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The Checkerlads
Baby Send for Me / Shake Yourself Down - 7"
Gaiety - 1966
Michael Panontin
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In their March 11, 1967 issue, RPM featured a front-page story on two of Regina's hottest bands. "Are the White Nights the most popular group in Regina, or are the Checkerlads on top of the heap?" the trade magazine queried its readers. And while the answer was pretty much a wash ("You might get 5000 teenaboppers who vote for the Nights but you won't have any trouble getting 5000 who prefer the Lads.") the common denominator in the equation was the manager they shared in Joe Vargo.
The Checkerlads originally formed as a quartet in 1963 (with singer/bassist Amie Sanns, guitarists Bob Stevens and Larry Reich, and drummer Harvey Frasz) but it was not until they decided to add Bob Edwards on organ that things started to take off for the group. They toured many of the US centres, ending up in Hollywood, where Vargo managed to score the Lads some recording time at Gary Paxton's LA studio.
Their first disc for Don Grashey's Gaiety imprint was their self-penned Rolling Stones clone 'Baby Send for Me', which was issued in September 1966. It may have seemed like the better of the two tunes and the obvious choice for the a-side, but it was the frantic flipside that managed to climb up the charts. 'Shake Yourself Down', with its cheeky pilferage of 'Louie, Louie', was picked up locally by radio stations CKCK and CJME before entering a number of charts throughout western Canada. The record also found its way onto Vancouver's CFUN 1410 Canadian Runners-up chart for the week of October 29th.
South of the border, the suits at RCA Victor obviously took note, reversing the two sides for the U.S. release. In fact RPM noted that "the record caused such a flurry in the US that the group signed a six-year contract with Rea for releases in the United States." What happened to that contract is anyone's guess. Though the Checkerlads would issue two more singles up here in Canuckistan ('Behind Ev'ry Man' on RCA Canada International and 'The Dreamer' on Gaiety) it seems they never did manage another release south of the border.
(Near-mint copies of 'Baby Send for Me' will set you back three bills on either label, but the holy grail is definitely the ultra-rare picture sleeve that came with Gaiety promo pressings.)
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