Mickey & the Invaders have
gotten a raw deal. When their name is brought up, the
first thing most people say is "you mean that surf band?"
The mission of this article is to refute the knarly
misconception that unfairly pigeon-holes them and pay tribute to
a versatile and excellent band, which was also part of the
"Eastside circuit" of the 1960s in East Los Angeles.
Mickey & the Invaders indeed played the "circuit" and went far
beyond, recording three singles for MCA using a new name, Dyna-Might.
Mickey & the Invaders and Dyna-Might also backed up and toured
with some of the premier artists of their time.
Mike "Mickey" Aversa grew up in Montebello, California, a
stone's throw from the cradle of the "Eastside Sound," the
unincorporated part of East Los Angeles where most of the music
venues were located. Also in the neighborhood was Whittier
Boulevard, whose cruising scene has been made legendary in story
and song. Mike's musical journey began with guitar lessons
from his brother in-law when he was seven years old. Later
he took formal guitar and piano lessons. Learning to read
music made much of his later musical exploits possible.
His first band was Mickey and His
Cavaliers. They were managed by his father, who also came
up with the name. The band formed in 1961. One of
the venues they often played was Auction Village in Baldwin Park,
California. Like many
bands in the early 60s, Mickey and His Cavaliers played a
lot of surf music. However, they also played R&B and even
country music. They were soon regular guests on the "Squeekin'
Deacon" radio show, which was a country western show.
Members of Mickey and His Cavaliers were Mickey Aversa (guitar,
vocals), Don Vena (drums), Edward Matisoff (sax), Dave Irwin
(bass), Nancy Maldonado (vocals), and Pat Richardson (vocals).
In 1963, the band changed its name from Mickey and His Cavaliers to
Mickey & the Invaders. The name gave them a more
modern and other-worldly dimension. Their band cards even
proclaimed "music out of this world." They played weddings, parties,
dances, and Naval bases. By this time they added some
standards to their song list. Band members came and went
until the members of Mickey & the Invaders were Mickey Aversa
(guitar), Simon Casas (bass), Sonny Lathrop (guitar),
Denny Robinson (guitar), Linda Robinson (vocals), Barry Ward
(drums), John Ortiz (sax), and Mario Sosa (trumpet). (Drummer Barry Ward would later play for a while with
Three Dog Night.)
Two
other members of Mickey & the Invaders give them major East
L.A. street cred, Bobby Espinoza and Danny Lamont.
After a couple of years with Mickey & the Invaders, Bobby Espinoza went on to play with the popular East L.A. band
the V.I.P.s, who later evolved into the hit band El Chicano.
Bobby's Hammond B3 organ style became the heart and soul of El
Chicano's sound. Mickey & the Invaders was the first band
Bobby ever played with. Here's how it happened: Mickey Aversa was taking piano
lessons at Lew Salter's in East L.A. on Atlantic Boulevard, just
south of Whittier Blvd. Mickey told Mr. Salter he was
looking for a keyboard player for his band. Mr. Salter
recommended Bobby, who was also one of his students.
According to Mickey, Bobby was a very shy kid at the time, but
with a little prodding he agreed to join the band. This
was the genesis of Bobby's musical career. Drummer Danny Lamont went on to become a
member of Thee Midniters during their heyday in the mid-60s.
Thee Midniters were the most popular band in East L.A. in that
era. In the early 70s, La Mont joined Bobby Espinoza as a
member of El Chicano for a time. Danny Lamont played on
El Chicano's fourth album, "El Chicano," released in 1973.
It's true Mickey & the
Invaders played surf music and depending on the venue could
indeed morph into an authentic surf band.
They're
even included in the 1996 book, "Surfin' Guitars," by
Robert J. Dalley and published by Popular Culture, Ink.However, it would be more accurate
to describe the band as musical chameleons. On the
"Eastside circuit" they would play R&B and hits by some of the
East L.A. bands of the era. At a wedding dance, they could
play standards or Mexican music.
Bassist Simon Casas' father was a guitarrón player in a mariachi
and his mother was part of a Mexican vocal duo with her sister,
Las Hermanas Fraga, who recorded for Columbia Records. Mickey & the Invaders even played Gypsy music at
Gypsy weddings! They were very good musicians, most of
whom could read music.
