The New Colony Six | Interview | “Breakthrough”

New Colony Six is an American garage rock band formed in Chicago in 1964 that released several albums. Over the years there were numerous lineup changes. The later albums from the band made a transition to a softer and poppier sound full of harmonies.

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In late 1964, when New Colony Six were passed over by Columbia Records and Dick Clark Productions in favor of Paul Revere and the Raiders for the ABC network TV show Where the Action Is, the father of one of the group members, Ray Graffia, Sr., along with other parents who agreed to help on costs, paid for the recording studio work on the group’s first single, ‘I Confess,’ founded the group’s record label Centaur (later changed to Sentaur and then finally, Sentar). Group was self-managed at the time, later turning to Pete Wright & Howard Bedno, who were active in the promotion of artists in the recording industry at the time. The group’s first album, ‘Breakthrough, ‘on Centaur Records, followed in early 1966. The band’s record distribution was picked up by Cameo-Parkway Records, and their record label changed from Centaur to Sentar on their next album, 1967’s ‘Colonization’. In late 1967, with the acquisition of Ronnie Rice and a new contract with Mercury Records, the band’s recorded presence stepped back from their regional and live concert garage rock image and sound and was promoted by Mercury Records as a “soft rock” band.

“Sheer excitement and great enthusiasm”

Where and when did you grow up?

Ray Graffia Jr.: As the song title tells us, I was “Born In Chicago” but not in 1941, rather March 28th, 1946. On the northwest side of the city and just one main street north of Elmwood Park, IL. Went to grammar school there and, worthy of note is that our 1960 graduation class from St. Celestine included two future New Colony Six members (Pat McBride and me) plus Lee Loughnane, trumpeter in the superstar band for decades, Chicago, from day one and is still there with them! We played basketball at a lot of friends’ homes with bigger driveways and hung around the school yard at times during lunch breaks or before classes began. We knew then how great Lee was as he led all our grammar school parades and played trumpet as we marched around that neighborhood saluting this saint or that one.

Was music a big part of your family life? 

Yes, it was. My family gatherings nearly always wound up with singing – my mom actually appeared (albeit obviously not literally…) on the radio when she was a youngster – girls’ singing group and my dad also had a wonderful voice… except when I was getting chastised for this or that screw-up! My father was the one who heard some music we were rehearsing after a return from part of our summer in CA, living in a 2-flat with Paul Revere & the Raiders before either of us made our marks and neither knew we dressed nearly identically though did know we both were bands trying to make it – long story so maybe later on that! Given this as our final version, why not now? Let’s do it!

When we arrived in CA by plane, we rented a truck and trailer to carry the six of us plus instruments, albeit no amps, along with another high school buddy who was acting as “manager” and another dude who hung around and helped set-ups/takedowns for performances. We rotated who had to ride in the back and developed a really stupidly dangerous game we called “truck surfing.” Those in the trailer had to pretend they were surfing as the others in the cabin weaved a bit to make us fall into the gear. Amazingly, no one ever fell off and into traffic but this is how we made it to/from auditions. Upon completion of one, and because this particular club had such a tiny dressing room without adequate room for us to change, we came back wearing our ‘Breakthrough’ album cover outfits… in costume. Upon entry into the parking lot at the Hollywood Sunset Strip Motel, where we shared a two-flat with another band also in town trying to make their mark, this other group of guys came out in their own outfits: red jackets, white slacks, black boots… but also wearing three-cornered hats! Long story short – it was Paul Revere & the Raiders. They landed Dick Clark’s Where The Action Is and we all took a Greyhound bus back to the Midwest, having failed to even land a recording contract and run out of funds to keep trying – plus freshman year of college was soon to begin. Fast forward many years now… Paul Revere & the Raiders’ and our paths hadn’t crossed closely in decades and we were to play the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, IL, opening for Paul and his current Raiders. As noted at the very beginning of this interview, we STILL matched them in stage gear, albeit this time not in red jackets, white pants and black boots but black, black and black! I was later told that this date was the very last one that the doctors allowed Paul to do so it holds a very dear place in my heart… as did their band and all its wonderful music…sigh! Just two groups hanging around a motel swimming pool and trading gig stories before either band made its mark – and while theirs was surely a much, much larger mark than ours, we began… in a sense… together!

Did the local music scene influence you or inspire you to play music?

Personally, for me, it was The Beatles who influenced my desire to play music. Here is how that all began… Senior year at St. Pat’s High School (all boys), we did our traditional end-of-year choral and dance band concert with an all girls’ school. That year, Pat was emceeing the event, I was in the first tenor section of the chorus with Walt… while Chic, Gerry and Walt who did double duty (plus other guys) were in the dance band. We convinced the Christian Brother who was leader of both chorus and the band to let us do a Beatles’s tune live. Chic, Gerry and Walt played ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand,’ while Pat and I plus another senior sang it. Given that all the girls went nuts, as did the people who came to the actual concert, the honchos in the girls’ group, tracked down Pat and me, asked us to perform the song at their first sock hop the next school year. Girls approaching us? Asking us to play? YES! YES! YES! 

