29.9 | Interview | “Lost And Found Slab of Heavy Blues”
29.9 was a heavy blues band featured in the 1980 cult horror classic Effects. A while ago Permanent Records tracked down the director of the film, John Harrison.
Turns out the song in Effects was by a band John Harrison played in with his brother, Doug, and a couple of other guys in the late-60s. They called themselves 29.9, and they recorded ‘Paradiddle Blues’ and a few other tracks, but never released any of them, until now. You can hear their material on ‘Brown Acid: The Ninth Trip (Heavy Rock From The Underground Comedown)’ compilation from 2019 [available here].
Where and when did you grow up? Was music a big part of your family life? Did the local music scene influence you or inspire you to play music?
Doug Harrison: Brothers John and Doug Harrison , born in 1948 and 1949, grew up in Oakland, PA a district of Pittsburgh PA under the immediate shadow of the University of Pittsburgh. We had a piano all our lives at home. John learned the basics of piano at an early age. Both brothers, as adolescents, sang in the church choir. The local music scenes at the time were bars and taverns, cocktail lounges and clubs. There was an abundance of record stores throughout the city where teens would hangout listening to and buying the hits on LP’s, 45s, and 78s. Elvis Presley had just emerged as a star, and Frank Sinatra was fighting for his role in From Here To Eternity. Business men wore hats and ladies wore gloves. The jukebox was high technology. Jazz was still played in fancy hotel restaurants during daily luncheon matinees and cocktail hours. Jackets required. The real-thing-hot-shit jazz was found in the after-hour clubs in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. Radio stations at the time played top-10 variety hit parades, rock and roll, rockabilly or country western. Soul music was only on the one famous Pittsburgh radio station, WAMO, which had the renowned black deejay George Jacob “Porky” Chedwick, Hal “The Burner” Brown, and “Sir Walter” Laughalot.
When did you begin playing music? What was your first instrument? Who were your major influences?
Doug: We moved to Oakmont, PA, a suburb of Pittsburgh in 1960. Folk music groups and “hootenannys” were all the rage. John soon learned acoustic guitar, some banjo, then bass guitar. He formed a folk-music group called the 10 Shoes. They played mostly high school gigs and parties. I learned drums in the local high school marching band, then got his first drum set at age 13.
What bands were you a member of prior to the formation of 29.9?
Doug: The musicians John associated with evolved into rock and roll shortly before the invasion of the Beatles. Around 1964 John formed a group called The Hustlers with two school friends playing lead and rhythm guitars, John on bass, Doug on drums. Our first gig was in the orchestra pit for a school play, “Bye Bye Birdie”, in which John had a role and joined the band for a version of ‘Wipe Out’ by the guitar group The Ventures wherein Doug did the drum solo. Shortly thereafter we cut a 45 record called ‘You Don’t Want That’ which can still be found on YouTube.
The “B” side of that 45 was called, ‘Don’t Ask Why’. Hustlers transported their equipment to gigs in an old 1948 Chrysler Limousine purchased for $400, then later in a 1955 Cadillac Hearse, purchased for not much more. Later, during college years, John and friends created the group Homebrew, with Doug later joining on drums after the original formation. At this point in the narrative John Harrison can give the complete history of the band Homebrew (pre-Doug), the types of blues, R&B, and rock that were played and where they played, as Doug’s memory of this era was somewhat “groggy”.
John Harrison: The band Hustlers was composed of John Harrison (bass/vocals), Doug Harrison (drums), Bill Bickerstaff (rhythm guitar/vocals), Jim McMillan (lead guitar/vocals). As noted, The Hustlers played the local school dance/teen club scene in Pittsburgh throughout high-school.
After leaving for university, the members went their separate ways until the summer of ’67 when they reformed with the addition of Stanley Hahn, (sharing lead guitar duties with McMillan) replacing Bill Bickerstaff. At this point, the band became much more oriented towards the blues, as well as covering the new phenoms on the scene, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, Jeff Beck with Yardbirds et cetera, while still including various Motown and Sun Records hits in the repertoire as well as attempts to capture the magic of our idols, James Brown, Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding. That band had a summer residency at a nightclub in Lake Chautauqua New York, but then split up as everyone went back to school. In 1969, Harrisons, McMillan, and Hahn all moved in with various girlfriend’s to a house in Wellesley Hills MA to form the band 29.9. John Harrison was only a part-time participant in this configuration as he was pursuing a theater degree at university. His one contribution to that period was the vocals on ‘Paradiddle Blues’. Otherwise, 29.9 became a power trio with McMillan and Hahn trading responsibilities on guitar and bass, with Doug Harrison now on a large double bass drum kit. Unfortunately, gigs were few and far between, and that band was short-lived.
