champagne- doug duffey & the distracters- the next

champagne:[original members-when i joined]
doug duffey- vocals
bryan armer- guitar/vocals
gene thompson- bass/vocals
gary acklen- keys/vocals
john brown- drums

in monroe, i began working with/ fronting a band called Champagne, which had been around a while and was a successful partyand club band. we worked the louisiana and mississippi club and college circuits. we did almost 90% covers- all the top 40 hits- which was not really what i wanted to do musically...but it was a good band...

we recorded several of my songs at jy studios, which i unfortunately shelved until i could get enough for a complete lp. but, that never happened for various reasons. [but those tracks may get digitized and re-surface online soon]

i eventually left Champagne, taking some of the band with me, and started 'doug duffey and the distracters" - a more rock/new wave oriented band.distractors: [1st version]
doug duffey- vocals
bryan armer- guitar/vocals
larry allen- bass
randy ross- drums

oddly enough, the band eventually changed back to most of the original champagne members. and the spelling of the name changed too...

doug duffey- vocals
bryan armer- guitar/vocals
albert moore- bass
ricky andrews- keys
john brown- drums

other members:
george phillips- keys
paul torbert- guitar

when the eventual demise of DD&TD came, i began 'doug duffey and the next' [since it was 'the next' band] - we were more of a punk/jam/improvisational band, and dabbled in funk, reggae and ska [we were even doing classic rock songs in reggae/ska style]- as well as R&B and rock... and total chaos most of the time.

doug duffey & the next:
doug duffey- vocals/keys
bill dunn- vocals/sax/flute
peter harmon- guitar/vocals
mike starns- bass
george phillips-keys
brent adams- drums

[c]2009 doug duffey

razin' cain [new orleans- late 70s]

razin cain:
doug duffey [vocal/keyboards]
billy gregory [vocal/guitar]
ricky cortes[bass]
jay gernsbacher [drums]

later additional member: harold kelt- keyboards
i left Hollywood and went back to New Orleans around 1976. i hooked up with Billy Gregory [former guitarist of "it's a beautiful day"] and we put razin' cain together. we started out doing the late night shift at 'the absinthe bar' on bourbon street- playing 12-4AM, but moved around town, playing Jimmy's, the Dream Palace, Rosie's, some wild bars in Metairie and Uptown.

this was the first band i'd been in that did 100% original music! i wrote 90% of it, Billy wrote the rest. we were the "enfants terrible " of the french quarter, and a force to be reckoned with. we did high energy funky rock music. we did pretty wild shows, and had a very loyal following. at Deja Vu where we were practically the house band- they even named 'our' [basically my] drink [brandy & peppermint schnapps] after us.

we were being courted by record labels. we did a 6 or 7song band demo at ronnie cole's. Billy ended up going to france working with jacques higelin, then to Milan working with Andy J Forest- and the band- which was supposed to follow- was put on hold... two songs from the sessions wound up on billy's "it's a bluesy day" solo lp. [appaloosa records] songs: "didn't we ramble didn't we roll' [written by me] and "time and money" [written by me and billy]- with me doing the vocals.

we got some great live recordings at Rosie's [a great,but now defunct new orleans club] - and while on the road. have a particularly raucous recording live in Destin.

in 1977 i got a call from george clinton to go to detroit and begin work on my album, which he was going to produce. he flew me up and we recorded several music tracks which i either wrote [which later became "silly millameter" ] or co-wrote [which later became: "one nation under a groove"!]. i am not listed on the alums credits for One Nation-although the music writing sessions consisted of me, gary shider and junie morrison- and i DO i have the daily session cassettes as proof! george and his various children 'supposedly' co-wrote the lyrics to both "songs" later.

although 'one nation' became not only Funkadelic's biggest hit [and has been sampled to death by damned near every rap from 'de la soul' onward- especially the middle section which i wrote!] and 'silly millameter' appeared on george's "you should nuf bit fish" - i never saw anything from either.

i stayed in new orleans doing some solo gigs and putting together some "jam bands" that played locally until 1981...thinking razin' cain would get back together... when we didnt, i moved back home to monroe.
[c]2009 doug duffey

beckett/ smooth cow

beckett:
doug duffey- B3 & vocals
gene pace- bass
robert jackson- drums

beckett started out [late 60s] as a psychedelic jazz type trio. i fashioned the band on brian auger, jimmy smith, jack mcduff, etc- long semi psychedelic jams. we later added horns [vaughn quimby & gene newman*- whom i met when working with the 'earl duke revue'] and changed the name to "smooth cow"- i dont quite get why... now... but it was the 60s- and i was always out to do freaky things, shock, and expand ALL horizons...etc. i think the original drummer was danny barr...

the main significance of this band- although we never did any recordings and not that many gigs [mostly smitty smith's clubs in monroe]- is that it was a 'groovy' little group- and unusal for monroe in that time.

