THE SONICS
The Witch
Three musically-inclined siblings in Tacoma, Washington, guitarists Andy and Larry Parypa and their sax-blowing younger brother Jerry, had one of the coolest mothers ever. Hazel Frazier Parypa (a west coast transplant from Anthill, Tennessee), was a musician in her own right and not only approved of her first three sons' interest in becoming a rock and roll band, she even played bass at some of their home reheasals. Inspired by rhythm and blues vocal groups and organ-wielding bandleader Bill Doggett in addition to rocking guitarists Duane Eddy and Link Wray, their goal was to gain a spot alongside The Wailers, The Ventures, The Frantics and Little Bill and the Bluenotes, Tacoma bands who'd recently scored local and national hit singles. As it turned out, the Parypa brothers' group, The Sonics (a logical Puget Sound-related name), was the loudest and wildest of them all.
The family lived in Bremerton before moving 30 miles south to Tacoma, and eventually four more male siblings were added, though only the first three, all teenagers at the start of the new decade, had musical leanings. Andy (in his final year at Clover Park High School in nearby Lakewood) played guitar, as did aspiring axe slinger Larry, while Jerry was passable as a sax player; Tony Mabin replaced Larry at some of the early meetings before finding reasons not to show up. Sometimes their buddies from school stopped by the house to practice. The brothers and various friends began performing at school events in 1961.
There were a few comings and goings among the members over the next couple of years; Jerry Miller, guitarist for local band The Searchers, was a member and there was a 1962-'63 stretch with vocalist Marilyn Lodge and Rich Koch on guitar. The band locked in as a quintet with the addition of lead singer, keyboard player and former Northwest Searcher Gerry Roslie (who filled the bill in a way they hadn't imagined), Rob Lind, a much-improved sax man, and Rob Bennett, who fancied himself the hardest-hitting drummer in the business (and he could back up the claim)! This lineup established the Sonics as favorites among the growing legion of Pacific Northwest rockers. By '64, Wailers bass Buck Ormsby became their manager and signed them to Etiquette Records, a label he'd founded with bandmates Kent Morrill and Rockin Robin Roberts.
The Sonics' first single was, perhaps (...most likely!), the hardest-rocking track anywhere, up to that time. Recorded in Seattle, "The Witch" describes a dangerous female ('...she's an evil chick...say, she's the witch!'), the lyrics delivered by a rough-hewn, wildly-shouting Roslie (who wrote the song). A fast-finger guitar break enhanced the message ('Now you know the score, 'cause I set you straight...but you better be careful, before it's too late...she gonna make you itch...'cause she's the witch!'). Breaking first on Tacoma's KTNT (AM 1400) near the end of 1964, it topped the station's survey in mid-January, then bounced back and forth between the number one and number two positions through March. Seattle powerhouse KJR placed it at number two during this time before it was picked up by CFUN in Vancouver, British Coumbia and KISN and KBZY in Portland and Salem, Oregon, top ten on all three. The song scored in a dozen or so west coast radio markets but didn't move any further east than Idaho.
Shortly after its release, flip side "Keep A' Knock'in" (covering the classic '50s Little Richard screamer) was replaced by Roslie original "Psycho," another loud, intense, hard-pounding-drumbeat recording on par with the spell-inducing A side ('Baby, you're driving me crazy...I'm going out of my head...now I wish I was dead'). In March, it joined "The Witch" at the top of the KTNT Top 50 survey. Higher-profile gigs started coming their way, chief among them opening for The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean near the end of January at the Seattle Coliseum (along with other area acts The Viceroys, The Dynamics, Sir Raleigh and the Cupons and Vancouver, B.C. singer Terry Black.
An album (Here Are the Sonics) and similarly deranged singles ("Boss Hoss" and "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark") followed. LP cut "Strychnine" begins with a Halloween riff before Gerry spouts lyrics recommending the poison as a beverage (' ...make you jump, it'll make you shout...it'll even knock you out...'). "Cinderella" (not a song Walt Disney would have chosen for his animated feature!) appeared as 1966 began, included on a second album, The Sonics Boom. Etiquette ceased operations in 1966 and the group moved to Jerry Dennon and Bonnie Guitar's Jerden Records, where they dropped the single "You Got Your Head on Backwards" and another album in late '66, Introducing the Sonics, a confusing title, perhaps...but maybe not to the large percentage of American listeners unfamiliar with them. A Jerden re-release of "The Witch" started getting airplay on stations around the country and even reached number one in Salt Lake City in January '67. Dennon produced Roslie composition "Maintaining My Cool" around that same time.
A Frank Zappa song, "Any Way the Wind Blows," had been recorded four years earlier with a vocal by Ray Collins (later a member of Zappa's Mothers of Invention). In 1967 it was recorded by the Sonics for the Piccadilly label (and reissued shortly afterwards on Uni Records) but failed to hit (Zappa's version was included on the 1968 album Cruising with Ruben & the Jets). The group started to fracture; Bennett left to join Merrilee Rush and the Turnabouts (another Seattle-area act). Before long, Lind and Roslie quit, leaving the two remaining Parypa brothers to carry on, if only for awhile; they backed Jim Brady on "Near My Soul," a very un-Sonics-like pop release on Jerden in 1969. It marked the end...for a time.
As the music of the 1970s evolved, the band's legend grew despite the lack of a nationwide hit; punk rockers often gave them credit as a major influence on the emerging genre's sound and mainstream rockers were quick to name them as favorites. Meanwhile, reunions were staged from time to time with musicians from their peak period, though never all five main members at once. Today The Sonics are revered by fans fascinated with the ahead-of-its-time vibe, as well as up-and-coming groups who've discovered them years or even decades after-the-fact. Their best-known song, "The Witch," has the sound and style that laid the groundwork for many counter-culture rock acts.