We formed then as a sextet, adding an accordion playing sophomore (who also played organ) and did some parties as The Patsmen that summer. The sophomore’s dad made him quit so we needed another keyboard player. Walt had a cousin who was also the same age (just finished his second year) but Craig’s dad, knowing Walt would take care of his son, allowed him to join us. We decided that our school’s name was lame and here shall follow two mini versions of how New Colony Six was chosen. Walt swears we had an empty Old Colony root beer bottle and that, along with there being six of us, led to the name. My take is that we wanted to get back at the Brits since nearly all music on the radio those days came out of England. The British often called America, the colonies, so why not stick it to ’em by calling our band the New Colony Six, again since there were six of us in the group and bands like Dave Clark Five, Kingston Trio, et cetera utilized a number as a part of their name, so let the readers decide!!!!!!

When did you begin playing music?

Never was a literal player except percussion things like tambourine, maracas, et cetera. Chic was on the kit and an excellent drummer and learning something else from scratch seemed to make no sense so I focused on voice and songwriting.

What was your first instrument?

Tambo – not much of an instrument but did add to the live look on stage…

Who were your major influences?

First name that came to mind personally was The Everly Brothers and other singing groups (some doo-wop) that predated the British Invasion – let the guys who already had the skills do the music and let me sing it and write it, often with help in putting chords to the notes I sang or even making suggestions for better changes in melodies. Gerry and I worked together a lot. Also created songs with Walt and when Ronnie came into the band, with him as well, plus Chuck Jobes, also not a founder but a key player as time went on and our popularity grew.

What bands were you a member of prior to the formation of New Colony Six?

Never in a band prior to NC6 (New Colony Six) unless you consider the Graffia Family as a singing group sans instrumentation! All extended family gatherings included singing so it was familiar and comfortable and fun and I always loved to write – poems, stories, et cetera. So why not turn poetry into song lyrics? Hence, my English classes and story-writing were my only prior bands.

How would you describe the scene in Chicago for music in the 60s?

Unbelievably supportive and enthusiastic for their “home team” groups. Those “Midwest farmers’ daughters” Brian Wilson wrote about became rabid supporters of all music that got blessed with airplay from either or both WLS +/or WCFL, which were the two killer AM stations that all of us listened to during that entire decade. Once we hit the airwaves and they could go see us and the other bands who followed us for pennies – no point pursuing outsiders in expensive concerts when you had NC6, followed 9 weeks later by The Shadows of Knight, then in no particular order, The Cryan’ Shames, The Ides of March, American Breed, The Buckinghams and countless others who garnered airplay on our two 50,000 watt AM stations, essentially right in their own back yards!

When and where did New Colony Six play their first gigs? 

Teen clubs (no alcohol), school dances, and for quite a while a bar near O’Hare Airport where we had to play even if the crowd was scant or even non-existent – REALLY forced us to get tighter than ever. ‘Twas a serious pain in the derriere then, but surely helped us longer term, hence ever grateful to ownership at “Wine & Roses!”

How was the band accepted by the audience?

Reactions where kids were present was amazingly super supportive and while perhaps not quite tears and screaming every time we played, such emotions were exhibited pretty dang close to that at times and one gal we nicknamed “The Screamer” nearly always allowed her emotions to get the best of her. Weird, at least a bit embarrassing at the time but now, in retrospect, really was kinda cool!

What influenced the band’s sound?

Primarily British Invasion music but with some of us, actually most of us, having had interests in the musicians popular when we were at our grammar school dances, we did use harmonies and more sophisticated chords, drum licks, et cetera than most of our early peers – focusing much more on group presentations than individualism hence few solos beyond minimum length.

What’s the story behind your debut albums, ‘Breakthrough’ and ‘Colonization’?

No real story, Klemen – whenever we had enough material to fill an extended play format, management would put them out in an album.

Where did you record it?

Sound Studios comes to mind but memory failure beyond there and at Chess Studios down on 2120 South Michigan Avenue – yep as in The Rolling Stones’ tune! They were actually recording there at least once when we were but NC6 was prohibited from visiting… sigh!

What kind of equipment did you use and who was the producer?

Well beyond my feeble mind to recall equipment and we were essentially self-produced with encouragement and some direction from my dad and the Colony’s management team…

How many hours did you spend in the studio?

Highly limited budget from Centaur/Sentaur/Sentar severely curtailed extended time – hence a common phrase used often was “We’ll bury it in the mix” for anything we might otherwise have redone if $$ were to have been available!

The first two albums were self-released, how many copies did you press?

