Unless you grew up in the barrios of Los Angeles you may not be aware of bands such as Thee Midniters, Village Callers, Cannibal and The Headhunters or Thee Amberlones. You may not recognize individuals such as Lil' Willie G,

The Salas Brothers, Lil' Ray or Ersi Arvizu. But if you did they were often as real as the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Little Richard or Chuck Berry. They were heroes and heroines of Lowrider Car clubs, Street Gangs, and School Teens. Their records were sold as soon as they came out and whenever they made appearances they crowded dance halls and concerts. Who were they? They were the rock artists based in East Los Angeles. They were part of a phenomenon known on the West Coast as the "Eastside Sound." It has spanned over 20 years of Chicano musical development.

They were Latin, they were Rhythm and Blues, they were soul, and they defied categories. The music was a localized fusion of Mexican and American influences. Yet they have been largely ignored. The ensuing struggle to bring them out of the barrio, record them, and get them to national prominence is a story of glory and tragedy: a story often told in the annals of the record business. The beginning of Chicano rock was also stamped as its end.

It was in the early part of 1959 when a small aircraft crashed onto a snow- filled cornfield in Iowa. On the plane were Buddy Holly, J. P. "Big Bopper" Richardson, and Richard Valenzuela-Richie Valens" killed at the age of 17. Prior to that Valens, from the barrio of Pacoima in the San Fernando Valley, reached the national music charts with an original song called "Donna" and a rock version of "La Bamba." an old Mexican standard,

Johnny O'Valle, owner of the Record Inn music shop in East L.A. and a follower of Chicano music since the 20's, said "A lot of Chicanos copied other people's material. Only one guy really produced more of what Chicanos know Richie Valens. When he did his music the whole world copied him. The loss of such a tremendous talent was especially felt in East L.A where people lost in Valens one of their own. On that fateful day in February, at a time when getting into the record industry for Mexicans was unheard of, Chicanos heard the doors of opportunity shut again. Still there were people who believed in the talent of the Eastside. Besides Bob Keane and Del-Fi, who recorded Valens and other Chicano acts, there was Eddie Davis, who spent 20 years producing and recording the "Eastside Sound."

In 1958 Davis started his record-manufacturing firm, Faro Producer selling a chain of restaurants and other businesses to do so. Soon he had 3 record labels: Faro, Linda, and Ramparts. By 1962 he owned two night clubs the Rainbow Gardens in Pomona at the Rhythm Room in Fullerton, where he had weekend dances featuring local talent. One of the bands called The Mixtures, a rarity for the time because they were mixed Chicano, Black and Anglo musicians Billy Cardenas, who managed several East L.A bands, came along and featured some of them at the clubs. He brought in bands such as The Jaguars, The Salas Brothers and the Premiers.

Max Uballez, then a young musician with the Romancer Band, remembers the period: "I was a young kid, todo mocoso. Who didn't know what I was doing or why.

At that time The Romancers couldn't play anywhere. There was nothing for bands... no clubs, no weddings, nothing. We had to create our own work. A girls' club called
The Romancerettes started holding dances featuring The Romancers band and that's how we worked!" "With the help of Billy Cardenas we got acquainted with Eddie Davis and played at the Rainbow Gardens." The Salas brothers, Rudy and Stevie were 13 and 11 years old when they first recorded. They started singing at family reunions. All they knew was in Spanish, like rancheros, boleros, and such. "One day," relates Rudy, "this guy heard us at a playground. He talked to our parents and started booking us at some of the bazaars."

"Then we met Mario Paniagua.," said Stevie, "who had a band called The Percussions. They were into rock and wanted us to sing. We didn't know anything in English so we had to learn. Mario was very conscientious. He was going to school, was in track an all-around guy, but he always took care of us." Rudy says, "Through when we met Cardenas. We changed the name of the band to the Jaguars.” Eddie Davis listened the more he got hooked. "At that time Motown was very popular," Davis recalls, "But these bands had something unique about them different sound. I got turned on to that sound. I guess because of their own ethnic background they were locked into a different kind of rhythm."

Davis started using the Rhythm Room as a rehearsal hail and even built a little remote recording facility so the bands could practice and review material to see which could be recorded.

Ramparts' first Eastside product was a recording of the Salas Brothers called "Darling." Davis was now becoming part of a whole recording-buying public on the Eastside of Los Angeles that other companies were ignoring.

