The Tweeds, Dave Constantino front and center.
Listen/Download – The Tweeds – We Got Time
Greetings all, and welcome to another ride on the good ship Iron Leg.
The tune I bring you today is a little something I discovered while traipsing around the intertubes looking for wax.
I had gotten an e-mail about an auction filled with 60s garage and psyche, so I wandered over and started checking out the goods.
There were a bunch of things I knew and/or had, a couple of choice rarities that I couldn’t afford, and a few goodies that I didn’t know (which is always a good thing).
When auction day came down, I was outbid on a few records, but I decided that ‘We Got Time’ by the Tweeds was the one I liked the best, so I dug in and got it for next to nothing, which brings me to an odd little detour.
As it turns out, while researching the band I discovered that I had seen a member of the Tweeds play on stage once, long ago, in a very odd setting indeed.
Back in the day, following my high school, longhair quest for Zeppelitude, I dabbled a bit here and there in what was once known as heavy metal, in its greasy, pre-hairspray and makeup days.
It was during an excursion to hear same (I think the main attraction that night might have been the Joe Perry Project) in a club once dubbed ‘The Rock Capitol of Brooklyn’ (what?!?) that I saw a very interesting opening band by the name of Talas.
What I remember from that night, about Talas specifically, was the fact that their bass player was an absolute demon, squeezing all manner of Hendrixian sounds out of his four strings and a huge bank of rack mounted computer-type boxes behind him.
That cat was Billy Sheehan, who would shortly leave Talas to take on the bass duties in David Lee Roth’s post-Halen band.
However, the member of Talas that ties this all together was their lead guitarist, Dave Constantino, who happened to have gotten his start in a Buffalo, NY band by the name of The Tweeds.
Yes, these Tweeds.
The Tweeds were formed in the mid-60s in Buffalo, when Dave Constantino was somewhere in the area of 13 years old! They recorded a couple of very tasty 45s, including today’s killer ‘We Got Time’.
‘We Got Time’ is a rock solid garage stomper with a UK flair and a very tasty guitar solo by young Master Constantino that sounds like it was played by someone twice his age.
Constantino and Tweeds drummer Paul Varga would hook up with Billy Sheehan in the early 70s, and went on to regional and briefly national success.
Following Sheehan’s departure, Constantino reformed the Tweeds for a time, with Talas reuniting further on down the line.
I hope you dig the track, and I’ll see you all next week.
Peace
Larry