 Not a clue – I (likely all of us) worried solely about performances – left the biz, ending up with parents and Colony’s management team of primarily Peter Wright and Howard Bedno.

Did you get any airplay?

So far as I know, we only got airplay for the singles as, at that time, other than the superstars, nobody’s album cuts were played – FM radio changed that but ’twas essentially after our time…

What led to Mercury Records?

Decision well beyond my pay scale – likely either or both management’s and/or Sentar’s decisions…

How do you recall working on ‘Revelations’ and ‘Attacking a Straw Man’?

Very similar to the initial pair, but due to internal “differences of opinion” I spent less time involved with ‘Attacking a Straw Man’ as that one reached a point beyond halfway to three quarters done. Surely less time on our final extended play record than I had spent on the sessions for ‘Revelations’ and the two initial releases, completely full-time on the initial trio and most of ‘Attacking a Straw Man’!

Those issues led to my decision to leave after a date we completed on 8-4-69, following which Chic and Craig (who both left even earlier) and I formed Raymond John Michael aka The RJM Band and began playing and recording – see YouTube or find a copy of a CD that was released called ‘Sides’.

Please share your recollections of the sessions.

Other than sheer excitement and great enthusiasm and being incredibly wonderful fun, not anything more to add to what has already been written… sigh!

What were the influences and inspirations for the songs recorded?

Truly, mainly girls… In my case, additional inspiration from artists like Bob Dylan – listen to ‘Time Of The Year Is Sunset’ which I wrote or ‘Elf Song (Ballad Of The Wingbat Marmaduke)’ which came from the band’s interest in J. R. R. Tolkien’s writings, like The Hobbit. Truly though, most of the rest came from imagined or real life stories. My ‘Can’t You See Me Cry’ was a true story (for another day), ‘Love You So Much’ was a dedication to the love of my life, et cetera. The majority of our lyrics were mainly describing boy/girl things.

Did the band tour to support the LP?

Such tours were non-existent in those days for us – we recorded, rehearsed, released and played concurrently. There were no tours dedicated to any of our albums – once we did the songs, they either became parts of our sets, perhaps replacing earlier “non-singles” or at least featured every now and then…

What happened after the band stopped?

Gerry kept NC6 going the longest of all founders but even he finally waved the white flag in what I think were the later ’70s. This remained the case (no formalized NC6 in existence) as Ronnie went off solo and had a great career on his own, but after turning him down to appear with him two years in a row, I finally accepted his invitation to join him in a 1988 concert. The band then had other post-my-departure NC6 members but did include Billy Herman on the kit and he had been our drummer ever since Chic left. I had become Mr. Business Man during my hiatus, founding The Arbortech Corporation (another long story) but was so psyched getting back on stage again that we took that band, with Ronnie remaining a solo artist and opting out of the group, and began as NC6 again… Ever since, with member changes due primarily to death or moving away, that has been NC6 – 35 years together now for four of our current seven members and the Colony name in its 59th summer!

Were you still in touch with other members?

Were, am and, with the exception of Pat, who has totally removed himself from all of us but, so far as we know, remains alive, and Craig, who passed away earlier this year, but lived to be present when we were inducted into the Illinois Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, which is its second year in existence, the rest of us still do stay in touch, albeit many states removed from IL with me the exception. Iowa inducted us into their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2002!

Is any member still involved with the music?

Walt plays now and then down in Florida where he lives these days, but uncertain if he has anything formalized. Ronnie still performs as a solo artist and the two of us along with the current voice of RR (since 1988), Bruce, are part of Cornerstones of Rock together, repping the Colony!

Looking back, what was the highlight of your time in the band?

Far too many to name one but the TV shows for sure, the bigger venues when superstars were headlining, the “Meet & Greet” events then and now, which are still amazing to me after all these decades but highly gratifying nonetheless!

Which songs are you most proud of?

Self-centered joker that I am, any of our tunes in which I played a significant role, meaning lyricist, melody maker, main vocalist, or songs I wrote that had personal meanings still make me most proud. Even if only a secondary contributor, any in which I had a part in making them what they became – treasures all!

Where and when was your most memorable gig?

That’s an easy one… Before they tore down Milwaukee’s County Stadium, they held an event there that featured countless superstars, with top billing going to The Monkees. They put up a rotating stage in the area around second base during the Brewers’ baseball season, with the audience for this event in the stands between the areas from home-plate to first base and home-plate to third base – on the main level plus upper and lower decks. One artist was performing while the next act was setting up. At an act’s conclusion they then rotated the stage so the current act could break down while the group “waiting in the wings” took the stage and did their thing. Seeing as we were nearer to the end than the beginning, The Monkees were around while we were about to perform. I wanted to meet them but they were not at all interested – very stand-offish. Since, at the time, our tune ‘Things I’d Like To Say’ was either #1 or #2 in Milwaukee (and many places across the country), we switched song sequences to make ‘Things I’d Like To Say’ either our opener or closer – I honestly forget but probably the latter… Regardless, when we got back and The Monkees were still not taking the stage (meaning we may have been third on the bill???) they THEN acknowledged our existence due, in all likelihood to both crowd reaction and perhaps their own familiarity with the song. Hence, we shared a bit of small talk! I truly thought that to be the ultimate jerkiness but the story has stuck with me now for well over a half century, hence surely would have been A if not THEE most memorable gig to this writer!