Many
bands in East L.A. played surf music at the time. In the
early 60s, surf music was extremely popular. Dick Dale &
the Deltones were huge. Just about every guitar player in
East L.A. was doing his best to play "Miserlou" with Dick
Dale's rapid-fire picking style. Songs like "Wipeout" by the Surfaris
and "Pipeline" by the Chantays were monster hits. The
Ventures were extremely popular with "Walk Don't Run" and many
other reverb-laden guitar anthems. My first band, Mark &
the Escorts, started with surf songs in 1963. Virtually
our entire list was comprised of surf instrumentals. Yet
somehow no one has ever referred to my band as "that surf band."
There was also an East L.A. band called the Vesuvians, who played
surf songs and even dressed the part. Mickey & the
Invaders somehow got stuck with the moniker. Mickey & the Invaders definitely had a surf side, no pun
intended, but they were much more than that and went beyond as
the 60s progressed and their name changed once again.
Mickey & the Invaders played a variety of venues. In the
surf world they played the legendary Rendevous Ballroom, where
they opened for Dick Dale himself. They played other
Orange County surf venues, such as the Pavalon Ballroom in
Huntington Beach, and Retail Clerks Hall in Buena Park.
They also put out a surf single, "Blast Off" on the small Lap
Record label. It was actually the "B" side of "Land of
Broken Hearts," but a DJ flipped it over and started playing
"Blast Off." At the same time they were playing the appropriate music
that served the tastes of the people on the East L.A. circuit, at venues such
as the Big and Little Union Halls, Montebello Ballroom, Kennedy
Hall, and
El Monte Legion Stadium. They also played one of the now
legendary rock & roll shows at East Los Angeles College. (Mickey also played bass on East
L.A. singing star Little Ray's classic recording of "I Who Have
Nothing" on Bob Keane's Donna Label.)
In 1965, Mickey
& the Invaders released a second single, "Love Is a Wonderful
Thing" and "You'll Never Know" on Yardbird
Records. Both songs were written by Mickey. Outside
the East L.A. "circuit," Mickey & the Invaders played the
Pasadena Civic Auditorium on the bill with an up and coming
band, the Association. They also
played shows at Disneyland. In 1967, Mickey & the Invaders
won the prestigious Battle of the Bands at the Teen Age Fair at
the Hollywood Palladium. This was a major annual event
which always had stiff competition from bands all over Southern
California.
The next break for the band was meeting KRLA disk jockey Dick
Biondi. Mickey was giving guitar lessons to a kid who
"moved on up" from the Eastside to Beverly Hills. There
the boy befriended child
actor Jon Provost, best known as the kid on the "Lassie"
television show. Mickey became Provost's guitar teacher,
which led to Mickey meeting Biondi through Provost's agent.
(The
universe works in mysterious ways.) Dick Biondi, impressed
with Mickey & the Invaders, began to book the band on the
Dick Biondi KRLA
Road Shows. On these and other shows, Mickey & the
Invaders backed
artists such as the Righteous Brothers, Sonny & Cher, Brenda
Holloway, Johnny Burnette, Brenton Wood, Paul and Paula, April
and Nino Tempo, and the Blossoms.
The Blossoms were a great black female vocal group, who provided
background vocals for countless major artists of the time.
The legendary Darlene Love was one of the Blossoms.
Darlene Love was the lead vocalist on the Phil Spector produced
recordings by the Crystals. There's a movie out now in 2013, "20 Feet From Stardom," featuring Darlene Love and other
great black female background singers of the 60s and 70s, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, Claudia Lennear, Tata Vega, and
others. These were world-class singers who were literally
and figuratively twenty feet from stardom. Well, Mickey &
the Invaders and the Blossoms hit it off because they backed
the vocal group often, including stints at the Chi Chi Club in Palm Springs and
the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. When Mickey & the Invaders
went to rehearse with the Blossoms for the first time, they met
the
Blossoms young musical director, the now legendary guitarist
Larry Carlton.
Dick Biondi also hired Mickey & the
Invaders on tours of Job Corps camps. The shows would have
a comedian, female dancers, and a pre-Three Dog Night Chuck
Negron, then billed as Chuck Oberon. Mickey & the Invaders
would do their set and back Chuck Negron. On each tour they would do
two or three shows a day in different places for a couple of
weeks. They hit Job Corps sites in California, Oregon,
Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming. Simon remembers one camp
that was all women where the band was mobbed like the Beatles.
In
the period of 1968-69, the band did nightclubs in Los Angeles and Hollywood as the Mike James
Quintet. The quintet's members were all former Invaders;
Mike Aversa, Simon Casas, Barry Ward, John Ortiz, and Mario
Sosa. Their most memorable night club gig was at The
Factory in Beverly Hills, a major Hollywood celebrity hang out.
