JEFF AND THE RF'S; AN ALTERNATE REALITY (OR HOW IT REALLY WASN'T)
The story of Jeff and the RF's began in the suburban Washington community of Seahurst, near Burien, where brothers Jeff and Ron Fowler were born in 1947. Ron was obsessed with music as a child. Jeff was more interested in cookies. At the age of 6, Ron got his first drum set. Jeff got a year's supply of Oreos. At 10, Ron switched to guitar, Jeff to Chips Ahoy.
Jeff was not without interest in music, though. By the time he was in 5th grade, Jeff could play any current hit - on his turntable. He began mixing rock 'n' roll records with taped "sampling" and scratching, creating a style later to be recognizable as rap. When Jeff tried to take this music to the stage, he flopped. No one wanted to pay to watch Jeff scratch records and change tapes. So he recruited drummer Keith Olsen, bassist Ricky Hempill, singer John Chapman, and guitarists Paul Dauron and Kelly Stanley. Billing themselves as "the Raccoons", they played school dances in Seahurst.
Meanwhile, twin brother Ron Fowler was delivering papers for the Seahurst Times, while attending school (Jeff had already dropped out of school in 6th grade). Ron did some singing with school friends on talent shows, but was looking beyond the confines of Seahurst Elementary for other opportunitities in music. Jeff, who was hungry for success, knew a good thing when he saw it, and got his kicks by offering Ron a box of Twinkies to join up.
While based in Seahurst, the Raccoons recorded a single, "Hit Song", which wasn't. Graffitti Record label owner thought "the name Raccoons sounded like a bunch of bandits", so he changed their name to "Jeff and the RF's". "I'm a Rapper" became their first hit several months later, just as Jeff was sent to prison for dealing Coke (although he preferred Pepsi)). Notorious Seahurst bully Tom Smart filled in for Jeff on tour.
After serving a year of his sentence, Jeff was released, the drug charge having been proved false. Ron was working at the Seahurst Handy-Mart as a box boy, but Jeff lured him back to music with two boxes of Twinkies. Jeff recruited new band members to play high school dances around Burien: Toby Burrill (bass), Jimmy "James Earl" Coin (drums), and Todd Hutchison (guitar). With Jeff on piano, and Ron singing, the group returned to the stage.
The new and improved Jeff and the RF's dropped the rap crap, and became the ultimate party rock band, playing teen dances, parties, anywhere they could attract anybody. KOL disc jockey Bob Hartley became their manager, booking them all over the Northwest. Their performances usually ended with Jeff jumping over his piano into the audience, and Ron jumping off the balcony. The hospital bills were enormous.
In 1963, guitarist Paul "Pauline" Savanka joined up just in time to miss the recording session for "Party Everyday". According to Jeff, "we recorded it in an underground bunker on a Friday night. It cost us $10 for an hour, but we had the song recorded within five minutes, so we sat around for 55 minutes trying to think of another song to record. Then suddenly, we heard this awful noise coming from the studio next door. It was the Kinksmen (rival Burien band) recording the same song!"
Ron Fowler remembers it differently: "It wasn't a bunker, it was a foxhole. Ithink it was a Saturday afternoon. We were walking in as the Kinksmen walked out. When we started to play the song, the engineer said 'hey, that other band just recorded this'!"
Jeff & the RF's' "Party Everyday" became a Northwest hit, going to #1 in Seahurst and Burien, but the Kinksmen's raucous, drunken version outsold it nationally. Manager Bob Hartley released the RF's version on his own homegrown record label RC Records, until national label Columbia River stepped in with an offer of $35,000 and 100 boxes of Twinkies. Soon the band was mired in a controversy over the supposedly dirty lyrics to "Party Everyday". According to Ron, "Nobody ever really learned the lyrics, so people made up their own. I learned the lyrics I sang from Large Bill and the Denominations (local R&B legends)". Some record stores put warning labels on the record, stating "Explicit Lyrics - Listen Closely!"
