Their sound had a definite influence on The Premiers, The Blendells, my band (Mark & the Escorts), and many others. The new version, released on Bob Keane’s Donna label, had Max’s name slightly altered to “Max Uballes.” Bob Keane used the “s” instead of a “z”, as he had done with Ritchie Valens. The Romancers was a short-lived San Francisco vocal group that recorded one session for Dooto Records in Los Angeles and another for the Baytone label in their home town. At this point, Bob Keane wanted to keep Max with his label so Billy and Max went back to Del Fi, where they wanted to be anyway. Max Uballez, went on to form a band in the early 70s called Macondo that made an album of the same name for Atlantic Records. If it hadn’t been for the fact Max couldn’t sing on a record, the classic instrumental album “Do The Slauson” by The Romancers would have never happened. I can only guess that the irate party guest thought Max was trying to steal Ritchie Valens' act. Max was a major figure in East L.A. rock in the mid to late 60s, writing songs for The Romancers, The Premiers, Cannibal & the Headhunters, and The Atlantics. I particularly remember playing right before them at Rainbow Gardens in Pomona, California on a Sunday afternoon in 1964. The Romancers recorded and released six singles for the Linda label, the best and most successful of which was “My Heart Cries.” “My Heart Cries” had been previously recorded by the great Etta James, but The Romancers did a different arrangement, adding beautiful, soaring harmony vocals similar to the Four Freshman or the Beach Boys. He subsequently began to work with younger Chicano artists such as Quetzal, Lysa Flores, and most recently, La Banda Skalavera. These records featured The Romancers with vocals and had a new version of the band. Max was kicked out of The Romancers. I remember doing it first to “Louie Louie” by the Kingsmen when I was in Jr. High School. Mark Murrmann Max changing labels again created legal problems with Magic Circle records. They were also the first East L.A. band to work with Billy Cardenas and Eddie Davis, who went on to record many other Eastside bands throughout the 1960s. Max was involved in the production and/or wrote songs for many recordings by The Romancers, as well as other top Eastside bands. The Romancers got their name from flyers and posters promoting East L.A. dances which read “Dance and Romance” this Saturday night, etc. Swanky band from East Los Angeles helped pioneer the sound later taken up by bands such as Cannibal & the Headhunters and the Premiers. While doing a gig at Rainbow Gardens in Pomona, The Romancers were seen by Eddie Davis who really liked their sound. The Romancers were the first East L.A. Chicano band to record an album and were the main influence of the mid-sixties East L.A. sound. The Slauson, by the way, was an extremely popular dance in East L.A. in the early 60s. Connect your Spotify account to your Last.fm account and scrobble everything you listen to, from any Spotify app on any device or platform. In 1956 the quintet managed to get onto Dootone Records and had two singles released on the label, including the rocker "House Cat". When Andy returned from his hitch in the army, he got married and became a California state plumbing contractor. The release of “You’d Better” launched The Romancers success on the dance circuit. They were one of the first East L.A. bands to record and paved the way for acts such as the Premiers and Cannibal & the Headhunters. These Italian street performers used acrobatic skills and physical comedy to help establish commedia as a genre of theatre by the mid-1500s. On one memorable Del-Fi session, when The Heartbreakers recorded the Frank Zappa song “Every Time I See You,” the Romancers backed them up with Zappa on lead guitar. A new version of Last.fm is available, to keep everything running smoothly, please reload the site. Feel free to contribute! Once Max was playing a gig in Pocoima, California, where Ritchie had grown up, shortly after Ritchie’s passing and caused a near riot when he sang Valens' song “Donna.” A guy who was supposedly related to Ritchie became enraged because Max sounded like Valens. The success of “Do the Slauson” prompted Del-Fi to follow it up with another Romancers instrumental album entitled, “Let’s Do the Swim.” The Swim was another 60s dance craze, which really wasn’t as popular on the Eastside as some other dances. This light-hearted romance is about two young lovers discovering that love can exist without obstacles and the excitement of dange This 1894 comedy in three-acts was translated by Barrett Clark. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. The Romancers began to develop vocal groups as part of their live show, including the aforementioned Heartbreakers and Sisters, The Slauson Brothers (George & John Ochoa), Yolanda Lea, Robert and Rey, and Sal and Margie. (George Ochoa of the Slauson Brothers would become lead singer of my band, the Men from S.O.U.N.D. Andy Tesso’s musical career was cut short when he was drafted and went to Viet Nam in 1965. Max Uballez and lead guitarist, Andy Tesso, have different remembrances on the genesis of the band. The three surviving Headhunters were getting back together and needed a back up band. At the time, he was playing with Cannibal & the Headhunters. He was drafted six weeks before Cannibal & the Headhunters did The Beatles' U.S. tour. Other additions were Johnny Diaz on guitar, Cesar ValVerde on sax, and Ralph Ventura on trumpet, who later sang lead on The Blendells’ recording of “Dance with Me”. The Romancers are most notable for playing on the Premiers' hit "Farmer John." At 14 and 15 years old, we were several years younger than the Romancers and thought we’d played a pretty good set. The Romancers made two albums on Del-Fi Records and a string of singles for Eddie Davis' Linda label. Eddie Davis saw The Romancers play at the Rainbow Gardens in Pomona and he asked them into his studio to record. I was 14 years old. “The Eastside Sound” CD on Dionysus Records (1996) has two Romancers tracks, which are also on the Varese Sarabande set. They were one of the first East L.A. bands to record and paved the way for acts such as the Premiers and Ca #2 Before the Premiers, Cannibal & the Headhunters, and The Blendells, there was The Romancers. We also shared the bill with them at the “West Coast East Side Revue” at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles in 1965. It featured mostly original material written or co-written by Max and was, for the most part, Latin-flavored rock.