Bunch Of Fives: The False Poets

Garage rockers The False Poets drop Down At The Farm, a live album released courtesy of Nice Mind Records. The album documents the band re-uniting for one night only in November ‘21 to perform seventeen tracks of raucous rock and roll delights drawn from their first two albums (their self-titled debut and follow up release Strange Season). 

It’s their last recorded music featuring guitarist Oliver Sturgeon and it can be purchased via the band’s Bandcamp site or streamed online from all major streaming platforms. The band are also performing live at The Three Tuns, Gateshead on Friday 10th February.

Here the band tell us about their top five 60s garage rock outfits…

When we formed The False Poets ten years ago it was as a garage rock covers band, being fans of those catchy, punchy sounds typical of that scene.

Garage Rock, for those who don’t know, was mainly an American reaction to the British Invasion of 1964. Thousands of kids picked up guitars to form emulative bands, many of whom only put out a single or two. Your typical garage song lasts about two minutes twenty, with fuzz guitars, high pitched keys and lyrics with a punky attitude. 

Here are a bunch of five gems from the vaults for you to dig out and marvel at:

The Squires – Going All The Way
The Squires’ only record released on the Atco label in the Summer of ’66 may have made a slight splash in their home state of Connecticut, but sank without a trace elsewhere. It’s a stone cold classic that asks to be put on repeat with its jangly guitars, bittersweet vocals and a blistering closing solo that seals The Squires’ legendary status.

The Count Five – Psychotic Reaction
This song earned California’s The Count Five a record deal after the singer added some lyrics to an in instrumental the band had been kicking around for a while. A Top 5 Billboard smash, Psychotic Reaction stands up today as an example of what loose fun Garage Rock remains.

The Calico Wall – I’m A Living Sickness
From Minnesota 1967 on the Dove label, although it sounds late 19th century Transylvanian, comes this slice of creepy weirdness. There is little information online about this band. Maybe it’s best not to know too much about them after hearing the sounds they came out with. Terrifyingly great.

We The People – In the Past
A great example of how inventive these bands could be, the main riff of In the Past is played on an obscure instrument called an octofone. The guitar player had a friend whose grandfather had built this instrument, so it was fitted with a pick up, amped up and ran through a reverb unit. It sounds otherworldly and absolutely awesome.   

Bobby Fuller Four – I Fought The Law
Written by a member of Buddy Holly’s band, this is a much brighter and more dynamic version than that made famous by The Clash. On his way to national, and quite likely international success, Bobby Fuller was found dead in a car before his stardom was about to sail beyond his native Texas. In 2015, Miriam Linna released a book I Fought the Law: the Life and Strange Death of Bobby Fuller. His death remains unexplained.