Jeff and Ron co-wrote a sequel to "Party Everyday" titled "Two Party System", a top ten hit for the group in the NW. These were the kinds of songs Jeff branded "junk rock". Jeff: "Junk rock is anything with just three chords in it, a good danceable beat, and stupid lyrics that nobody pays attention to!" The group even attempted to start a new genre, "bug rock", with their song "Roach Motel". Ron: "That was about some of the crummy motels we had to stay in while touring."
In 1965, Richard Clarkbar caught the band's live act in Burien, and asked them to be the house band on his daily afternoon show "High Action". The show turned Jeff & the RF's into stars overnight. The daily program featured the group playing in exotic locations all over the Northwest - on the beach at Seahurst Park, along the Columbia River Gorge, atop of Mt. Rainier, anywhere the cameras could go. "Tales to Here" became the first of a string of hits. Ron: "Jeff and I wrote that in the alley between sets at the Spanish Castle".The followup, "Heidi", was a rocker in the style of Little Richard and Chuck Berry, which cracked the national top twenty.
The lineup at this time was:"Jammin'" Jeff-keyboards;"Rockin'" Ron-vocals/rhythm guitar; Steve"STEVEN!!" Youngs-bass/vocals;Jimmy "James Earl"Coin-drums/vocals; and Paul "Pauline" Savanka-lead guitar/vocals. This lineup, considered by many to be the definitive or classic RF's, was in fact, only together for two years - give or take a season. Tours became pure pandamonium as they rode the rocket to success. Steve Youngs endorsed Hofner bass guitars, Ron promoted Fender Strats, and Jeff bought stock in Nabisco,and married his longtime girlfriend Susie Boo. Ron began dating the beautiful Melinda Sheldahl, while Steve was often seen with the equally lovely Leslie Patten.
Columbia River Records producer George "Jay" Donahue worked with Ron on a string of hits from '66 to '67, beginning with "Summertime Love" and "Here Come the Two RF's". Donahue:"We began writing together, collaborating, and from time to time I would bring in a session player to help fill out the sound of the group."
Ron claims "Donahue was very important to the sound of our records, he liked to try new ideas, new sounds." Ron also states that "Jeff stopped coming into the studio after "Heidi". He was too busy setting up the tours with Bob Hartley, managing our money, he still got 20% royalties on all our songs, even though he wasn't writing with me anymore."
According to Jeff, "that's not true. I was there for most of the sessions, but sometimes I would walk down the street to the grocery store to get some cookies and pop, and when I came back, they had finished the song without me. That made me mad." Hartley adds "Jeff was married,with a family to take care of,so his time was more limited than the other guys'."
The schedule Jeff and the RF's kept in the years 65-67 was punishing. If they weren't on the road playing concerts, they were on location, taping segments of "High Action". If they weren't doing either of those things, they were in the studio, trying to meet the commitment of 2 albums a year, along with 3 or 4 singles.
One particularly notable show was when the Rolling Boulders opened for the RF's in Seattle. Ron: "Their lead singer had a very long microphone cord, so he could go take a wizz in the men's room while singing. Jimmy and I thought that was stupid, so we cut the cord to his mic! What a shock!"
Jeff and the RF's enjoyed two wild years at the top before crumbling under the pressure. "High Action" was cancelled in spring '67 by the network and replaced by Vietnam war reports. Hits like "War Games", "Earthquake", "Work for the Money" and "Sanctuary-No Date for the Prom" were recorded between tours in the few spare hours the band had left. The nonstop schedule frazzled everyone's nerves, resulting in considerable tension between members. During a show at the Seattle Center Coliseum, guitarist A. J. "Albert" Thordarson (who had replaced Savanka) kicked over Jimmy Coin's drums. Coin responded by throwing a cymbal at Thordarson. Guitarist Paul Savanka joined in the fracas by smashing his Vox 12-string on both their heads. Jeff broke up the fight by pouring Dr. Pepper on the squabbling RF's. The next day, they were gone, and replaced by three new RF's: David Shrewsburry - lead guitar; Chuck DeLauro - bass; and Pat Wyman - drums.
