fuzztones
Songs We Taught The Fuzztones
Songs We Taught The Fuzztones is a garage rock compilation album. The album, released in 1993, contains the original versions of songs covered by The Fuzztones.- Track listing :# Blues Magoos – Dante's Inferno - 4.33# Davie Allan – Blues Theme -...

(LP and CD)
Texas Punk Groups From The Sixties, Volume 1 (LP)
Acid Dreams, Volume 1 (LP)
Acid Dreams Testament (CD)
Acid Dreams (CD)
The Complete Acid Dreams (box set)
Sixties Archives, Volume 2 (CD)
Ya Gotta Have Moxie!, Volume 1 (CD) – this song is marked on the track listing for the CD as “The Chocolate Mousse Theme” by the Chocolate Mousse.

I’ll Set You Free

Texas Punk: 1966, Volume 2 (LP)
Acid Dreams Testament (CD)
Acid Visions – The Complete Collection, Volume 2 (CD)
The Complete Acid Dreams (box set)

Everyday

Texas Punk, Volume 3 (LP)
Acid Visions – The Complete Collection, Volume 2 (CD)

My Love

Texas Punk, Volume 3 (LP)
Acid Visions, Volume 6 (CD)
Acid Visions – The Complete Collection, Volume 2 (CD)

Sweet Mary

Texas Punk: 1966, Volume 2 (LP)
Acid Visions – The Complete Collection, Volume 2 (CD)

What Price Victory?

Texas Punk, Volume 3 (LP)
Acid Visions – The Complete Collection, Volume 2 (CD)

The Birds

Texas Punk: 1966, Volume 2 (LP)
Acid Visions, Volume 6 (CD)
Acid Visions – The Complete Collection, Volume 2 (CD)

Smokestack Lightning

Texas Punk Groups From The Sixties, Volume 1 (LP)
Texas Punk: 1966, Volume 2 (LP)
Endless Journey Phase 1 (LP)
Endless Journey (CD)
Acid Visions – The Complete Collection, Volume 2 (CD)
Sixties Archives, Volume 2 (CD)

Route 66

Texas Punk: 1966, Volume 2 (LP)
Green Crystal Ties, Volume 8 (CD)
Acid Visions, Volume 6 (CD)
Acid Visions – The Complete Collection, Volume 2 (CD)

External links

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