Another notable “Dad” was recently submitted to our sister site, My Dad was in a Band, this time coming from Ynys Allen, son of Gong’s Daevid Allen, whose father, of course is still in a band:

The first time I heard him play? I went on tour overseas with him and my mother when I was around 9 months old does that count? I suppose I’ve heard his music a lot over the years. But when your dad’s recording studio is situated in the non-soundproofed room right next door to your bedroom, I guess you kinda learn to drown it out.

Since he still currently plays I guess he’s not really applicable to the “was,” but because he has been around since before Jimi Hendrix was cool and he’s like mid 70s now, I thought I’d just submit him anyway. He’s been at the core of a whole bunch of bands, Soft Machine and Gong being the most notable.

Growing up with him is probably the reason why I don’t find anything weird in life. Dad has all these crazy drawings he’d done on commission plastered on the walls, he loves all weird things and has the craziest costumes and he’d dress up in them and dance around the living room. It’s been a running joke in my family that he’s 70 going on 17.

Hilariously enough I’m not the musical type at all, my mother is a professional artist and my father a professional musician and I entered university to do a degree in Computer Science. I’ve never really listened to my dad’s music recreationally, I didn’t even really listen to music in my early and mid-teens either, nor am I especially an avid music-fan now. Not that my dad minds all that much really- he’s already got one son in the band.

–Ynys Allen, son of Daevid Allen

Below, Gong on French television’s POP2 program in 1971:
 

 
Shane Snider, offspring of Dee Snider, the lead singer of Long Island’s most notorious hair metal group, Twisted Sister wrote in to My Dad Was In A Band about his famous father:

I’ve been hearing my dad’s music my entire life. As far back as I can remember, on my family’s VCR sat 3 VHS’s, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the movie, ET and Twisted Sister’s music video compilation. I’d watch my father drag Mark Metcalf down the stairs and snarl at the camera without batting an eyelash over and over and over again. It’s weird to think of all the questions I didn’t ask.

I never wondered why he was dressed so funny or why he was beating up this father character. I didn’t even realize the band was wearing anything out of the ordinary. To me, bands were like super-heroes or cartoons, they had outfits they wore all the time, that’s how people knew they were one of the good guys… or bad guys… or group of screaming war-ready up-rising transvestites.

Fun fact: I once was wearing women’s clothing in middle school and when my friend said “Isn’t that a girls shirt?” I said “Maybe… why?” thinking that this was something perfectly normal to be doing. But I was born into my father’s dark years. Twisted Sister was long gone and so was all of his money. My mother did all the make-up, logo and costume design for the band so when it went under, she lost her job too.

My father road his mountain bike to his job working as my uncle’s secretary making just over minimum wage while my mother took care of me and my 2 brothers. Apparently, “rock star” isn’t enough experience to have on a resume to get a decent job. Sometimes my father would would perform with a group called the SMF’s at small bars with maybe 20 people in attendance. Many of which were not there for the show.

I’d watch these shows and wonder what happened. Why wasn’t he dressed like a silly monster anymore? Why isn’t it like the way it used to be? I wonder if my and my brothers’ obsession with the music videos hurt him. A lot of the footage in the videos would be of Twisted Sister performing in packed out houses and coliseums, jamming out on beautiful cars and being rock stars. But under a leaky roof, with a lawn made of dirt and nothing but a station wagon to wash, it was clear there was a large part of my father’s life I just wasn’t around for…. and whatever part that was, it was important.

Part of me wishes I could have seen him in his heyday mostly because I know in that small time span where he was at his peak was always what he had been striving for. Of course he’s better now. He’s making more money, more steadily and he knows how to handle himself in the industry. But I’ll still always wonder what it would have been like to be his son, way back when.

John “Vatos” Hernandez is seated on stool at left behind Danny Elfman

The latest from My Dad Was in a Band, the new blog that we’re co-presenting with Drafthouse Films.

This comes via Rio Hernandez, daughter of John “Vatos” Hernandez, Oingo Boingo’s drummer from 1980 to 1984:

Prior to Boingo, my dad played for Helen Reddy regularly and picked up many shows playing for others, Peter Allen, playing on The Johnny Carson Show, playing at Disneyland, etc. I can’t imagine how many times I saw Helen Reddy play. (MGM Las Vegas, The Midnight Special, et al). My earliest memories of seeing him play live date back to when I was 3 or so. I feel like I grew up carrying parts of his drum kit or standing in the wings.

He joined Boingo back when they were The Mystic Nights of the Oingo Boingo, and I have very vivid memories of seeing them in the beginning as they were very theatrical: Danny would come out dressed as the devil in white tails with glittery red horns. They project reels of old cartoons. At one point they all came out in gorilla suits. So, you can imagine that was pretty thrilling/wild for a kid (I was around 6/7 at this time). I loved their music & the show. Danny was was the first redhead I can recall meeting and I remember that alone seemed weird & intriguing. From that period on it was lots of shows at The Whiskey, The Roxy with tons of great Alt bands, going to the US Festivals etc. Growing up in the music business in the 1970s in Los Angeles (literally growing up), has definitely shaped me.

Below, “Little Girls”:
 

Clarence White, far left.

The latest from My Dad Was in a Band, the new blog that we’re co-presenting with Drafthouse Films.

Today’s entry comes from Michelle White, daughter of Clarence White, guitarist for second iteration of The Byrds:

I was in diapers so I have lots of glitched memories of walking in rooms with overwhelming loud playing, some were parties (of course I was led quickly right back to bed). I do remember coming to an age where I was pointed out certain licks my father did on the guitar that no one else could replicate…. and at times (I am 47) I am STILL blown away…

Clarence White was cut down in the prime of his life after he was struck by a drunk driver in 1973 at the age of 29. The final song that Gram Parsons wrote before his own death, “In My Hour of Darkness,” was in part a tribute to White.