Listen: Ghost Guitars / Baron Daemon & The Vampires
Ghost

Here’s one I never ever hear about anywhere. Not since it came out and I was a kid, until today. Sirius radio are doing a ton of great Halloween programs this weekend, and this popped up on XMU Channel 35. See my screen shot below, apologies, it was sunny and I was driving. I couldn’t believe my eyes nor ears. Damn, I am impressed.

Even Roger Armstrong from Ace didn’t know details surrounding Baron Daemon & The Vampires. Only as a result of his THESE GHOULISH THINGS compilation did I mention them in the first place. So that’s how scarce they and their only single are.

‘Ghost Guitars’ was a very local release in the Syracuse area, I’m guessing around ’64. Lots of cities had their own AMERICAN BANDSTAND record hop programs. Given that Saturday afternoon scary movies were the rage, they were usually tied in with teen music, and in this case, a home town radio personality host done up in vampire gear.

The local guy who did all this was Mike Price. He mc’d the scary movies job, on which Baron Daemon was his alias. And he’s still living there today, having recently retired from WSYR, where he began his career in ’62. During Mike Price’s Syracuse tenure, while doubling as Baron Daemon, he released this single. It’s exactly the kind of record that resulted in The Cramps eventually festering into a top rock and roll band.

Listen: Fooba-Wooba John / The Original Soundtracks
Fooba-Wooba

Snow day in NYC, yes seriously. October and a very out of season, I think they’re called freak snowstorm pounced the region. Which was fine. I love the winter, especially when it goes away the next day. The storm was an excellent excuse to unearth several boxes and do some filing.

Damn, I hadn’t heard ‘Fooba-Wooba John’ in years. So simple and memorable as a kid, the record is hard not to hear if you just close your eyes and recall. Turned up loud, it turned back time.

The Original Soundtracks were local Syracuse guys from the early 60′s. Just listen to the singer’s accent making it easy to spot their geographic location. The stuff sock hops were made of. AMERICAN GRAFFITI right there in our own backyard.

Listen: The Transylvania Twist / Baron Daemon & The Vampires
The

But this jarred my brain in another way. ‘Fooba-Wooba John’ sure did remind me of ‘The Transylvania Twist’, another local single from exactly the same era.

A couple years back, I did a post about ‘Ghost Guitars’, B side to ‘The Transylania Twist’. In it, the very short explanation of Baron Daemon is un-mythed.

Every so often, the garage band or surf bug bites, and ‘The Transylvania Twist’ is an easy grab for either. I recall Baron Daemon & The Vampires appearing on at least one local AMERICAN BANDSTAND type program, decked out in Dracula gear, lip synching it.

A lovingly obvious Ventures instrumental track is all over both the above singles. My suspicions increased. I actually had to A/B the two as suddenly I was sure their backing tracks were one in the same. But alas, not true.

Still, I’m guessing The Original Soundtracks are The Vampires as well. There are too many fits for it not to be, but I’ll most likely never know.