Can you elaborate the formation of 29.9?
Doug: 29.9 was a prequel “splinter” group of Homebrew in that many of the musicians had grown up together or had some other form of association through high school or college. We moved to Boston, Massachusetts to attend Emerson College concentrating in theater and communications. The band members rented a house in the suburbs and played and recorded in the basement which they sound-proofed and made into a make-shift recording studio. After graduation John relocated to State College, PA and joined the band called Homebrew, in 1970-71, to work with a former 29.9 member Jim McMillen (lead guitar), while enlisting producer and recording engineer par excellence John B. Sutton 3rd aka J.B. Sutto. Doug followed within the year and replaced Sutto on drums who was doing double duty.
“The kids went berserk”
When and where did 29.9 play their first gig? Do you remember the first song the band played? How was the band accepted by the audience?
Doug: 29.9 played their one and only gig at a Boston suburb high-school gymnasium in a lubricated condition. Steve Billias (college mate of John, today a Shintaido master and notable author, stephenbillias.com), acted as our roadie and ‘bodyguard’ for most of the band members. We played ‘Wee Wee Baby’, by the great bluesman Muddy Waters, and other heavy blues tunes, at volume 12. I’ll just say the kids went berserk, rolling all over the basketball court floor, (this was before smash-up), with teachers and chaperones looking-on, jaws dropping, stunned. I’ll and let it go at that.
What sort of venues did 29.9 play early on? Where were they located?
Doug: 29.9 members Jim Mcmillan and Doug Harrison were absorbed into the group Homebrew based in State College, Pennsylvania and played the surrounding bars, taverns, and the typical Penn State University animal houses.
How did you decide to use the name “29.9”?
Doug: The name 29.9 came from a tattered, overgrown wood plank about 4′ x 4′, whitewashed, with 29.9 painted in black on it and nothing else, stuck like a permanent monument on a roadside. This puzzled Doug for more than 20 years. Doug, naturally in a bar, finally found an old-geezer who knew why it was there; turns out that there was an old abandoned Esso service station further up the road and that plank was their advertisement for their gasoline selling for 29.9 cents a gallon in 1955! Doug thought, “Well, we’ll never see that again!” And that proved true for both the gas and the band.
What influenced the band’s sound?
Doug: The band’s sound was influenced by standard blues, rhythm and blues, rock, funk, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Chess Records, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Little Walter, Elmore James, Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, Allman Brothers, Wilson Picket, et al.
Tell us about ‘Paradiddle Blues’, which was featured on ‘Brown Acid: The Ninth Trip (Heavy Rock From The Underground Comedown)’?
Doug: ‘Paradiddle Blues’ was developed in the basement studio in Boston one day when Doug was hungover and pissed-off at some chick who had snubbed him, and decided to take it out on everyone else. Doug simply instructed Stan Hahn on bass, Jim McMillen on guitar, and John Harrison on vocals, “Look, it’s a 2-chord thing. Just give me 12 beers, crank up the volume and play!”.
Here are two outtakes from basement tapes in Boston we made in 1969-70.
Where did you record it? What kind of equipment did you use and who was the producer? How many hours did you spend in the studio?
Doug: The equipment used: Gibson EB-3 electric bass (a rare cranberry), Gibson ES-345 F-hole electric guitar, Gibson Les Paul guitar, Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars, Marshall, Ampeg, and Fender Amps, Sony 8-track 1/4” tape recorder deck, Shure and Electrovoice microphones, Ludwig drums with Avedis Zildjian cymbals.
John: In the Fall of ’70, Jim McMillan decided to move to Central Pennsylvania, home of Penn State University and hub of a thriving music/bar scene, to form a new band. His intention was to lure the Harrisons there eventually and reconstitute the Hustlers. It was unclear if Hahn would be interested. McMillan joined long time Pittsburgh friend and accomplished blues drummer, John Sutton (aka J.B. Sutto, or Biggie), who would eventually find his niche as a recording engineer and producer (more on him later) together with a couple of locals, Charles Roethel (keyboards/vocals), and Danny Herr (bass). When the Harrisons could join that Summer, John replaced Dan Herr, and Doug and Sutton both played drums (a la The Allmans) until Doug left to finish university that Fall. In the Summer of ’71, he returned, and Sutton retired from the band to become its manager and recording engineer. (He later went on to a long career as a sound recordist for film and television, as well as engineering and producing John Harrison’s movie scores for famed horror director, George Romero [Night of the Living Dead et al]). During that time, the band built a small studio in the barn where John Sutton lived, and recorded a couple dozen original songs which were, unfortunately, never released.
