(from l tor) Kent Morrill, Rich Dangel,
Mike Burk, Ron Gardner, and Buck Ormsby
The historical importance of the Wailers is undeniable. They were one of
the very first, if not the first, of the American garage bands.The very beginnings of
Seattle's grunge rock sound can be directly traced back to the pioneering efforts
this of the rock 'n' roll combo.The Wailers are probably directly responsible for the
sixties rock explosion in the Northwest. Paul Revere and the Raiders aspired to be as big
as the Wailers were; the Kingsmen had a hit with their arrangement of "Louie Louie;
the Sonics were groomed by the Wailers and the list goes on and on. 
The fifties in the Northwest were an interesting melting pot. Clubs such
as The Black
and Tan, Birdland, and the Evergreen Ballroom routinely brought
black R&B acts to town, and Ray Charles was based in the area. Rockabilly had made its
presence known, and Elvis 
Presley was huge. It was out of this environment that
five teenagers from Tacoma, Washington formed the Wailers.
Originally an instrumental band the Wailers had a national hit with
"Tall Cool One" (#36, June 1959) while still in high school. They then went to
the East Coast for some appearances, including the Alan Freed Show and American
Bandstand.
Unhappy with the way they were being handled they returned to Tacoma and formed their own label Etiquette Records. Thus their material was self recorded and self promoted. The Wailers also produced a number of other acts, and Etiquette has left a fine history of some of the Northwest's most gritty recordings.
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The Wailers had several fine vocalists in Rockin' Robin Roberts and Gail
Harris who was only 13 years old when she first sang with the Wailers, and eventually
became a regular during the early sixties. With Harris and Roberts the Wailers started
moving in a far more R&B 
direction. With Robin Roberts doing the vocals,
the Wailers turned an obscure R&B song "Louie Louie" into a 1961 local
hit that served as the prototype for
the countless subsequent
versions of the 60s most popular garage song.
The live album The Wailers At the Castle was the first record featuring The Wailers, Gail Harris and Rockin' Robin Roberts all together. They often toured and recorded with female back-up singers the Marshans, thus emulating and updating the R&B revue/extravaganzas that had been so influential years earlier. Songs such as "Hang Up" and "Out of Our Tree" showed their abilities with mid-sixties "punk rock", but they were certainly as talented in any other musical sub-genre of that magical decade.
It was their hard-nosed R&B/rock fusion that inspired the Sonics and
Kingsmen. Though the Wailers anticipated the British Invasion bands with their brash,
self-contained sound, their inability to write first-rate original material, as well as
their rather outdated sax and organ 
driven frat rock,
that led to their decline in popularity. As the decade progress they did adsorb mild
folk-rock and psychedelic music without much success.
Beginning in the late seventies and through the 80's The Wailers joined together for a number of successful reunion concerts. Today a new wave of interest and fans all over the world have enticed the Wailers to once again pick up their instruments and play their rock 'n' roll.
- Neil Skok (excerpts from an article by Neil Skok -1993, photos by Jini Dellaccio)