The directors of The Factory were Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis
Jr., and Paul Newman. During the Mike James Quintet's run
they entertained and provided dance music for luminaries such as
James Mason, Omar Sharif, Martha Raye, Dick Smothers, Barbara
Feldon, Barbara Eden, Ricky Nelson, and Hugh Hefner.
In 1969, Dick Biondi lost his job at KRLA and moved on to a rock
station in the South. He kindly turned Mickey & the Invaders over
to a couple of other KRLA DJs who became their managers, Charlie
O'Donnell and Humble Harve (Harvey Miller). Their new
managers helped secure a major record deal for the band with MCA
Records. Their managers also gave them a new name for their new
deal, Dyna-Might! Band members at this time were Mickey Aversa,
Simon Casas, Barry Ward, John Ortiz, Mario Sosa, and Nick
Bradley (keyboards). Bradley was in the band for about a
year. Their first single was on the label's Congress
subsidiary. "You Got Me Groovin" and "Soul Has No Color"
were released on January 1, 1970. Their second single was
"Borracho" and "Need You" released September 1, 1970 on MCA's
Uni label. On "Borracho"
the prominent Hammond B3 organ is played by saxophonist John
Ortiz, who was now playing some keyboard in the band. Their third
single was "Sunshine Goddess," written by Alan O'Day, and
"Message To My Brother."
As Dyna-Might
they were also the house band at Magic Mountain amusement park
in Valencia for their opening season in 1971. It was there
they were on the bill with performers such as comedienne Phyllis
Diller, impressionist Rich Little, and the great singer, Bobby Darin. They also did "live" shows for Wolfman
Jack, backed Freddy Cannon on a record ("Rock & Roll ABCs" written by
Alan O'Day and "Superman" written by Mickey Aversa),
and appeared on The Real Don Steel's dance TV show. Other guests on that show
were the Ides of March of "Vehicle" fame and the great Little
Richard. Dyna-Might also played clubs in the Western U.S.
and in Canada.
After their stint with MCA, Dyna-Might
decided to record a single on their own label, Dyna-Might
Records. They picked a song they liked from an album by
Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds. It was an album cut, "Fallin'
In Love Again." The flip side was "A Rose By Any Other
Name." They presented the recording to Playboy Records, who
showed some interest in releasing the recording themselves.
Before a deal could be made, Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds
released their own recording of the song as a single and it
quickly went to #1. Dyna-Might was on
the road in the Northwest and constantly heard the song on
the radio. They had picked the song as a hit apparently
before anyone else, but were beaten to the punch. Simon Casas left the group around this time and Mickey kept the band
going for a while. Dyna-Might disbanded in 1977. In
1978, Mike Aversa and John Ortiz joined with Mike O'Brien & Don
Hoover to form a Christian band, The Agape
Brothers. They recorded an album and performed together
until 1981.
Mickey & the Invaders and Dyna-Might accomplished a lot in their
musical careers. They played dances, shows, and concerts,
created their own music and made records using many different
musical styles, and backed and played alongside legendary
artists of the 60s and 70s. They were part of and witness
to a special time in rock & roll history.
This article is
based on audio taped telephone interviews by Mark Guerrero with Mike Aversa on July 29, 2013
and Simon Casas on August 5, 2013.
Click
herefor "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" - Mickey & the
Invaders (1965)
Click
here for "You Got Me Groovin'" - Dyna-Might (1970)
Click
here for "By Lord and I" - Agape Brothers (1977)
Mickey & the Invaders
Mickey & the Invaders
(top
row, left to right- John Ortiz, Bobby Espinoza,
and brother and sister, Denny and Linda Robinson)
(kneeling in front, left- Mickey Aversa, right- Simon
Casas)
Mickey & the Invades with The Blossoms
(The
Blossoms backed up artists such as Elvis Presley and
The Righteous Brothers.)
Dyna-Might
Dyna-Might (1969)
front- John Ortiz
and Simon Casas
middle- Mario Sosa
back- Barry Ward and Mike Aversa
Mickey Aversa and his Cavaliers (Mike Aversa's
first band)
Mickey Aversa and
his Cavaliers (c. 1962) (On KCOP's "Hispanorama")
left to right- Don Vena, Edward Matisoff, Nancy
Maldonado,
Mike "Mickey" Aversa, Dave Irwin, and Pat
Richardson
Click here to visit Guy Aversa's blogspot,
which has a history of Mike Aversa's bands of the '60s and '70s
with scans of records, photos, posters, etc. (Guy is Mike
Aversa's cousin.)