Is there any unreleased material by The New Colony Six? 

So far as I know, there is nothing that was not put out in some form or another – single or album cut but my guess is that what you can find is about all there ever was!

What currently occupies your life?

Literal “currently” consists of finishing this to send off to you, Klemen, but for the last 40 years from 9-3-81 through 7-15-22, I dedicated nearly all my energies outside of music to the company I formed by myself. After teaching Junior High and working for a company in the environmental field, moving us from West Chicago, IL all the way down to Riviera Beach, FL, where we relocated and built a home in Wellington, FL, we finally conceived (14 years childless – God’s will and not our choice) at about the same time as our Midwest representative, maybe 45 years old or so, died unexpectedly. Now I had to find a replacement for my then employer! Few good options were available (really nobody…) and with grandparents-to-be pleading that we come back north, I wound up appointing myself as that rep, had the company move us back and figured I had to have a name for me – to add credentials and give the impression that when I called on someone, they were talking to a honcho in a big organization. Incorporating MYSELF SOLO as The Arbortech Corporation with a new paragraph required and the name formed from the following…

After what had been 14 years painfully childless, with no adoption options then and this being God’s will apparently, my wife gave birth to identical twin daughters on 6-12-81 while we were still living down in Florida – “Don’t drink the water!” Failing miserably with that attempt at humor… let me explain my company’s name = Arbortech Corporation! The “A” came from Allison, named by me after the heroine in a superior Elvis Costello tune that still brings tears to my eyes, ‘My Aim Is True’. Alli was born first but contracted something during the birthing process that took her life within days of arrival – tears forming now as I type this… The “R” came from her twin sister, Rebecca. Becky will soon turn 42, is married but childless. My wife’s name is Bonita AKA Bonnie, hence the “BO” came from her and, of course, you can probably guess that the final “R” in the part of the name came from me. (Subsequent births of Sara – 1984 and Ray III – 1987, prevented them from being part of this naming process). Seeing as my biz’s focus was environmental, making and selling equipment made by others to save water, conserve energy, reduce pollution, et cetera, but being the rock dude, I thought calling myself Arbor Marketing made sense and sounded like a lyric piece. However, all the folks with whom I had been doing business before moving south and now back north again, told me it did not sound at all technical, or at least not technical enough. Resolution came by dubbing myself as “The Arbortech Corporation.” Shall send along a piece or two on this aspect of my life as well since the organization that bought us has seemingly dissolved any use of Arbortech, removed our website and after training their team for 13+ months under a six-month contract, they requested that I leave and take my 40+ years of mementos with me. Had I known they were going to cease use of “Arbortech” completely, I’d have taken many more things, but c’est la vie… sigh! After 2-3 months of mourning, and ever since, I have been sending out resumes by the dozens (actually several hundreds) and while highly qualified (in my mind anyway) for positions to which resumes and other odds/ends have been submitted, clearly there is no market for those of us beyond “mid-septuagenarian” age. 

I trust all this writing indicates the presence of continuing brain function adequate to construct all this yadda yadda yadda, but apparently age 77 may well limit me to “Would you like fries with that?” or “Welcome to our Big Box Store!” or fuggedaboudit! Maybe one day a book of some sort – poetry, song lyric explanations, faith sharing from a rock & roller’s perspective, a bio (nobody would buy that one…), but right now I have occupied myself and returned many smiles by rejoining Farcepuke, err Facebook. 

I needed a return to happiness and, upon rejoining and seeing the tremendous caring from folks who followed and still love NC6, RJM, from former parishioners (I spent 30+ years in Ministry – 15+ informally and then another 15+ as an ordained Roman Catholic Deacon), et cetera, Facebook has taken many a day from serious mourning to delirious happiness. Maybe even send you one of the many weekly bulletin articles I wrote over the years – found one recently that tied a Gospel reading where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead to the Bee Gees! Our parish referred to me as “The Rock & Roll Deacon!”

And with that, Mr. Breznikar, me thinks I did already take the last word – actually last several hundred words, hence shall close this. Thank you for the invitation, sorry for lost time, and I hope both you and your readers will find a smile or two along the way and, if not, so be it! 

Klemen Breznikar

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The New Colony Six Official Website / Facebook / Bandcamp