Rebels Without Applause

1982-1983
The band's new recruit on guitar was Steve Wynn who had known Griffin from his days in The Unclaimed, as he was a regular in the audience at gigs. Between the end of 1981 and February '82 the new band rehearsed, doing Griffin originals and covers of The Lovin' Spoonful and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Wynn was simultaneously rehearsing with his own band, though Griffin was more than confident that his band would gain Wynn's patronage in the end. In the meantime, Matt Roberts had been persuaded by Shelly Ganz to re-join The Unclaimed. Lacking a drummer, Griffin forged ahead with his plan for his new band which would reflect his wide-range of musical likes, especially folk and country rock. At this point Wynn's musical ideas began to diverge from Griffin's, and like Griffin before him with Ganz, he found them too great to ignore so he decided to go his own way and ultimately to form The Dream Syndicate.

February 1982 saw Griffin and Shanks as a duo with no drummer or second guitarist. Help was at hand in the form of Gary Stewart, a local record company man who recommended Greg Sowders as a drummer. Sowders was native to LA and had previously played in a ska band The Box Boys who had put out two singles with Sowders at the beginning of 1980. He and Griffin were familiar with each other on a social (i.e. drinking) level and Sowders quickly slotted in to the developing band. After auditions the band took on Stephen McCarthy as a guitarist. McCarthy had been playing in a local country & western band but was looking for something a bit rockier. His response to griffin's advert mentioning Buffalo Springfield and Creedence Clearwater Revival completed the line-up. After discussion with Shanks, Griffin eventually chose a name for the band, after a film he liked. The film company objected to the use of the name, so, with a nod to them and one also to the sixties The Long Ryders arrived on the scene.

No sooner had The Long Ryders begun gigging locally and started to build up a following than they suffered another set back when Shanks this time decided to leave to follow his girlfriend to Texas. He was quickly replaced by Englishman Des Brewer and the band continued to write and gig in and around LA. The band fused folk and country-rock of the sixties with the energy of punk, with a hint of garage and psychedelia into the bargain. With the local press keen to discover the next big thing the Ryders quickly became part of the Paisley Underground, a loose collection of like-minded bands whose sounds evoked the 60s, such as The Bangles and The Rain Parade. This interest in the new bands led to the band's first appearance on vinyl. An Ethan James' produced compilation called The Radio Tokyo Tapes which featured a Stephen McCarthy song Still Get By. This was quickly followed by the appearance of And She Rides on The Rebel Kind.

By the time The Rebel Kind came out in October 1983, The Long Ryders had recorded a mini-album with Earle Mankey as producer. Eclectic wasn't the word for this burst onto the scene, as the 5 tracks demonstrated The Long Ryders' ability to play different styles of music. The band rock on Join My Gang, experiment on the title track 10-5-60 as well as playi ng country and psychedelia on Born To Believe In You and another version of And She Rides. With its' paisley and psychedelic lettering the album stood out as something different from the Paisley Underground, whilst the clothes and the shades were The Byrds circa 1965-6. Check out the 2 photos on the US sleeve and compare them to photos in Johnny Rogan's Timeless Flight biography of The Byrds.

The album was a great success, not only in the States but over here in the UK as well. However, by the time it appeared Des Brewer had vacated the bassist slot, unable to commit himself to touring the US which the band had to if they were to promote their record. (The band used the run-out grooves of the album to advertise for a new bassist). An Australian Don McCall was brought in and the band toured the States to push 10-5-60. But they quickly realised that McCall didn't fit into the band set up, and after heated arguments he was asked to leave. Finally in February 1984, they recruited a guy from Indiana called Tom Stevens. Stevens had been in LA for some time, had even put out his own mini album in January 1983 and was a big Neil Young fan who was brought into the band by mutual friends. At last it appeared that The Long Ryders had found someone who was prepared to put in the hours, realised he was not going to get rich quick and had a similar musical outlook to the rest of the band. In the summer of 1984 the UK magazine Bucketfull Of Brains put The Long Ryders on its' front cover with the headline "The US Invasion Starts Here". The times they were-a-changin'.

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1977-1981	1982-83	1984
1985	1986	1987-Present