Another Eastside artist is Ramon Jiminez, "Lil' Ray," who at the age of 14 left his family of 9 brothers and 3 sisters in Delano to go to L.A "The opportunities at home were limited. I mean you can pick grapes, cotton, or work at a shoe store," said Jiminez. He had a professional career in Delano and Bakersfield so once in L.A he played the halls like the El Monte Legion with rock acts like The Penguins, Don and Dewey, Johnny Otis, and including Jackie Wilson, Brook Benton and The Coasters.

He joined up with the original Midniters Band but soon went at it as a single artist which eventually landed him a contract with Motown. But there was a communication problem while Motown was moving its offices from Detroit to LA so that Lii' Ray did not put out any recordings with them.

He also had another opportunity that got lost, this time with Sam Cooke. He was to record with Sam's help when Cooke was killed in a motel in L.A there was no follow-up. At the time of Ramparts beginnings Lil' Ray recorded "I (Who Have Nothing)" with Del-Fi and had a regional hit. In 1963 The Premiers came up with "Farmer John," an old Don and Dewey thing, and The Blendells had a record called "La La La La La." but it was "Farmer John" that hit the top 20 in the country.

"They had a following of a girls' club called the Crystals, which used to scream, tear their clothes and bring much excitement to Premier dances," Davis says.

"I wanted that same excitement on the record. The Premiers went ahead and recorded 'Farmer John.' Then we brought the girls' club into the studio afterwards. We played the tape back and had a party."

They recorded that party on the record and released it. It got enough national attention to induce Warner Brothers into signing the band, which was the first time a major company ever picked up a band from East Los Angeles. The Blendells followed by signing with Reprise. Bands were coming to Davis from all over East L.A Rudy Benavides, who is Davis' friend and consultant, said, "Eddie became the 'Godfather' of the Eastside Sound."

Street kids playing music was the concept. Max Uballez remembers that soon afterward other bands were being created out of barrio musicians: The Heartbreakers, The Emeralds and the most popular band of East LA, Thee Midniters. "One time The Romancers played at the Catholic Youth Organization on the corner of Brooklyn and Gage in East L.A we met this guy. Eddie Torres. Who says to us. 'Can you help some guys out? They are a bunch of hoods, always in trouble.' Well we all were. So we helped them out. These guys became Thee Midniters. Soon it began to snowball. It grew a lot quicker than we realized. Before we knew it we had dances all over town," said Uballez. From the same breed of youth without decent jobs, proper education and social recreation came Cannibal and the Headhunters. They were not a band but a singing group patterned after Motown acts like The Miracles and The Temptations. They were from the Ramona Gardens Housing Projects and had street names such s Scar, Yo-Yo, Rabbit and Cannibal.

Their break was with a song "Land of 1000 Dances." And that came by accident. Cannibal performed that song one night and forgot the words. So he started singing, "Na na na na na na..." instead " When we heard it," Max Uballez said, "we knew it was a hit record," In 1965 they reached top 40 with the song and became the opening act for The Beatles historic second tour in the U.S. The band did get a Columbia record subsidiary called Date Records to take them on.

At that time Date was recording the original Peaches and Herb. But they never could get another hit.
To immortalize the previous 2 years' efforts in recording Eastside bands, Davis and Rudy Benavides came out with "Golden Treasures; West Coast Eastside Revue Volume One." The album featured 20 acts with The Premiers, Blendells and The Mixtures, as well as The Pageants, Thee Enchantments, The Heartbreakers, Slauson Brothers, and Lii' Ray. Around 1967 Hector Rivera was manager of a local band that consisted of six young men and one young woman called The Village Callers. They had an original song called "Hector," named after their manager. Hector Rivera, came to Davis to get them recorded. The band was destined for big things on the merits of that song alone and because their female singer was very good. But the song got to the top ten in L.A alone and didn't go nationally.

Davis was producing their first album, a live show at the Plush Bunny Club in Pico Rivera. But at the same time deals were being made with Liberty Records. Davis felt this was a mistake. He had seen so many good bands go down because they moved up too fast too soon. The deal behind his back also included putting in "Hector" which was a song Davis produced.

