Saga of Chicago garage band one record wunderkind who will not be forgotten.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. This holds especially true in the world of rock & roll. In the mid-‘60s garage bands were churning out music that was so raw, so depraved, and so full of energy, that it was irresistible to those who heard it. Move ahead 15 years and new wave bands were trying their darnedest to recapture that sound of a decade and a half ago; but, even with better equipment and improved recording technology, the new wavers failed to duplicate the naive spirit that went into the recordings of the mid-’60s.
Of course, that music has picked up a moniker along the way—punk rock—and the beauty of it all is that, back then, just about anybody believed that they could play it and often did! Some bands were talented. Some were not. Some became immensely popular, but most remained obscure. All of which brings us to the story of the Crees, a talented, but most definitely obscure, band.
Their tale begins in late 1965, when four buddies from Chicago, namely guitarists Roy Wright and Chuck George, drummer Elmer Littlefield, and a bassist called Eddie, formed the group to play at parties. Eddie left soon after the band had gotten its name by putting together the first letters of their surnames to form C-R-E-E-S. Eddie was replaced by Chicano rocker Larry Soto, who soon became the Crees’ lead singer as well.
The Crees never made much money in their early days, but they were never hurting for work either. There was always a party or a battle-of-the-bands to play in, so the group got its exposure. They were all still in high school at the time, and had to take part-time jobs in order to buy some primitive equipment.
Chuck, Larry and Roy were prolific songwriters even in their teens, and by early 1966, they had written enough of their own songs to carry a set, even though they didn’t. Instead, they played songs by their favorite artists, including the Ventures and Elvis Presley. While Roy played a rapid-fire lead guitar, Larry would take the lead vocals on the group’s original material, such as “Lookin’ at Your Picture” and “Misunderstanding.” Chuck George, who did a great Elvis imitation, would sing lead on the slower songs like “Anything That’s Part of You.”
When the Shadows of Knight released their first album, the Crees learned just about every song on it, including the Willie Dixon and Bo Diddley classics. This gave the Crees a blues orientation, but Soto’s voice was just punky enough to give even the blues a spicier sound.
The Crees entered Dick Clark’s prestigious band battle at the Young World’s Fair in the spring of 1966. It was their first major competition, and although they didn’t make it to the finals, they did get a chance to take their music to thousands of new friends.
Then, personal tragedy struck the group when Chuck’s mother died. His father also had to move south because of ill health, so Chuck moved into the suburb of Palatine to live with a friend of his father’s. This event made Chuck even more determined to make his mark in rock and roll, but his move to the ‘burbs caused a certain amount of hardship on the band, because they had to continually shuffle between Palatine and Chicago to practice. At first, their hardships made their music even stronger, and they started to make a name for themselves in the suburbs, where they finished a strong runner-up in an important Palatine Plaza band battle.
Once again, the guys were getting noticed, even if they weren’t making any money. Their hunger for success gave their music a rough edge that was nonetheless genuine. They were four high-spirited guys who could, on occasion, raise a little hell both on and off the stage. At one suburban party where they were playing, Chuck and Larry suddenly quit playing in the middle of a song to have a shoving match. After destroying part of a fence and damaging some metal curbing, they both ended up throwing each other in the swimming pool!!
By the autumn of 1966, the financial situation began to take its toll. The Crees fell to arguing among themselves, and it took a great deal of effort to keep things together. Ironically, it was the most creative period of their career for writing songs. During this time, they came up with efforts like “Give It a Whirl!” with its almost hypnotic beat, and also a tune called “Nationwide Love.” Of course, “Misunderstanding” was becoming their top original song, and they were constantly improving on it.
The Crees decided to enter an important local band battle in late September. The event, sponsored by Karnes Music, would also feature other local favorites. At this point, Chuck enlisted the help of his friend Dan Meller, who had occasionally sat in on keyboards with the group. Chuck knew that musical performance and audience reaction were not the most important criteria of the judges in the contest. Just as important was that each band stick as close as possible to the time limit of five minutes. It was Dan’s job to indicate by hand signal to Larry when the five-minute mark was approaching.
Most of the bands went on before the Crees and exceeded the time limit, because they either played more than one song, or else they chose to play a song that was too long. The Crees got around this by launching into a blues jam on Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” complete with drum solos and guitar feedback. Four minutes and 45 seconds into the tune, Dan gave the signal for Larry to cut it off. The ending was smooth. The Crees probably had little inkling of what would happen next, but they were at least satisfied that they’d given it their best shot.
When the announcement came that the Crees has indeed won, about 15 other bands were suddenly numb with incredulous disbelief. Winning the battle meant that the group had won a huge trophy, a chance to play at the grand opening of the new Karnes Music store in Niles, and some free studio recording time. “It took a while to sink in that we’d finished first, but more importantly, this thing kept us together when we were on the verge of breaking up.”
In October, the Crees entered the studio to wax their first record. It was a DIY project. “Misunderstanding” was cut real hot; it was all cymbals, Soto’s raw vocals, and Roy’s breakneck guitar rave-up. An extremely chaotic rocker, “Misunderstanding” would fit in well today with the songs of Bohemia, Special Affect, the Odd, etc. The flip side of the record was a ballad called “Lookin’ at Your Picture.” Though not nearly as interesting as “Misunderstanding,” it was still a good contrast to the plug side. Roy and Larry were sure that between these two, there was a hit song.
Unfortunately, the members of the group had very little knowledge of how to promote their record, and their distrust of any kind of business advisor prevented them from seeking the help they needed. The decision was then made to try to sell the record to a major label, but there was no way to do that since the band had no connections. By trying to handle everything themselves, the Crees just made their own problems worse.
Jobs were few and far between, and tensions were beginning to build within the band again. They ended up constantly quarreling with one another. The split finally came during the spring of 1967.
Chuck George attempted to keep the band going. But with Roy and Larry, the principal songwriters, gone, the Crees were unable to play any of their original tunes, and they came up with virtually no new ones. They struggled through personnel changes over the next year or so.
As far as the record went, the Crees had pretty much given up on it. They had made the rounds of several local radio stations during the summer of 1967. It did receive some airplay on WNWC, but none of the major AM outlets ever got a chance to hear it, so it never made it to a major label like the group had wanted. Since the present version of the band did not play it anymore, the decision was made to let it slide.
The trouble with the Crees during their last days was that their dreams were always too far ahead of their abilities to realize them. Without proper rehearsals, they could not hope to improve enough to tackle their new material.
It all came to a head during the fall of 1968. Dan and Chuck both had steady girlfriends, and they had to arrange their schedules to fit in time for daytime jobs, love life, and the band; too bad that that was the way they set up their priorities. That ultimately spelled the end of The Crees.
Meller finally gave up on rock music and began concentrating on his other love—electronics. In late 1974, Pete and Dan helped form XZLNY, which later became Malchick, a band that gave us Gary Ritchie of Loose Lips. Dan would go on to become a part owner of Durty Nellies Pub (when it was in its original location) in Palatine.
Moving forward to 2021, surprisingly The Crees lone single has not been lost. The Mojo-Bone Rekkids label has unearthed the record and re-issued it…with a picture sleeve! (www.facebook.com/profile/100066580747013/search?q=crees) Long live The Crees. (Thanks to Jeff Lind’s History of Chicago Rock for assistance on this story.)
Discography
1967 Misunderstanding b/w Lookin’ at Your Picture (International Recording Company Demo 001)