The story of the Premiers is similar to that of Cannibal &
the Headhunters and as fate would have it, their careers would
intertwine. The Premiers, like Cannibal & the Headhunters,
grew up on the east side of Los Angeles in the barrios, formed
a musical group, and within a couple of years had a record
that made the national charts. In the Premiers’
case, their record, “Farmer John,” reached #19 in July of 1964. They have the distinction of being
the first eastside Chicano rock group to achieve national
success in the 60s. This helped open the door for the Blendells,
Cannibal & the Headhunters, and El Chicano who followed.
The Premiers were born in San Gabriel,
California in 1962 when the Perez brothers, John and Lawrence,
decided to form a band. John, who had been banging on
pots and pans for years went to a pawn shop and purchased
a Pearl drum set for $100, while John bought a Sears Silvertone
guitar. George Delgado, who lived a few blocks away,
came from a musical family and played guitar. Another
friend from the neighborhood, Frank Zuniga, played bass and
rounded out the group. They practiced in the Perez brothers'
back yard and soon started drawing crowds to their rehearsals.
One of the kids watching them rehearse was Mickey Lespron,
later to be lead guitarist of El Chicano. They began
to play house parties, weddings, and dances, wearing standard cholo attire, khaki pants, Pendletons and Sir Guy shirts.
Lawrence stresses they were not juvenile delinquents
or in gangs, but just liked to dress this way.
John
and Lawrence’s mom came up with the name Premiers based
on the idea of a movie premiere. She heard about Billy
Cardenas, who was managing popular Eastside bands, and gave
him a call. He came out to see them and liked what he
heard. Billy first got them to change their appearance
on stage. They soon found themselves wearing matching
suits and playing better venues, like the Paramount Ballroom,
the Rhythm Room in Fullerton, and Rainbow Gardens in Pomona.
At times, they backed up artists such as Johnny “Guitar”
Watson, Kathy Young, and Chris Montez. Cardenas introduced
the band to record man Eddie Davis and brought them a song
he wanted them to record for Eddie’s label. It
was called “Farmer John,” and\\\which had been previously
recorded by Don & Dewey. At first Lawrence didn’t
like it, but after a few rehearsals and a new arrangement
he changed his mind. Believing they didn’t have a strong
singer, the lead vocal was done by John and George singing
in unison. Contrary to what it said on the label, “Farmer
John” was recorded at Stereo Masters in Hollywood, not
“live” at the Rhythm Room in Fullerton, California.
Girls from the Chevelles car club were used to make background
noise on the record to give it a live sound. According
to Lawrence, it was Eddie Davis’ idea to put photos
of the band member’s faces on the record label of the
45, which was unheard of at the time.
After the success of “Farmer
John,” Eddie Davis made a deal with Warner Brothers
Records to take the record to the next level of marketing
and distribution. Warner Brothers wanted an album by
the Premiers right away to maximize profits on their hit single,
so the band quickly recorded one, using the same formula with
the car club girls giving it the sound of a live album. Lawrence
was not happy with the album and even today feels that only
one song captures what the Premiers were really about, a
Johnny Ace song, “Cross My Heart” sung by George
Delgado. Nevertheless, on the strength of their top
20 hit, they set out on the road. Their first tour was
a Dick Clark “Caravan of Stars” show that started
in St. Louis and continued through the Midwest and East Coast.
Other artists on the bus tour included, Diana Ross and the
Supremes, Bobby Freeman, Major Lance, Fabian, Gene Pitney,
Brian Hyland and the Crystals. The Premiers were teenagers
at the time and could hardly believe what was happening to
them. Their second tour was in the South, where they
opened for the Rolling Stones in Alabama and for the Kinks
and the Zombies at other stops. They also encountered
racial segregation, for example, dealing with separate restrooms
for black and white and not being sure which one to use.
They often traveled with Cannibal & the Headhunters, backing
them on their songs as well as performing their own.
Being fellow Chicano musicians from East L.A.
and mere teenagers, the Premiers and Headhunters bonded and
became like brothers on the road. The Premiers third
tour was with the Dave Clark Five and included New York, Chicago,
Minneapolis and various cities in California. The Premiers
had several tenor sax players over the years, Joe Whiteman, Phil Ruiz, and for their tours, Tony Duran.
Baritone sax was played by Whiteman on “Farmer John”
and Joe Urzua on their album. During the second tour,
Frank Zuniga was drafted and went to Viet Nam, where he was
assigned to artillery. He was replaced by Billy Watson,
formerly of the Rhythm Playboys. In 1968, Lawrence was
drafted and also went to Viet Nam, where he was a machine
gunner on a ground unit. As Lawrence put it, “the
war broke us up.”
My band at the time, Mark & the
Escorts, played at the “West Coast East Side Revue”
at the Shrine Auditorium in 1965 with the Premiers and all
the other top Eastside groups on the bill. We played
a couple of other dances with the Premiers on the bill as
well, but I don’t remember seeing them play because
we often had other gigs on the same night as did they.
I didn’t get to meet the Premiers until around 1995 when
pioneer rocker Chan Romero took me to an afternoon block party
at Lawrence’s house, where I jammed with Chan, John,
and Lawrence in his front yard. In 1999, I went to another
gathering at Lawrence’s house in honor of “Yo Yo” Jaramillo of Cannibal & the Headhunters.
Former members of the Premiers, the Blendells, the Romancers,
and Headhunters were there and we all played together in different
combinations. The highlights of the day were when the Headhunters
sang “Land of a Thousand Dances” and all four
original Premiers played “Farmer John” in the
small living room. I have since gotten to know the Premiers
better while interviewing them for this article and a better
group of guys would be hard to find. In February of
2001, the Premiers performed at an event I helped organize
to honor record producer Billy Cardenas. (Click here to
read about the event.) They still
occasionally do a gig as the Premiers and Lawrence and George
occasionally play with other bands on weekends. Recordings
by the Premiers are available on several compilation CDs,
including, “The East Side Sound 1959-1968” on Dionysus Records and “East Side Sound, Vol. 1, 2, 3 & 4” on Varese Sarabande
Records.
This article
was based on interviews by Mark Guerrero with two of the
four original Premiers- Lawrence Perez and George Delgado
in March of 2000.
Updates
On June 22, 2003, I attended a concert at Frank G. Bonelli
Regional Park in San Dimas, CA where John and Lawrence Perez
performed as the Premiers backed by the East L.A. All Star
Revue. (Click here to
read about it.) On November 1, 2003,
I performed on the bill with John and Lawrence performing
as the Premiers, once again backed by the East L.A. All Star
Revue, at the Latin Oldies Festival 2003 in San Bernardino,
CA. (Click here to
read about it.)
In 2006, I interviewed founding Premier George Delgado as
part of a radio show I did on the "Eastside Sound"
of the 60s. It was part of my radio series "Chicano
Music Chronicles," which aired on crnlive.com and is
now archived on my website. (Click here to hear it.) In early 2007, I interviewed
three founding members of the Premiers, Lawrence Perez, John
Perez, and George Delgado for an exhibit called "American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music," which opened in
October of 2007 at the Experience Music Project museum in
Seattle, Washington. The interviews will also find a
permanent home in the museum's oral history archives.
