10.05.2006

Bugs!!! (or Two Venets are better than one)




The Barnstormers Bug Stompin' (Stomp that Roach) 45 (Captiol, 196?)
Gene & Wendell (with the Sweethearts) The Roach 45 (Ray Star, 1961)

Here is a strange coincidence: We have two songs that deal with bugs, specifically roaches and they are both produced by guys with the surname of Venet.

The Barnstormers are a mystery group, perhaps one that never made it out of the studio. That wouldn't be a surprise considering the two mane guys behind this record are Jimmy Haskell and Nick Venet. Haskell turned into a pretty formable producer, arranger and conductor handling bands artists such as Bobby Darin and composing for dozens of Sixties westerns and surf flicks. Nick Venet put a bigger mark on the industry: He signed the Beach Boys to Capitol Records as well as got Shel Talmy a job at Decca. Here he and Haskell were probably hacking out a song destined for the charts or the trash can. Doesn't matter their intentions: The result is a cool dance tune about killing bugs.

Gene and Wendell's killer R&B song the Roach was produced by another Venet, this one named Steven. Steven Venet was a Brill Building song writer. With Jeff Barry & Ellie Greenwich, he wrote Baby Be Mine. He and Tommy Boyce wrote the theme to the show Where the Action Is! He had a lot of great productions but the two GREAT ones that I've dug up are this one and The Groupies' Primitive, popularized by the Cramps. Not surprising that of these two bug songs, The Roach survives the Stompin'.


# posted by Scott Soriano : 22:27
Comments:
Record Robot recently posted some tracks from a very odd Jimmie Haskell solo LP about a post-apocalyptic future from 1971.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 17:00
 
I think Bug Stomp is from 1961 too.
# posted by Blogger Testify : 01:56
 
actually I've just found a review of said record in Feb 1962 copy of Billboard. Read it here:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hxcEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=the+barnstormers+bug+stompin&source=bl&ots=SabgqXE158&sig=sj6-VUip7yWd0JLd3rsMzdJVMJs&hl=en&ei=5qcdTdawC4axhQeex723Dg&sa=X&oi=
# posted by Blogger Testify : 02:01
 
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