Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Powder was a great band from the mid-sixties, in the United States. They were a 'mod' band in true Who style, and of course, they used 'Rickenbackers'. Although there aren´t a lot of pictures of them out there, I have a couple, and they show at least a 330 and a 360. For those who might be interested, there was a Cd comp in 'Distorsion Records'. Worth a listening if you like the early Who (1965-1967) and the Townshend´s Rick Sound.

Great band. My favorite song on the release is "Gladly". After Powder, Rich and Tom Martin formed the band, Thomas & Richard Frost. The unreleased album was released on the UK Rev-oia label in 2002. Pretty cool late 60's pop.

I've since Rich Martin front a new lineup of Powder twice, here in San Francisco, and they were great!

I also have two still-unreleased Powder tracks in my collection that I got from someone involved with the Powder CD.

Glenn: What about the unreleased tracks? Are they good?

The tracks I have are "Alone," which is from the same Gold Star acetate that most of the CD is mastered from. The song stinks. It's more of a dirge than a song!

The other one is an alternative version of "Do I Love You" that is superior to the one on the CD, IMO! For one thing, the drums are much louder in the mix, which works better.

BTW, the out of print vinyl version of "Biff Bang Powder" has one track not on the CD - the non-vocal backing track for "I Try." There is also an otherwise unavailable Art Collection (pre-Powder) track called "I'm a Boy and You're a Girl" (I think) on a rare 45 put out by Distortions in the early '90s.

Fans of Powder should seek out a Sundazed 45 EP by the Newcastle Five, which was a 1965 folk-rock combo featuring several future Powder members and a teenage Lydia Pense on vocals! Great jangley Rickenbacker 12-string folk'n'roll from Northern California.

Yes, you are right, Glenn, The Newcastle Five was a fab band!