In 2003, Chan Romero was about to record an album and called
to ask me to play guitar on it. I told him I would be
happy to, but would also be interested in writing a song for
him. Chan usually writes all his own songs that he
records. Being that we'd had a long friendship and
musical relationship, he agreed to let me give it a shot.
Chan and I had done a lot of recording together in my home
studio since we first met in the mid-90s. On those
recordings, I did the engineering and often played many of
the instruments and sang harmonies. I also co-produced
one of Chan's previous CDs called "Fifties Flashback."
As a result of those experiences, he had nicknamed me "Rock
Doc," a name he still calls me. He called me
that because he thought I was talented and knew he could
also count on me to add the right
instrument, vocal harmony, or pull off a difficult "punch
in" as an engineer.
Often times we songwriters save
titles that we can use when needed. I had come
up with a title way back in 1977 and written it down in a
notebook. The title was "Rockin' Like There's No
Tomorrow." In thinking of a song for Chan, that title came
to mind. Chan is a true rock & roll pioneer and an
authentic rock & roll singer. He can rock with the best of
them in rock history. His famous song and recording of
"The Hippy Hippy Shake" is a rock & roll classic. His song
has been covered by the Beatles, the Swingin' Blue Jeans, the Georgia
Satellites, Kingsize Taylor & the Dominoes, and countless others. It's also been used
in many motion pictures and television commercials. I
knew my title would be perfect for a raging rock song.
I was thinking along the lines of a Little Richard-style
rocker. With the title already in hand, I was able to
write the song in one sitting in about a half an hour.
I played it for Chan and he loved it right away. He
definitely wanted to record it.
The legendary East L.A. producer, Billy Cardenas was going to be
the producer on Chan's album. Cardenas had been my
manager/producer in 1965 when we recorded my first record, "Get
Your Baby" with
my teenage band Mark &
the Escorts. Billy also produced and managed other storied
East L.A. bands such as the Premiers, the Blendells, and
Cannibal & the Headhunters. For the Chan Romero
project, Billy put together a band of
East L.A., "Eastside Sound," veterans of the 1960s, including John
Perez of the Premiers on drums and Andy Tesso of the Romancers
on guitar. I went to a rehearsal in Santa Fe Springs,
California one Sunday afternoon to teach my song to the band.
Even though my song was a relatively simple rock & roll song, it
had some chord changes that were different than the typical rock
changes. A few weeks later Chan and the band recorded my
song at Sanctuary Studios in East L.A., a studio owned by
legendary East L.A. vocalist Little Ray Jimenez. Little
Ray was one of the biggest stars in the golden age of the East
L.A. music scene of the '60s. I was not present when this
recording was done. When I heard it, to my
disappointment the changes were not correct. The solo
sections were supposed to be typical rock changes for easy,
fluid solos. The solo sections they recorded had
the verse changes, which would make it awkward for soloing.
Overall, I was not happy with the recording. I asked Billy
and Chan if it could be re-recorded with me present and,
thankfully, they agreed.
The next week on a Saturday afternoon, I drove into East L.A.
from Palm Springs for the session. I wound up playing lead
guitar on the recording. The other musicians were the
once again John
Perez of the Premiers on drums and Andy Tesso of the Romancers on
rhythm guitar, along with Willie Mondragon on bass, and Louie Durazo on
piano. We recorded the song and I made sure all the chord
changes and song structure was correct. Chan sang a
scratch vocal to guide us as we played. A scratch vocal is
done to keep the band together and help with the groove and feel
of a recording. It is later "scratched" and replaced with
a final vocal. It took about three takes to get the take
we wanted. Andy Tesso and I played rhythm guitar parts
with the band on the basic track and I later overdubbed my guitar solo
in the body of the song. At that point, I had to leave to get to a gig I had
that night back in Palm Springs.
I returned to the studio
during the week for further overdubs. First, I brought in
my favorite sax player Steve Alaniz to put on his sax solos, one
in the middle of the song and then solos which alternated with
my guitar solos during the outro of the song. Steve played
some fantastic 50s-style rock solos. Steve then laid down
some great solos on six other tracks. One
of them was a great flute solo. Steve did virtually all
his solos in one take to the amazement of everyone present.
I made one more trip into L.A. to sing background vocals on the
album. Chan and I were very pleased that Little Ray
Jimenez offered to sing with us on the backgrounds. We had
a heck of vocal trio for the job. We sang on five or
six tracks, doing them all in a hour or so. We all
enjoyed singing together and the end result was great. Next, it was
apparent that there were some problems with the bass line.
Willie Mondragon, who did a great job on all the other album
tracks, could not be reached on this day to fix his part so I
called my friend and longtime bass player Leo Valenzuela.
Leo was available and came right down to the studio and put on
an excellent bass part. Now it was my turn to overdub my
alternating solos at the end of the song so there would be
alternating sax and guitar solos until the song eventually fades
out. The last step was Chan's lead vocal. Chan did
two complete vocals so we were able to pick the best parts of
each vocal to
create a fantastic master vocal. Chan went on to finish
the album over the next few months, doing lead vocals, overdubs,
and mixing. Eventually the song and
album were
mixed.
I was happy with the recording and mix of my song, but
unfortunately that was not the end of the story. Due to an
illness to one of the principals, scheduling problems, a
temporary falling out between two of the principals, and a mix
and re-mix of the entire album, the album did not get
released until 2008!This was five years after the
recording of the album. I would say the old clichè applies
here. "It's better late than never." There were
three CD singles released, one of which was my song, and a CD of
the entire album called "You're On the Right Track." As it
turned out, I like the original mix better than the new one.
Even though it may not be as "clean" as the new mix,
which used the
superior software program, the original mix has the raw feel and
magic of an old Little Richard record, which is what I was after
in the first place. As a result, it's the original mix I
use on my website.
In 2004, I took a trip to Liverpool, England where
I played "Rockin' Like There's No Tomorrow" on the
Spencer Leigh radio show on BBC Merseyside. Chan is
still known and admired in Liverpool because of his legendary
song "The Hippy Hippy Shake," which was performed
by countless Liverpool bands of the early 60s. Some of the songs Chan wrote for the
album that are standouts include "All
You Had To Do," "Ya Me Voy," "Carousel,"
and "Right Track." I'm also very happy with
the way the recording of my song came out. Chan and
the band are rockin', the solos are great, and it has the
spirit and atmosphere of a Little Richard record of the 50s,
the way I hoped it would. Chan Romero is a great
friend and I'm very pleased he recorded one of my songs.
He sang my song with all the raw power and soul that I could
have asked for. The album has ballads and
rockers and Chan Romero has a lot of soul and can still flat
out sing. You can hear the original mix of "Rockin' Like There's No Tomorrow"
for yourself from a link at the bottom of this page. For more info on Chan Romero and his career,
click here to go my article on Chan on
this website.
(left
to right- Mark Guerrero, Andy Tesso (formerly of The
Romancers), Louie Durazo, Chan Romero, John Perez
(of The Premiers), Billy Cardenas, and Willie Mondragon)