It was not a good deal for him and he felt not good for the band as well. What followed was one of several court dates and suits that plagued the Eastside artists. Davis felt he had to protect his interest so he stopped the Liberty Records deal, and in the shuffle the whole thing got lost.

By this time Thee Midniters grew to be the #1 band in East LA they had recorded several albums on Whittier Records, with Eddie Torres as their manager. Some of the songs that made them famous locally were "Whittier Blvd.," "Love Special Delivery," "Sad Girl," "I Need Someone," and "That's All." Once Davis invited Thee Midniters to be at a big Hollywood party. The band had an extraordinary singer known as LII' Willie G. At the party they got offered a big contract with a large producer. But they turned it down. They were doing the small club bookings with dates booked well in advance and in multiple bookings. Playing at different places on the same night. Davis feels today they had a chance to make it big and blew it.

Another time Davis tried to propel the talent of Thee Midniters, in this case of
LII' Willie G. He got Lil' Ray and Lii' Willie G. together with a group, God's Children. They made a record deal with Uni Records that at the time was recording Hugh Masekela. Davis was hot at the time and doors were open to him. They recorded a song called "Hey Does Somebody Cares" which reached the top 5 in New Orleans. But according to Davis, Willie's manager wouldn't let him travel to New Orleans to create activity behind the record.

The next session Lil' Ray didn't want to continue working with hassles such as those so he got out.

Davis convinced MCA records to continue with Lii' Willie G. and a singer named Lydia. They spent $7,000 to $8,000 on the group but nothing big came of it. After that the only major thing he did was a short stint as lead vocalist for San Francisco, (San Poncho) based band, Malo. Unfortunately for Willie, Mob folded soon after. "There are three people I felt should have been international stars... I mean as big as Frank Sinatra. They are Stevie Salas, Lii' Ray (Ramon Jiminez), and Willie Garcia." In 1968 Davis and Rudy Benavides put out the "Golden Treasures West Coast East Side Revue Volume 2." capturing the bands that were making it in East L.A. from 1965 to 1968.

The Viet Nam War took many of the Eastside's musicians but bands continued to endure. The album featured some of the old acts such as The Premiers, Lil' Ray and the Salas Brothers with The Jaguars. The new bands included Thee Epics, Sammy and The Summits, Thee Flirtations. Eastside All-Stars, and Thee Ambertones, who were almost as popular as Thee Midniters. The next period in Ramparts' history was captured in the liner notes of one of the albums Davis produced.

He writes: "Mexicans have been pouring into the United States for the past thirty years, legally and illegally, in order to escape the poverty of their native Mexico and find a better life for themselves and their families...”

“The wants of the Mexican American are so simple and the principle of their movement is so basic and pure that it is, in fact, the very essence of what the United States of America is all about.”All they want is to enjoy the heritage that the migrating forefathers of all of us born in America intended their offspring to have: “EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND INDIVIDUAL RESPECT BASED SOLELY UPON PERSONAL QUALIFICATION."

The year was 1970. In East L.A.. It was a year of the Chicano Moratorium and of high school blowouts for better schools. It was the year of the Eastside's most successful endeavors, the "Viva Tirado" album by El Chicano.

There was a band playing the local circuits called the V.I.P's. Billy Watson, a bass player who years before played with The Premiers, was engineering in a recording studio where The VIPs were asked to record a session. The band came and recorded but during one of the breaks Watson accidentally left the recorder on. The VIP's were playing a song they used as a break theme for their club dates. Watson recorded it, heard it, and without hesitation went to Davis and Benavides to listen to it.

It was the Gerald Wilson song, "Viva Tirado," a piece Wilson did in homage to the art of bullfighting. They all agreed that it had to be released. But both Davis and Benavides felt the name VIP's was wrong for the record. It was a heavily Latin-tinged number. It was 1970; Chicano consciousness was on the rise. Santana had already made big featuring the Latin-fusion sound. Soon they came up with the name "El Chicano" for the band. They agreed on it, and released the record with that name "...When Watson brought me the sampling of what he had produced, I heard the ultimate of that feeling that has always turned me on," Davis wrote in the liner notes of the album.

Benavides went to the various L.A radio stations with the record. First to KGFJ. The break came when KHJ, then the top radio station in LA, picked up the song as a "hit bound." Within 12 weeks it was number I at the station and stayed numero uno for 13 consecutive weeks. It had already broken the charts in Baltimore and was sweeping New York, the South and the Mid-West.

