Bill Donati spent the 60s as drummer in The Goatdancers before recording Beatlesque solo material compiled in ‘Never Like This’. He shares his memories with Jason Barnard of the group, the Memphis music scene and Ardent recordings.
Can you tell me about history of The Goat Dancers?
We started as Lawson and Four More, we released two singles on the Ardent label. Jim Dickinson, our producer and manager, was a charismatic local legend. As time passed, the Four More began moving in a wilder direction with Terry Manning as the driving force. Bobby Lawson was our front man, but we began modeling ourselves on The Who. Terry and Bobby almost got in a fight one day, and I knew that was it. The Goat Dancers were born, a name bestowed by Dickinson referring to early Greek drama: those who wore goat skins and sang and danced in honor of the god Dionysus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQA4EM9g-9Y
Dickinson loved anything different, and we were indeed unique for the time. Jim called our sound “freakout music.” We were not a dance band but more of a show band. We had looped sound effects, odd voices, and British songs like “Night of Fear” by The Move. We were set to be the hot Ardent band. Dickinson was also producing The Wallabys, a British-style group fronted by Alan Palmore, a terrific songwriter.
What was the Memphis music scene back in the 60s to early 70s?
In the mid-sixties in Memphis, every Saturday night was rock and roll night. Schools hired rock bands for teens to enjoy (and stay out of trouble). At age 14, I was able to hear great local bands like Tommy Burk and The Counts and The Blazers. Those guys were my heroes. There were a lot of private parties with bands, fraternity and sorority events, and church sponsored nights.
So when The Beatles rocked America in February 1964, the music scene in Memphis exploded, and I was already in a band. George Klein, Eivis’s close friend and the most popular radio personality at the time, hosted a television show every Saturday afternoon called Talent Party.
Big name stars were guests like Jackie Wilson. Nothing was live. All the songs were prerecorded, but George had local bands on the show. In fact, that’s how Lawson and Four More was discovered. We made a recording of The Zombies’ “You Make Me feel Good” at Sonic Studio owned by Roland Janes, the guitarist on Jerry Lee Lewis’s famous Sun records, and the tape was heard by John Fry. Wow! We got to make records!
The Yardbirds were our idols. We met them when they were on tour with Gary Lewis and The Playboys, and Brian Highland. Jeff Beck had just quit the band and Jimmy Page was playing lead. The Goatdancers drove to see them in Martin, Tennessee.
The Goatdancers at Ardent Studios, 1967, Bill Donati (far left) from High Ground News
We got back stage and, lo and behold, they had a few days off, and asked if they could hitch a ride to Memphis, a city they had to see. I sat between Jim McCarty and Chris Dreja. who dozed off just like Keith Relf in the front seat. Jim McCarty and I chatted all the way to Memphis, and it was eye opening. He said life on tour was rough and Epic owed them money.
Terry was in the car with Jimmy Page, and we all met up at Ardent. Jimmy told us he wanted to record in Memphis and wanted to fuse classic Memphis rockabilly with his own sound. He and Terry became good friends. Terry invited him to mix Led Zeppelin III at Ardent in 1970 and Page came. The mention on the album made Ardent famous.
I attended both shows when The Beatles performed in Memphis. I’m sitting directly behind the stage with a security guard behind me. I was leaning over the rail begging Ringo for a drumstick and was threatened with ejection. Terry Manning is sitting next to me.
Bill’s drum logo from The Goat Dancers
So what is the recorded output of The Goatdancers?
“Patches of Dust,” our masterpiece, was released decades later when Alec Palao, arrived at Ardent and John Fry let him go through the archives. Alec released two compilations on Ace/Big Beat (UK) – Thank You Friends: The Ardent Recording Story and Feeling High: The Psychedelic Sound of Memphis. Alec put The Goat Dancers on the cover of the latter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfCJPHhRgAw&t=84s
Why did The Goatdancers split?
Unfortunately, Dickinson and Fry could not come to terms on a contract, and Jim walked out of Ardent leaving all of the tracks on the shelf. Jim wanted us to sign with him, but Terry and
guitarist Joe Lee worked at Ardent and hesitated. The band just faded. We were all in college. Terry got married, and that was it. I played drums at Ardent on a lot of different songs and radio
jingles, too. For a while, John Fry lost interest in releasing original material. He only wanted a high class rental studio.
Dickinson became a noted studio musician and played piano on “Wild Horses” for The Rolling Stones and played on Bob Dylan tracks as well.
So much unreleased material at Ardent just collected dust until Ace Records (UK) archivist Alec Palao walked into Ardent and brought great music to light. Alec arranged the release of Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story and Feeling High: The Psychedelic Sound of Memphis with The Goatdancers on the cover. These CDs sell around the globe – from Europe to Thailand. Yes, Big Star was a fine band, but Ardent had a lot of great music from The Goatdancers and The Wallabys, too.
