Well before man set foot on the moon I played in my first band Frankie & The Damons in Raleigh Nort Carolina. Take your time to read the interview from 60sgaragebands AND listen to one of our songs from back then. Songs from this band are even available nowadays on Amazon and iTunes how about that! The 45 RPM records are collectors items these days. Frankie & The Damons Now considered part of the Southern Soul scene, Frankie & The Damons released three highly collectible singles. The group originally formed as a beach music band but evolved into the soul group for which they are best remembered today (Man From Soul). Tenor saxophonist Ben Runkle contributed mightily to the groups sound, and provides the rest of the groups story in this exclusive interview for 60sgaragebands. An Interview With Ben Runkle (February 2012) 60sgaragebands (60s): How did you first get interested in music? Ben Runkle (BR): My mother was the choral director at our church so my first exposure to music was through that. She also possessed a wonderful trained contralto voice and was a beloved and respected teacher of young singers. 60s: When and where was Frankie & The Damons formed? BR: The band was formed in 1966 by Frankie Presnelll who was the drummer, along with Rick Price and Carleen Clayton, a female bassist. They were all in their mid-teens at the time. The band went through several personnel changes, which are apparent in the records we made. As best I can recall, these were the members: Frankie Presnell (drums); Rick Price (guitar, trumpet,vocal); Carleen Clayton (bass); Ben Runkle (tenor saxophone, vocal); Chip Crawford (organ, guitar); John Wilson (guitar); John Carter (bass); Johnny Farmer (bass); Ray Starling (trumpet); Dave Beckley (trombone); Joe Faison (vocal, Bad Woman and My Best Friend); and Howard Exum (vocal, Man From Soul). There were two other guys who sang the background vocals on Man From Soul but I dont remember their names. They, along with Faison and Exum, were students at a black school on Raleigh, Shaw University, while the rest of us were white high school kids. Joe Faison was blind. He and John Carter are deceased. 60s: How would you describe the bands sound? Beach music? BR: Our first two records were definitely Beach. The main influence was a Raleigh band called The Embers. They were older, probably in their twenties, and playing music full-time, I think, by then. Frankies dad knew them somehow and they took a shine to us, even letting us play in their night club despite the fact that we were all under age. Not long after I joined the band, we began paying more attention to the great soul records of the time and began covering some of those hits. It wasnt long before it became apparent that we needed different singers and somehow Howard Exum came along. Meanwhile, the rest of us were soaking up all we could about James Brown and his orchestra, Booker T. & the MGs, The Bar Kays, the Muscle Shoals studio players and Junior Walker. Howard joined the Army soon after we recorded Man From Soul and the other two guys disappeared as well. Then we found Joe Faison and hit our stride as a group, modeling our sound and stage show after the above artists. He was really the only singer at that point but we had a hot rhythm section and a four-piece horn section so we pretty much ruled the area in that style of music. Chip Crawford, only 14 or 15 at the time, was a wonderful organist and wrote out most of the horn arrangements. He played with the Four Tops road band for a few years in the 70s and is now playing jazz piano in New York City. 60s: Where did the band typically play? BR: We played many prom dances in smaller towns and even played a couple of college dances at Shaw. They were big fun because we usually played for white high school kids who were less into the hard core soul as we were. 60s: How far was the bands touring territory? BR: Throughout North Carolina. 60s: Did Frankie & The Damons have a manager? BR: Frankie and Ricks dads took care of bookings and drove us around. 60s: What were the circumstances leading to the bands opportunity to record your 45s? BR: Again, that was Frankies dad at work. Jimmy Thiem owned the best record store in town and knew everybody worth knowing. The most popular deejay was Charley Brown (real name Eddie Weiss) and the three of them figured it out. Charley got Man From Soul played on the radio. 60s: Where did Frankie & The Damons record? BR: The first two were done at JCP Studio which was in the basement of an old movie theater here in Raleigh. It was owned by a local radio personality named Jimmy Capps and was the only studio in town as far as I know. JCP is a story in itself and I imagine there are those who have researched it. 60s: Did Frankie & The Damons write many original songs? Who was the bands primary songwriter? BR: Rick Price wrote and sang Here Comes My Baby, Everybodys Time and I Hope You Find The Way. The last was co-written, I think, with Chip Crawford. Faison and Crawford co-wrote Bad Woman and My Best Friend. I think Exum and Crawford co-wrote Man From Soul. I can say with conviction that I devised the horn parts on the one as played by Rick Price and myself. 60s: Are there any other Frankie & The Damons recordings? Are there any vintage live recordings, or other unreleased tracks? BR: Those are all of the recordings but I do have a cassette recording of the pre-soul group playing on a local TV dance party show. Sure would like to have some of the later stuff. 60s: What was that local TV dance party? BR: That TV show was called Teenage Frolics. The jovial, genial host was named J. D. Lewis and it was broadcast live every Saturday afternoon from the studio of WRAL Channel 5 here in Raleigh. It was for the black kids which made it cool for us, as we were an all white band. Remember, this was 1966 or 1967. The show was sponsored by Royal Crown Pomade. Anyway, that was before we had the singers from Shaw University and recorded Man From Soul so it sounds a bit thin though Rick does pretty well, considering. Honestly, the most entertaining part was J.D.s patter. 60s: Does any home movie film footage exist of the band? BR: There is a short bit of silent b&w movie footage. 60s: What year and why did the band break up? BR: 1969, I think. I left for college in the fall of 68. 60s: Frankie & The Damons are currently highly revered by Southern Soul collectors. When did you first become aware of that scene? BR: I had known for a long time that record collectors were looking for anything JCP but I only learned how popular The Damons are when I ran across Nick Rennies Northern Soul site a few years ago. I was sort of bemused at first but in the end its gratifying that people like the records so much and, upon re-listening, how well they hold up musically. When Jason Perlmutter contacted me about the CD he was preparing for JazzMan I got an even better idea. Its so cool that so many young groups were doing similar things at the time. 60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with Frankie & The Damons? BR: It was fun, big fun, for a tall, skinny white boy to play that music in a good band. I sure didnt mind missing my own senior prom to play at someone elses. Discography Here Comes My Baby / Everybodys Time (JCP 1031) Man From Soul / I Hope You Find The Way (JCP 1057) My Best Friend / Bad Woman (Damons 68002)
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 12:34:08 +0000
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