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The Preachers Thanks go to Mike Dugo for this interview with Rudy Garza that he did a few months ago for his web site 60sgaragebands.com An Interview With Rudy Garza Of The Preachers By Mike Dugo   60sgaragebands.com Some may be surprised to learn that the Preachers, the band best known for releasing the scorching cover of “Who Do You Love?” were also responsible for releasing the equally great “Just Don’t Complain” by John English and the Lemon Drops. Dionysus Records will shortly release a 10” EP containing both songs, as well as the rest of the recorded output of the band. In order to commemorate the release, Keyboardist and group leader Rudy Garza kindly shared his story with 60sgaragebands.com. 60sgaragebands.com (60s): How did you first get interested in music? Rudy Garza (RG): I grew up in a musical family. My dad played guitar - Classical and Mexican folk music. My mother studied opera. I became interested in the piano after hearing someone play “Boogie Woogie” and started studying at the age of about 10. This was about 1950. I studied pop music (Hoagie Carmichael) and advanced to Jazz. I was not a rock and roll fan because the piano parts were too simple. I studied with a couple of black piano players and became interested in a very funky blue's style of piano. 60s: Was the Preachers your first band? RG: In my late teens I had several dance bands. We played mostly jazz and no rock and roll. The band was called the SJQ, which stood for Semi Jazz Quintet. During my college years I always had a jazz band. Usually it was piano, bass, drums and sometimes a guitar. The Preachers came after college and lasted about two years 60s: How did you come to join the band? RG: After I got out of college in 1964, a friend of mine named Dick Monda (of “Daddy Dew Drops” fame) called me and told me about a back up band that was being put together that needed a piano player. I had just received a BS in Physics and found that the Aerospace industry was in a recession so I couldn't find a job. Playing the piano for money sounded good to me. 60s: Who were the other members of the Preachers? RG: At the first rehearsal I met Hal Tennant who played lead guitar. He also had just graduated from college. Zeke Camarillo (Jim) played bass. Richard Fortunato played rhythm guitar and sang lead vocals. Zeke and Richard had played in other bands together. I don't think we had a drummer yet. I can't remember the name of the singer we were going to back up. After a couple of rehearsals we decided to fire the singer and just go to work as a 5-piece band. We then found Steve Lagana playing in a beer bar. He had just the drum style we needed. These are the guys I think of when I think of The Preachers: Rudy Garza, piano and leader; Hal Tennant, lead guitar; Richard Fortunato, vocals and rhythm guitar; Zeke Jim Camarillo, bass; and Steve Lagana, drums. 60s: Where type of gigs did you land at the start? RG: We started out playing in beer bars in Manhattan Beach. There wasn’t much money but we always worked. 60s: Aside from the beer bars, what other clubs did you play in? RG: We played at the Casbah in Canoga Park for about one year. We did play occasionally on the Sunset Strip but I can't remember the names of the clubs. We might have played at Gazzari’s next to the Whiskey A-Go-Go. There was another club closer to the heart of Hollywood that we played in but the name eludes me. We packed the house wherever we played so we tended to stay in one club for a long time. We had a long stint at a club near LAX called Herman Hovers. This gave us some stability and allowed us to survive while working in the studio. 60s: What other local bands of the time do you recall? RG: In 1964 and 1965 there were many bands coming up. Most of them didn't work as much as us because they insisted on playing their own music. They were smart because it allowed them to develop their own style. The preachers played everybody's music so the development of our own sound came slowly. We sounded very much like the Rolling Stones. Some of the bands I knew were the Seeds, Love, Leaves, Byrds, and the Righteous Brothers. Most of these (bands) were very slight acquaintances. 60s: Did you share the bill with any of these bands, or any other national acts? RG: The only ones I can remember are the Byrds, Glenn Campbell, Jackie De Shannon, Seeds, Bobby Fuller Four, and Bobby Sherman. (There’s others but) I can't remember. 60s: How popular locally did the Preachers become? RG: We were very popular in the San Fernando Valley. And most of the Hollywood bands knew us and expected us to have our turn at a hit record. 60s: Did you have a manager? RG: We did acquire a manager named Jerry Fonarow. He came from a very prestigious management firm called "Management of Artists." He decided to go out on his own and thought the Preachers were a good bet. I believe a friend of his heard us at a beer bar in Manhattan Beach and brought him down to hear us. 60s: The Preachers appeared on SHIVAREE, SHEBANG, LLOYD THAXTON, and other television programs. Was Fonarow responsible for landing the band such high profile appearances? RG: Jerry got us a better playing job at Herman Hovers and arranged for all of the TV shows. “The Zeke” was reviewed on AMERICAN BANDSTAND. Some kid said he liked the melody (?). We had already signed with Moonglow Records. They had the Righteous Brothers so we thought it was a good place to be. 60s: What led you to Moonglow Records? RG: My friend Dick Monda had worked with Ray Maxwell (President of Moonglow) on some record productions. He introduced us to Ray. LINKS PAGE   page created with Webpage Designer (NS)