And what did you do next?
After The Goat Dancers disbanded, Chris Bell began hanging around Ardent. Terry said Chris was starting a band, so I went to Ardent and spoke to Chris, but he didn’t say much. Terry began recording with Alex Chilton, who had international success with The Box Tops, and Big Star eventually was formed.
As for me, I was a drummer but studied piano. I had my own songs. When John Fry built the second Ardent on Madison Avenue, I was one of the first to record there in January 1972.
Big Star was recording, too. I saw Chris Bell and said hello, but he just walked past without saying a word, which in Memphis is pretty damn rude.
Joe Lee and I had rehearsed and rehearsed “Never Like This.” Terry set up the sessions and played bass on the song. Right when I was ready to sing for the first time, Alex Chilton walked into the control room and stared at me. I could read his lips, “What’s Bill doing out there?” Well, that was unnerving, but I went ahead and sang the lead and the harmony parts as well. When we were listening to the playback in the control room, I turned to see Chris Bell standing in the doorway. He nodded his approval and disappeared.
Joe Lee
Can you tell me more about the writing and record of those tracks?
My band mate Terry Manning, who later became an engineer and producer, plays power pop guitar on “Catherine.” My song “Never Like This” is a dynamite song with Joe Lee from The Goatdancers driving it.
Never Like This, the CD is mainly sixties-seventies music, with tracks like “If You’ve Nothing to Lose” and “I’m Not Saying.” Terry played power pop guitar on “Catherine” and the song has a seventies feel. Terry and I played some tracks for John Fry who was extremely busy with opening the new studio, but he never offered me a contract.
I had my sights on Los Angeles. I enrolled in UCLA, but I took my songs to various labels. I called A&M Records and asked if they would listen. Sure, bring it over. It was formerly Chaplin’s film studio. A guard told me to go upstairs and put the tape on a desk “and be back in two minutes.” Upstairs there was a huge desk piled with packages and tapes. They listened and sent me a nice rejection form. Another reject letter said my music was dated. Led Zep was rocking the world by then.
You recorded ‘Nuclear Surfer’ about 10 years later.
Yes, it in 1982 and we shot footage at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. The “rock video” was directed and developed by my friend Ben J. Harrison. We shot with Panavision cameras and film, not videotape. MTV and The Cutting Edge, two popular venues sent it back. Although it was just satire, one guy at The Cutting Edge show said they were afraid their investors in nuclear power might take offense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ldS8gTtHE
I decided to release my early songs in 2007. John Fry transferred everything from tape to digital for me at no charge just like in 1972. By this time, Big Star was a European sensation with their
great songs. I practically begged Fry to restart the Ardent label full scale again, but he wasn’t interested.
In Las Vegas I wrote new songs and have recorded over 40 tracks with guitarist Jimmy Pou, a fabulous Beatles tribute artist who has toured the world as George.
I have a compilation I plan to release soon – Forever Fab – and every song has a sixties feel.
The Forever Fab recordings span a range of eras. When were they recorded?
1972 – “Never Like This”, “If You’ve Nothing to Lose”
1982- “Girl”, “Kiss the Night Away”
2009 – “Byron’s Dream”, “The Way of the World’
2013 – “Be My Girl”, “In Every Way”, “If I Knew’
2016 – “Memphis Garage Kings”, “Baby Got a Beehive”, “I Love Yesterday”
Bill Donati singing Nuclear Surfer
So what did you do outside of music?
I now teach world literature. My PhD was on Byron: The Poetic Canvas. My concentration was British Romanticism. I’ve made the literary pilgrimage to Britain, Italy, Switzerland. The first time I went to Italy my Italian cousins took me to Viareggio, the very beach where Shelley’s body was burned. That is how I developed my interest in biography – by studying the lives of the Romantics. My grandparents came from Lucca, and they ended up in Memphis.
I’m the writer who caught author Charles Higham fabricating information about Errol Flynn with claims that he was a Nazi spy. In Vienna I interviewed Flynn’s friend Dr. Hermann F. Erben, the true source of the controversy. Dr. Erben had been a spy and Higham falsely tied Flynn to Erben.
I wrote the definitive biography of actress Ida Lupino, as well as the definitive investigation of the death of actress Thelma Todd, whose strange death is considered one of Hollywood’s greatest mysteries. I’ve appeared on many television shows like Channel 4 (UK) discussing my books.
Thank you so much Bill for sharing your memories.
Bill’s albums are available on CD Baby. He can be contacted at: bill.donati@gmail.com