through gene newman and vaugh quimby*, i ended up joining Cotton [in colorado] and meeting george bryan whom i would work with later in little rock [and who is a life long friend]; and robert jackson whom i 1st knew through dabney tannehill [white lightning] in jackson, mississippi, eventually played drums for me in one of the last versions of 'duffey's plantation band' after raymond battillo bailed, and 3 or 4 other drummers came and went.
[c]2009 doug duffey

white lightning- circa 1968-1971

'white lightning' onstage at the exodus- denver- september 1968

me at my vox organ & keybass- exodus denver- 1968 [w/3 packs of marlboro on the organ?] appreciative fans used to put joints & hits of acid and everything else on it! the altar of psychedelia

denver- 1968- promo foto

raymond & doug- outside the exodus- denver-1968

pete, dabney & raymond- denver- 1968

raymond & dabney- the exodus- denver- 1968

raymond & dabney-monroe, louisiana- 1968 or 1969

L to R: raymond battillo, bill dunn, doug duffey, rusty mccraw,

white lighting-post dabney- we were way too crazy for poor rusty

white lighting:

[original members]

doug duffey- vocals/organ/bass [vox organ/key bass- later hammond B3/foot pedals and key bass]
bill dunn- vocals/keyboards/flute and sax
dabney tannehill- guitar and vocals
raymond battillo- drums

later member:
rusty mccraw [guitar/bass/vocals]

white lightning was the "creme de la creme" of the best musicians from the best bands in the ark-la-miss [tri-state area]. we all quit our respective bands to form one 'super group'. we had a vision: to do original music... and some cover music we liked! this was the psychedelic 60s, and we were a VERY psychedelic rock/soul band.

we started out working Monroe-Jackson, getting the thing together, but left Louisiana to seek our fortunes in L.A.- but only made it as far west as Colorado. we lived in Nederland a while w/a family friend of Dabney's- then landed a semi house gig at the Exodus- Denver's hippest music club and moved to the city.

We became a cult band there, and had a great following; people lined up around the block to get in to see us. We were known for VERY long extended jams... ala Traffic/the Doors/Led Zeppelin- a lot of improvisation and theatrics... and Who like destructive chaos as a grand finale. We performed regularly at the Exodus- and in the Colorado area [mostly denver/boulder/fort collins/colorado springs] with trips back to Louisiana, periodically, to do some shows, but were too nuts for the provinces; 60s hippie psychedelic denver/boulder was our oyster

our star was ascending- beginning to get opening gigs for top name acts like 'black pearl' and 'janis joplin'- but due to busts and some members getting strung out- the band folded. dabney [guitarist -and irreplacable in the mix, as any of us were to 'the' band] quit- and we tried to keep it going with rusty mccraw- but it was never the same. dabney was the heart if not the soul of the band.

it's too bad there are no recordings of us. i THINK we did record some demos, but they have vanished. i wrote a lot of the music for the band, but as there are no recordings, i do not remember any of those songs. i have found some lyric notebooks with chords written in them, but the melodies are gone like the band...


[c]2009 doug duffey

thursdays children- circa 1966-1967

when i joined this group- after leaving the secrets- i was maybe 16-17 - the other guys were older and at university. i was under-age to perform in nightclubs in north louisiana, so we mostly played teen centers, coffee-houses, and private parties around Monroe. however, the two guitarists were from south Louisiana [where the laws were not so strict] so we played some nightclubs down there.

we also landed a recurring gig at a very questionable black club in Vicksburg Mississippi down on the riverfront- which had "rooms in the back"- which served the best 'tom collins' i ever had, through a hole in a closet type door! we'd done a party for firemen or something, i had gone back to the motel- the guys were driving around and ended up down on the riverfront [which was all black then];
someone asked if they were a band [tem drove a black hearse w/the band name on the side] -the band hadn't showed up for the club- so they came and got me, and we went and played. it was great. they were surpised to hear a 16 year old white boy belting out wilson pickett, otis etc.

when i turned 18 we began playing nightclubs in north louisiana. we mostly did cover material- hits of the day- which was everything from james brown to the doors!- which was probably the beginning of my life long mix of musical styles. there again, wilson pickett and aretha were singing beatles songs- and the stones and beatles were doing old american blues and r&b
[c]2009 doug duffey

the secrets- circa 1964/1965

the secrets:
doug duffey- vocals/ace-tone organ
mike guidry- guitar vocals
wayne moore- guitar vocals
steve dana- bass
tony dana- drums

this was one of my 1st bands. i don't remember how we ever formed, except that possibly steve, wayne and i met in high school. mike and tony went to catholic high school, but the catholic boys must've known each other from church. we rehearsed in my mama's beauty shop. we played teen centers & school dances & private parties around monroe.... and even did some shows in arkansas. we did covers of hits of the day, which was mostly british bands covering american blues and r&b. [i find that very funny now, considering where we all came from]. i began writing my 1st original music while in this band.

i do remember blowing almost every cent i made from the gigs buying LPs for about 2.49$ each! those were the days!

[c]2009 doug duffey