The recording made history by being the first one to cross all major music charts except for Country and Western. Davis felt that this was finally the hit that would propel the Eastside Sound out of the Barrio. He put all his time and money into the project. Reorganizing his company and establishing Gordo Enterprises. They had the theme "Chicanos are happening! The Sound of the New Generation." Davis contacted some of the old acts. The Salas Brothers and Jaguars were now joined as The Six-Pac and Davis recorded them. He contacted Lil' Willie G. and recorded a song called "Brown Baby." With El Chicano the Six-Pac, and Lil' Willie G. Davis went out with renewed fervor. "We smashed all three records at the same time and really made a promotion."

At that time Kapp Records was just merging with MCA Records and had no artists yet. Davis saw the chance and made a deal with Kapp to record El Chicano. But a hang-up arose. Though The V.I.P's gave the OK to release "Viva Tirado" they didn't want anything to do with El Chicano. Davis had to come up with musicians to be the band; included was Rudy Salas, Henry Espinosa, a congero named Max Garduno, and a musician from the old Mixtures, Randy Thomas. They had a single recorded called "Poquito Soul" and were in the studio recording an album.

By then "Viva Tirado" was getting chart action all over. The new record company wanted the original VIP's to play and because of the success of the song, the V.I.P's wanted to do it after all. Legal hassles arose and Davis had to get rid of the musicians he had started to record and bring the V.I.P's in. "Looking back it was only right... they were the original group that did the song," Davis said.

Davis continued to produce El Chicano and their first album.

He went to the East Coast and started setting up important appearances. But on the home front something was happening. In the midst of the publicity and work getting top engagements, the band had gone to another producer who wanted to take them into a different vein. When he heard what was going on Davis got frustrated and soon gave up on the band. Where he put up a fight for The Village Callers, he let El Chicano go.

El Chicano continued to record. Their lead vocalist, Ersi Arvizu, stunned Chicano music enthusiasts with her interpretation of the Mexican balled "Sabor A Mi." "Yet, they did about 5 albums for MCA and never got another hit," Davis sadly related. By then Davis was getting so tired of the setbacks that in 1971 he went into semi-retirement. "After El Chicano I went to sleep for 2 years and put the covers over my head." During this time people came and went but the music kept developing. But the music had gone in separate ways. Ramparts became a memory. But one Chicano bassist remembered.

His name was Hector Gonzales. Gonzales was playing with different bands, and recording here and there. Then he got together some other musicians and a female vocalist. Gonazles kept calling Davis about recording the band. His persistence paid off. in 197O Davis decided to come out of semi-retirement, having the record business in his blood, and record the band on Ramparts. Again, Rudy Benavides helped him and came up with a new name for the band: The Eastside Connection.

Now they have a new album called "Brand Spanking New-New Wave Funk," with original material. "I am doing what I can for them till a major company sees what they have to offer and signs them up," Davis said.

Besides EC, Davis is recording Skylight, a singing duet of Harry and Dolores Socorro. They were members of EC, Dolores as one of the lead singers and Harry as music director, songwriter and electric violinist. "He is a writer, arranger, director, and plays about every instrument. He is the type of educated musician we have needed for so long," says Benavides. Both groups are made up of Chicanos, Anglos and Blacks, as well as women. EC's leading vocalist is a Chicana, Bertha Oropeza. Their main writing team is a Black guitarist. Geoff Lee, and a young Chicana, Miroslava Gonzales. Ramparts Records always strived to get the best of people regardless of nationality or sex. That has been their trademark, and ironically, may have contributed to them not being able to move out in the industry, as they deserve.

There has been a lot of rich experience accrued since Richie Valens' climb to fame and Ramparts' beginning. Some of the veterans are still around. The Salas Brothers, Rudy and Stevie, are two of them. After the El Chicano thing, Rudy played the circuit with a band called Maya. Stevie was going to school north at Stanford but would come all the way back down to LA to do gigs. Eventually he left school to devote full time to a new band, Tierra.

In 1973 the band recorded an album for 20th Century Records. Tierra now includes veterans from the Jaguars and Andre Baeza, ex-congero from El Chicano. In 1979 they had a single "Gonna Find Her," which was well received throughout the L.A and Southwest area. They are currently working on a new album while enjoying growing popularity in the Los Angeles area. "One reason we stuck with it is because we recorded," Stevie said got stuck by the studio bug and stuck it out."

