Blues Magoos at the Bowery Electric

Geoff Daking, Peppy Castro, Ralph Scala

The band that would become known as Blues Magoos formed as the Trenchcoats in 1964 in the Bronx, New York. The Trenchcoats performed regularly in Greenwich Village coffee houses and by 1966 changed its name to fit in with the then-current psychedelic trend, first to the Bloos Magoos and soon afterwards to Blues Magoos. The band had a hit song in 1966 with "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet," but for the most part disappeared a few years later. Blues Magoos released its first album in more than 40 years, Psychedelic Resurrection, on October 14, 2014. Blues Magoos presently consists of two original members, Peppy Castro (born Emil Thielhelm) on vocals and rhythm guitar and Ralph Scala on vocals and keyboards, one near-original member, Geoff Daking, on drums, and new members Mike Ciliberto on lead guitar and Peter Stuart Kohlman on bass.

Gene Cornish of the Rascals introduced Blues Magoos at a record release party tonight the Bowery Electric. Other 1960s musicians were in the audience, including Carmine Appice of Vanilla Fudge and Jay Black of Jay & the Americans. Castro joked about how the band was back after taking a 47-year break. Although individually each member matured into other types of music over the years, on this occasion they were back to playing songs from the 1960s. Most of the songs were from their early albums (and many re-recorded for the new album), including "Rush Hour", "Pipe Dream", "There's a Chance We Can Make it", "(We Ain't Got) Nothing Yet" and "Tobacco Road." The set also included two 1960s covers, the Seeds' "Pushin' Too Hard" and Them's "Gloria." Castro told 50-year-old anecdotes and sang well; Scala did not sing as well, but played the familiar organ runs nicely. Did this bluesy garage rock stand the test of time? Probably not, but it was fun to revisit the days of black lights and lava lamps without actually having to get all that stuff.