1968 saw Jeff and Ron hosting a new Saturday morning tv show, "Sup?". The show was aimed at youngere viewers, and featured many of the popular bands of the day. It also gave Jeff plenty of room for his corny jokes and to promote cookies. Frequent guests included Ron's girlfriend, Susan Cowbell, of the Cowbell's singing group (known for their hit "More Cowbell").
By this time, the band was being billed as "Jeff and the RF's featuring Ron Fowler", as the sound became more studio oriented. Ron took over as producer of their records, beginning with the classic "Making Dreams Reality". Ron: "It was the biggest production up to that point on our records. I used five different guitar tracks, two basses, keyboards, I recorded them in sections - a verse, a chorus, another verse - I wasn't sure it would hold together, but it did."
The new band members were gradually integrated into the sessions, while Jeff worked on setting up the endless tours. Jeff: "Bob Hartley had to quit managing us, he got into auto racing, and he just didn't have time for us anymore. It was okay, I had always done a lot of the business side of things anyway."
Jeff wasn't too happy with some of the records Ron produced in this period. "They spent too much time in the studio, it got ridiculous." Ron says "Jeff would call in during a session and say 'how's it goin'?', I'd say 'it's goin' good Jeff, we're making your part sound real good'". Songs like "You Really Get to Me", "You're Such a Pretty Girl", "The Airplane Song" and "Wall of Silence" kept the band in the top 40 in 1968-69.
It was also a time in which group members recorded as solo artists - Ron as a soft rock singer/songwriter, guitarist David Shrewsburry as a folk singer, and new bassist Chris Johnson as a hippie screamer. Ron: "I have to give Jeff credit for that. I had always sung slower, ballad material in our shows, and Jeff said 'why don't you record some of those types of songs on your own?'". Jeff confirms this story, saying "I hate slow songs! I figured Ron could do that stuff on his own time!"
When they weren't in the recording studio, or the television studio, Jeff and the RF's featuring Ron Fowler kept up a steady touring schedule throughout 1968 and '69. This included their first trip up to Canada, opening for the Five Man Electrical Bank. Jeff: "That was like, our first trip up north, eh? It was like, too cold to go anywhere between shows, eh, so I just stayed in my hotel room, like, drinking beer and eating back bacon, eh?" The RF's also did a memorable show in Seattle, playing after a Seattle Pilates game. Jeff:"Now I know why they call it the 7th Inning stretch!"
Five years of hit making ended when "Sup?" was cancelled in late '69, and they began billing themselves as just "The RF's". Jeff: "That was Ron's idea. He thought the name change would help us win the FM audience. It was stupid! I just wanted to play the songs, Ron was too obsessed with image."
Ron: "We got stuck with this bubblegum image because of "Sup?". I wanted to show everyone that the RF's could be as noisy and tuneless as all the underground bands." The RF's "College" album got great reviews, but suffered disappointing sales. The failure was only compounded by the success of Ron's solo records "One More Chance" and "Where You Belong". Jeff: "The name change confused everyone. People thought it was the RF's without me or Ron."
In 1971, the RF's bounced back with the #1 hit "Safe from Harm". Ron: "The RF's needed a new single, so I recorded a couple songs, and Jeff chose that one." Jeff personally promoted the single by riding his ten speed bicycle to radio stations across the country and offering dj's boxes of chocolate chip cookies in exchange for airplay. Jeff: "It was our biggest hit ever. I bought myself three bakeries with the royalties."
Drummer Pat Wyman had left the band by this time, to pursue a career as a session man. He played for several years with the team of Hamilton Joe and Frank Reynolds. Jimmy Coin returned to the band as Wyman's replacement. The followup to "Safe From Harm", "Love Song", made the top 20, and it seemed the RF's were back on top for good. Their first single of 1972, "Old Record", barely made the top 30, though, and the album of the same name was a commercial failure. David Shrewsburry saw the writing on the wall, and left the band in 1973 to pursue his career in folk music full time. Shrewsburry was replaced by Dave Park. Bob Ritter was added on pedal steel guitar, along with Rob Jones, terrible drummer. The RF's shows moved from hockey arenas and stadiums to clubs and state fairs, as their records fell off the charts.