Please share your recollections of the sessions. Did you record any other songs?
Doug: The main body of Homebrew work was recorded in a barn converted into a studio owned and by J.B. Sutto in Center Hall, Pennsylvania. Sutto also was the recording engineer for 29.9 in the Boston house basement and the first drummer for Homebrew. The musicians were separated by hay bales serving as baffles, the instruments all microphoned and fed into a separate recording control room operated by J.B. Sutto. Occasionally a sheep, a rooster and hen, or dogs were our VIP audience and occasional background vocalists.
John: Homebrew did the circuit around Pennsylvania while being based (and playing local joints regularly) in State College. They also opened several shows for legendary guitarist Roy Buchanan, whose band John would join eventually in the Fall of 1973. Late in 1972, Homebrew broke up, which ended the almost decades-long collaboration of McMillan and the Harrisons. McMillan and Doug Harrison moved west to San Francisco where they joined the notorious Fillmore Slim’s band for a while.
What was the scene in your town and what other bands did you share stages with?
Doug: In the early 60s the Hustlers played at various teen dance halls that were existing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania region and private parties covering top-ten hits and some originals and sometimes in “Battles of the Bands” with local names like The Shadows, Igniters, Fenways, Jaggerz, some of which can still be heard on YouTube. The Hustlers also became the house band for a resort in Chautauqua, New York State for one Summer season.
John: After leaving Homebrew, I moved back to Pittsburgh to pursue my interests in film and theater. I formed a production company with two college friends with whom I eventually produced the low budget horror film Effects, which featured 29.9’s ‘Paradiddle Blues’ in the soundtrack. At the same time, I was recruited by longtime friend Jay Reich into the Roy Buchanan Band with whom I toured and recorded for four years.
How did Lance Barresi find you and how happy are you to be featured on this fantastic series?
Doug: John Harrison and two friends from Carnegie Mellon University produced a horror film called Effects. Cinematographer Ace Dusty Nelson wrote and directed it. John Harrison acted in it. Pat Buba edited it. All three co-produced it. In the movie, a character named Barney was in a scene looking for something and in that room was a radio playing ‘Paradiddle Blues’ by 29.9 (written by Doug) as background music for the scene. Years later, an acquaintance of Dusty in California played this film for a friend who brought it to Lance’s attention. Lance Baressi, owner of Permanent Records recognized the bizarreness of the music as something he was interested in. He tracked down Dusty Nelson who then referred Lance to Doug and John Harrison, members of the group 29.9. Lance used the song on one his collector-items LPs entitled ‘Brown Acid’.
Is there anything left in the vault?
There are Live and Studio recordings of 29.9 and Homebrew in the vault. About 10 tunes including different versions re-mastered by Audio Engineer Johnny Davis in Los Angeles, California.
What happened after the band stopped? Were you still in touch with other members? Is any member still involved with the music?
Doug: The group disbanded circa 1972. As for 29.9 personnel, Stan Hahn (guitar) had died in a car wreck. Doug and Jim McMillan (guitar) moved to San Francisco, California and played in local integrated blues bands like Fillmore Slim, et al. Jim later became a professor of history at a University in Arizona but died of asthmatic complications. Doug decided to settle down, get married and have two boys. He became procurement manager for an energy supply company and then retired, still able to play. John (bass/vocals) went on to be an independent film writer and director, working with George Romero and other notables, while at the same time being the bass player for the Roy Buchanan Band playing live venues at across the US and overseas, and recording albums, ‘That’s What I’m Here For’, ‘Livestock’, ‘A Street Called Straight’, and ‘Live in Japan’. The studio albums were recorded in New York and the famous Record Plant and Electric Lady studios. John is still active, married with two children, writing, playing and blogging.
Looking back, what was the highlight of your time in the band?
Doug: Looking back, the highlights of any music group is the process of learning, composing, practicing and playing music that gives people excitement and enjoyment. The visuals and sound of audience interaction and exuberance is always the great fun highlight, and gives the band feedback of how and what they should record later.
The work accomplished by the group members is a team effort which is actually a job; but a job that can produce immediate results, good or bad, and like any job, that in itself is satisfying, usually resulting in life-long friendships of all kinds.
John: Fortunately, I have been able to make a living doing the only things I ever really wanted to do: play music and work in drama. Sometimes even finding a way to combine the two. Even as a teenager I was lucky enough to find compatriots who shared those ambitions, especially my brother, and crazy as it seems now, we actually made a living (meager as it was) doing it professionally for many years. They were what you might call “foundational” for me.
Klemen Breznikar
Headline photo: The Hustler’s limousine surrounded by John Harrison and high school fans | 1966
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Thank you Klemen !!!