The Leaves
- Actor
- Soundtrack
The Leaves were an excellent 60s folk garage rock group from Los
Angeles, California. They first got together in 1963. The band members
included Jim Pons (bass), John Beck (vocals), Bill Rinehart (lead
guitar), and Bob Arlin (fuzztone guitar). The group originally called
themselves the Rockwells and started out playing surf and dance music
at college fraternity parties. The Leaves eventually secured a regular
gig replacing the Byrds as the house band at the popular nightclub
Ciro's on the Sunset Strip, where they were discovered by singer/actor
Pat Boone and subsequently signed up to their first record contract.
The band scored a good-sized local radio hit with the bluesy and funky
slow drag number debut single "Too Many People" in 1965. Their
hard-thrashing rendition of the often covered classic "Hey Joe" did
even better; it was a #1 radio hit on the Los Angeles stations and
peaked at #31 on the Billboard pop charts in May, 1966. In fact, the
Leaves hold the distinction of being the first rock band to record a
version of "Hey Joe." The group appeared on such music variety TV shows
as "American Bandstand," "Shivaree," and "Shindig." Moreover, the
Leaves pop up as themselves performing the song "In the House of Dr.
Stone" in the 1967 comedy feature "The Cool Ones." They released two
albums: 1966's "Hey Joe" and 1967's "All the Good That's Happening."
Alas, latter singles proved to be unsuccessful and the Leaves broke up
in 1967. Jim Pons went on to join the Turtles and played bass for Frank
Zappa in the early 70s while Bob Arlin formed the heavy psychedelic
rock outfit the Hook.