The
Hassles, Continued
THE
HASSLES, VERSION 2
John
Dizek, Jon Small, Richie McKenna, Howie Blauvelt, Billy Joel
on
the ocean deck of The Barge, Westhampton, 1966
When Jon
Small looked for someone to replace Harry Weber in The Hassles, he
selected the organist from The Commandos, Billy Joel. As was the case
in most of The B-3 Bands, Weber had mastered the bass pedals of the
Hammond, thus negating the requirement of the bass guitar. Billy Joel's
keyboard preference was the pedal-less Vox. Billy wouldn't join unless
his bass player and friend, Howie Blauvelt, came along too.
The best
groups played My House but it seemed that The Hassles played there
enough to be considered the house band. They revelled in their success
when they signed a recording contract with United Artists. John Dizek
remembers,"Billy was always alright with me. We had a ton of fun,
he's a pretty funny guy. He was always so focused--he knew that he
wanted to be a star from the beginning. That always impressed me.
In the beginning, it was all fun. United Artists rented limos for
us to arrive at publicity parties. You know how when limos are stopped
at a light, people try to look in to see who's inside? Only they can't
see in because the windows are tinted? Well, Billy would look right
back at them and yawn. Like,"How boring!" Yeah, right! We would crack
up!"
In spite
of Dizek's warm memories, The Hassles were living up to their name.
Arguments raged continually. Although their first single, a cover
of the Sam & Dave hit, "You Got Me Hummin'"(United Artists 50215,
1967), generated some interest, frustrations surfaced when the album
("The Hassles" United Artists 6631, 1968) did not set the world ablaze.
Howie Blauvelt relieved his pressure by leaving the group and joining
Wes Houston in The Elaine White Band.
Howie Blauvelt, Elaine White, Wes Houston
He
stayed for eight months and returned to The Hassles in time to
record the second album on UA, "The Hour Of The Wolf." For Howie
Blauvelt, it was a well-spent sabbatical. "The Elaine White Band
played nice music. It was a very folkie sound with both Wes and
Elaine on acoustic guitars. Wes wrote the songs. Most of our gigs
were down in The Village...I remember one with Pete Seeger. The
whole experience was like a breath of fresh air for me."
John Dizek
focused on another problem. "Our management was bad. They used us
to support themselves. They kept The Hassles at My House during the
most crucial time. We should have been touring to support our album
which was starting to happen. We never really had the chance to make
it." Johnny Dizek could take no more long nights. At year's end, he
quit the band and rock music forever. With Dizek's departure, a powerful
visual aspect of the group was lost and the role of lead singer settled
on Billy Joel.
The Hassles
second album, "The Hour Of The Wolf" (United Artists 6699, 1969) was
finding an audience in the smoky haze of college dormitories when
the group passed into history. There were problems and conflicts,
jealousies and resentments. The Smalls divorced and Billy Joel became
Elizabeth's new partner. Howie Blauvelt no longer enjoyed the music
nor the atmosphere and he quit the band again, this time for good.
Several months later, after a procession of unsatisfactory replacements,
the remaining Hassles packed it up, too. Jon Small recalls the end
in hard terms. "Billy and I hated the band. We didn't like them or
their playing so we terminated The Hassles. We wanted to continue
to play together so we formed a two-man army called Attila The Hun.
We spent most of our time practicing in the basement of my parent's
wallpaper store in Jericho. We played a bunch of clubs--our best night
was at The Daisy on Merrick Road and Route 110. We got a deal with
Epic and the record came out as "Attila" (Epic 30030, 1970). "Attila
was a minor sensation and garnered good reviews but this album was
their only release. Today, it has considerable value as a Billy Joel
collectible.
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©
Richard Arfin 1987 Revised 2004 All Rights Reserved
