The Leaves

The Leaves were an excellent 60s folk garage rock group from Los Angeles, California. They first got together in 1963. The band members included Jim Pons (bass), John Beck (vocals), Bill Rinehart (lead guitar), and Bob Arlin (fuzztone guitar). The group originally called themselves the Rockwells and started out playing surf and dance music at college fraternity parties. The Leaves eventually secured a regular gig replacing the Byrds as the house band at the popular nightclub Ciro's on the Sunset Strip, where they were discovered by singer/actor Pat Boone and subsequently signed up to their first record contract. The band scored a good-sized local radio hit with the bluesy and funky slow drag number debut single "Too Many People" in 1965. Their hard-thrashing rendition of the often covered classic "Hey Joe" did even better; it was a #1 radio hit on the Los Angeles stations and peaked at #31 on the Billboard pop charts in May, 1966. In fact, the Leaves hold the distinction of being the first rock band to record a version of "Hey Joe." The group appeared on such music variety TV shows as "American Bandstand," "Shivaree," and "Shindig." Moreover, the Leaves pop up as themselves performing the song "In the House of Dr. Stone" in the 1967 comedy feature "The Cool Ones." They released two albums: 1966's "Hey Joe" and 1967's "All the Good That's Happening." Alas, latter singles proved to be unsuccessful and the Leaves broke up in 1967. Jim Pons went on to join the Turtles and played bass for Frank Zappa in the early 70s while Bob Arlin formed the heavy psychedelic rock outfit the Hook.