Blues Magoos

The Blues Magoos were a 1960s psychedelic garage-rock band from Bronx, New York. The quintet first got together as The Trenchcoats in 1964. The original members were: Emil "Peppy" Thielhelm (vocals/guitar), Ralph Scala (organ/vocals), Dennis LaPore (lead guitar), Ronnie Gilbert (bass), and John Finnegan (drums). The group made a name for themselves performing at various clubs in New York City's Greenwich Village. They initially did folk blues music, but switched over to more experimental psychedelic rock. They also changed their name from The Trenchcoats to The Bloos Magoos, which eventually changed a third and final time to the Blues Magoos. The line-up also changed, with new members Mike Esposito (lead guitar) and Geoff Daking (drums) replacing LaPore and Finnegan. The Blues Magoos recorded several unsuccessful singles on both the Verve and Ganim labels. In 1966 the band signed with Mercury Records. They had a minor success with a crazed cover of "Tobacco Road" and recorded the classic album "Psychedelic Lollipop." The group scored their greatest hit single with the terrifically tough'n'snarly "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet," which peaked at #5 on the Billboard pop charts in January of 1967. They went on to perform on a nationwide tour with The Who and Herman's Hermits. Alas, such follow-up singles as "There's a Chance We Can Make It", "I Wanna Be There" and "One By One" failed to either match or surpass the smash success of "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet". The albums "Electric Comic Book" and "Basic Blues Magoos" likewise didn't do well. The original band broke up in early 1969. Thielhelm went on to front a mediocre blues-rock version of the Blues Magoos that sputtered and died in 1972. On November 9, 2000, Thielhelm and Scala resurrected the Blues Magoo and performed at the annual garage rock revival Cavestomp Festival show.