John
Simpson
did some studio work in LA between his stints with Calliope
and Bitteroot, and he
played on an LP with a Texas group called "United Gas" in 1969. That LP
came out in 1970 (label Metromedia) but with the name "Christopher", as
the label thought that United Gas sounded too much like Pacific Natural
Gas (or similar, I can't remember exactly, but they were an important
west
coast group.
GearFab Records
recently
released a newly mastered version of the LP and evidently being bought
by collectors as an overlooked gem of the period. I've got a copy
and although I'm biased, I must say that it's exactly what they say, an
overlooked gem.
Peter
Simpson,
November 2003
The late John
Simpson
of Mercer Island was the original, and long-serving, drummer for "The
Bandits".
They won the KJR "Battle of the Bands" at the old Orpheum Theater
(where
the Westin now stands) in 1965, thereby earning a recording contract
with
Jerden Records. They released, a Carney Barton production as I
recall,
"Little Sally Walker" with "Tell Me" as the "B" side during the Fall of
1965.
Rob Simpson,
January
2004
I was in The
Bandits
starting in '62 with Gregg Bigsby, Bob Perry, Steve Heard, and John
Simpson.
We won the KJR first Battle of the Bands in Seattle, summer of
'63.
We played the roller rink circuit until '67. It was great fun for
us. We were 15 at the beginning, and playing with established
groups
like The Dynamics, The Sonics, Paul Revere and The Raiders, The
Kingsmen,
The Viceroys, and The Wailers. It was a real thrill for us kids.
Tom Dietz
replaced
Greg on bass, later Paul Burleson. John Simpson, who later
drummed
with Danny O'Keife, died in the 60's in an Alaskan plane crash.
David
Hendricks,
December 2003
I remember
playing
many times at Normanna Hall. We'd be upstairs in the caverous wooden
room
that would boom bass in such a cool way. Downstairs was a
veteran's
hall with a swing band. They had a bass sax there--the only one
I'd
ever seen. A basketball would fit in the bell of that
beauty!
We played throughout high school, '64-'67. The place was always
packed
with well behaved kids dancing their shoes off!!!
David
Hendricks,
June 2006
Pat O’Day
booked
us to back Lou Cristie (or was his name Luke Wristie?- we never knew
for
sure) during a big Seattle Center Arena show/dance. There were
several
bands on the show, Paul Revere among others, but as I remember Lou
Cristie
was the headliner. Pat told us that we had to buy Lou's records
and
learn his hits so we could back him flawlessly. We were getting to add
this gig to our resume and if we did a good job we might be getting an
opportunity to add more backing gigs to our resume. Only one
problem;
we never bought any of Lou's crappy records because we didn't
particularly
like Lou's music and besides we had better things to spend our money
on,
if you know what I mean. To make a short story long, Lou showed
up
late to the gig because his flight from Honolulu was late arriving at
Sea-Tac.
He barely had enough time to slap on his stage makeup and put on his
Tux.
Lucky for us the other four players in our band we actually musicians
(I
was just in the band to get girls). Lou's tunes seemed
complicated
with sound effects, girl backup singers, full orchestral arrangements,
horns, strings, tympani...serious studio pop instrumentation.
Lightening
was really going to strike at our Monday morning meeting with Mr.
O’Day.
It may not have been as bad as I remember because we kept working for
Pat
but, never backed any recording artist again. Life was so
complicated
in those days.
Unless my
memory
is failing me, the above is all true.
Tom Dietz,
November
2008
Dave Hendricks, of "The Bandits"
stated
that my brother died in the 60's in an Alaskan Airplane crash.
That
is incorrect.
He lived through the plane crash 300
feet
from the top of Mt. Adolph, 30 minutes north of Juneau, Alaska, in the
polar ice caps. He was only survivor, and only for so long...
He tied a tourniquet around his dead
little
brother's leg that had a compound fracture (my twin). He went for
help and fell down a crevice to his ultimate death despite his courage
and bravery. The searchers said he must have been injured
terribly
in the crash too. He was just too strong and too amazing for
anyone
to grasp in my eyes!
John Simpson played in the Juneau
Symphony
Orchestra in Juneau, Alaska for numerous years after The
Bandits/Calliope/Bitteroot
bands ended. He also played with Bill Wentz in Juneau, among
other
bands. He died in August 1975.
I did my best, but I never became the
drummer
he was. We made runner up for best unsigned band in the United
States
in 1991 (Somebody's Daughter). He was just special, anybody who
knew
him probably saw that. I was a shadow of what he was...
It's
humbling to know how special your brothers are.
David Simpson, October 2012