Max Ubailez has also continued in the recording industry and other related work. Through the years he worked with many bands but the most important one was Macondo. This recorded Atlantic Records and was under the personal management of Sergio Mendes. The Macondo thing lasted through one album. But hassles abounded with the recording company and the band, and it broke up. His own personal life went through many changes. Including having to work for peanuts in warehouses and a divorce. Uballez ran into Billy Cardenas who is now director of Ayudate, a self-help agency for hard core gang and drug abuse problems in East L.A. Cardenas got UbalIez involved in the movie "Boulevard Nights" as casting coordinator. Max now has projects in other movies, a magazine and his own recording and publishing company, Big Wave Records.

"Ramparts gave us the sound business foundation that no Chicano had," said Uballez. "It gave me a chance to serve my apprenticeship, to apply my dreams. Just so we could have a record. We knew, when we were doing it, 'this is no hit record.' But it was to give us a chance.... to hold something in our hands. It wasn't just a dream. It was something we could come home and say. 'Look at what I did! Maybe, just maybe I can do a big one.' It wasn't just a dream, it wasn't just air. It was real," added Uballez.

Uballez is now involved in a 5-piece band called Fantazia who have just released their new album on the Big Wave label. Ramon Jimenez (Lil' Ray) has continued in the music field as well. He is now lead singer of the L.A. band, which does local weddings, dances and nightclubs.

Besides that he is producing and managing Barbara and Michael Jimenez, known as "Nice and Easy." They have a single on Jimenez' label. Summit Records. "Its hard work to make it in the record business because the industry works with what will make them money," says Jimenez. "But now there has been more and more of a Latin influence in music through Puerto Rico and Mexico. Such an influx of people coming in that is now seen as a large buying public. Some of big business is saying, 'well we can make money off these people... they buy records, cosmetics, toilet paper, etc.' so they gear their promotions that will sell their products to the Latino / Hispanic market....they're proclaiming the decade of the Hispanic.' All of a sudden, even the beer companies want to come along with us." Jimenez feels that this is a time for Chicanos, especially in the music industry to assert them so as not to be taken advantage of.

These and other artists have learned better lessons in their trek to becoming professional musicians, with many odds against them. Longevity, education, experiences...these are some of the things that have been cited as problems with many of the artists. They know that the basic thing is the desire to stick it out. "They will make it because they want to," says Eddie Davis. And this in spite of the still existing barriers. "It really hurt us when Ralfi Pagan got killed recently in South America," Rudy Salas said. "He was like us, from the streets with a rich voice and a great song writer." Yet he spent most of his time barely trying to exist. Now his talent and artistry will be buried with him." Ralfi Pagan was a popular performer on the Eastside circuit. He was Puerto Rican and originally from New York. He worked with Eastside bands like Tierra. His untimely death left a void that as time goes by gets harder to fill.

Hindsight is often 20-20. From urban streets and overcrowded housing projects these musicians came to play, left their mark, and moved on. The question is: where is the Eastside sound now'? Despite so much talent and energy most bands are limited to club dates and weekend events. Many of their members hold 40 hour a week jobs somewhere else. Bands like El Chicano, Tierra, and Eko represent the second generation after Cannibal and The Headhunters. "The irony is that the door has not opened enough for us, the new bands coming up. We are almost in the same position as when Ramparts first recorded an Eastside group," said Hector Gonzales. It is hard to categorize the music of the Eastside. It has been part jazz, soul, rock, Latin and a touch of Eastside flavor: a hybrid perhaps, but it works. "The thing is to pull together," said Rudy Benavides. "We need to pull our resources together. We got writers, musicians, singers, and other talented people," said Stevie Salas. "We can get Uballez, Davis, Jimenez, and the others who are still around and coordinate our knowledge and financing and get our product out."

"This may mean doing it ourselves, instead of depending on big established labels," added Rudy Salas. "The problem is we're so close to Hollywood we get deceived." "In Texas," Rudy continued, "Chicanos had no Hollywood, no easy breaks. Because of that they did everything themselves. Now they have their own record companies and radio stations and get their music out." There is more to the story of the "Eastside Sound," but for now let it suffice that it is not over.