Garage soul

The Garage rock genre is often associated with bands like the Kingsmen, The Trashmen, Paul Revere and The Raiders and The Sonics. This is raw, raunchy and wild rock’n’roll that began in the USA and Canada in the early 60s, before the invasion of the British beat- and R&B-groups headed by The Beatles, Stones, Animals, Kinks and Yardbirds.This era ended when rock music turned psychedelic towards the end of the 60s, (and the album format knocked out the 45). .

Garage rock has had many revivals since then., the latest one starting in the 90s when Sweden’s The Hives and a string of Detroit-based groups with the White Stripes out in front began to make noise.

Most of the original garagebands did covers of black Rhythm& Blues artists from the 50- and the 60’s.The songs were uptempo and one of the main influences was Bo Diddley, who spiced his characteristic Latin American-Caribbean jungle - mambo beat with the sound of maracas, a characteristic many of the 60’s garage rockers exchanged for the use of tambourines.

Rock’n’roll icon Iggy Pop is an illustration of Bo Diddley’s importance as a prime mover for both garage rock and later on, punk. was for his own career. Iggy recorded Bo Diddley’s “Mona” with his band the Iguanas in 1966, the year that is regarded as the peak year of early garage rock with American bands imitating the way the Stones, the Pretty Things and the Yardbirds played R&B.

Garage music’s inspirations include Bo Diddley’s footloose call and response refrains andintense vocals in a soul tradition of uptempo screamers and shouters, with origin in Little Richard’s “Good Golly Miss Molly”, continued by Larry Williams’ “Dizzy Miss Lizzie”,James Brown’s “Good Good Lovin’”, The Isley Brothers’ “Shout”, Barry Strong’s “Money”,The Contours’ “Do You Love Me”, Nathaniel Mayers’ “Village Of Love”, Nat Kendricks & The Swans’ “Mashed Potatoes”, Bobby Bland’s “Turn On Your Lovelight”, Otis Reddings’ “Shout Bamalama”, Wilson Pickett’s “Land of a Thousand Dances” and most of his 60’s-recordings. The only white one in this group would have to be Lonnie Mack, who with his gospeltrained voice and Magnatone-fired tremolo-guitar defined soul á la garage. This is because it’s the guitar rather than the horns that is the instrument that echoes the garage soul-singer in call-response fashion, and this is the reason why black gospel from the early 60’s is an important garage soul influence.

Check out the Staple Singers with Pop Staples on guitar. All their 60’s recordings can be called original garage soul, with a melodic foundation in the 50’s rock and roll, but with a vocal technique and call and responds pattern from gospel music.

Today’s garage rockers borrow from soul veterans like Andre Williams and Nathaniel Mayer, and have even recorded albums together with these artists on record labels like Sympathy For The Record Industry, In The Red, Fat Possum and Alive.

Different garage and retro bands on these label can today be called garage soul, depending on the kind of musical sources and cover songs that inform their music. The Detroit-scene has always been important for garage rock, R&B and Soul. The afore mentioned Iggy Pop is one example. Another is one of the first blue-eyed soulartists, Mitch Ryder, who with his band The Detroit Wheels reached the Billboard Hot 100, in 1966, with an explosive, melodic and guitardriven soulsound, that can be called early white garage soul. Today Detroit’s The Dirtbombs could be said to carry on an aggressive blend of punk and soul music, whereas The Detroit Cobras are today’s leading garagesoul-band, specialising in a classy repertoire of obscure covers from the 50s and 60s. With vocalist Rachel Nagy and guitarist Mary Ramirez in front, they represent a style that combine classic 60’s girl group image from the Shangri Las with influences from tough and raw R&B and Soul in the style of The Five Royales, Irma Thomas and early Ike and Tina Turner.

Øyvind Pharo, June 2008