The Links

Jack Ruston talking about the track "Birmingham Sunday" (a demo cut with Ren Toppano)

I did quite a lot of the guitars on this track. This was shortly after RV moved from Ocean Beach up to Hollywood in about '95 or early '96, and there were a lot of sessions going on at Ren's studio, Abracadabra - sessions for Ren's own record, stuff that Rob had in the works, artists like Cindy Alexander and others. This track was a partly completed demo, and I THINK it was just drums, bass and the hammond. I don't know exactly when or where it was originally tracked, but I remember it being tape, and I don't believe it would have been at Abracadabra because I don't remember there being a Hammond in that studio. Ren was also using ADAT by then, so I think this came from somewhere else. At that time Rob had this concept for a project called 'Better Off Than Elvis' - it was to be a band with an eponymous record. The Dead River Angels thing was kind of stalled, and looking back, I don't think the La Rocco's were crazy enough to abandon their jobs and serious relationships etc to follow him to LA with no financial support. So there was never a band really, and actually at that time Rob was very much in producer mode. I can remember thinking that the vocal on this one wasn't really finished from a writing perspective. It was really a rough, a guide to set the tone. After 30 years as a producer and engineer myself, I now realise that in San Diego, all Rob's creative energy was channeled into rehearsing with the band and song writing, but in this studio environment he got sidetracked into production, like a kid in a candy store. This was an amazing side to him, and he brought a lot to the artists that came through at that time, maybe at the expense of this material. His mind always worked faster than the recording process could deliver, so he was 10 steps ahead, creating sonic landscapes etc. But, as you say, this was perhaps more an idea than a song. It's of note that not only have we lost Ren Toppano, but also the engineer who recorded a lot of the material at Abracadabra back then - Franco Giordani, who went on to win a grammy I believe, before sadly dying a few years ago having contracted some kind of rare virus. I was lucky to be surrounded by all those talented individuals.

Below are links to solo projects, current activities and other sites related to the band. I hope to update it as often as possible. Here is a link to my site "Smash That Computer". but this is being wound down and is being used to showcase some of my other projects.

You can email me direct with your stories about RV and the Shadows: wayne@outoftheshadows.co.nz

MICHELLE'S STORY

I come from a family of 3 sisters and 1 brother. My dad was in the Navy for 22 years and passed at 44 of cancer. He was from the Philippines and also a Black belt 8 degree in karate. He also taught as a teacher in martial arts. I was a Tom boy growing up because my brother didn't come till last. My mom was a housewife raising 5 kids. She is mostly French, from Boston. So I am a mixed mutt.

I am 5'9 so I always felt out of place growing up, but doing all the boy stuff. As I got older things kinda changed. I met my first boyfriend in 10th grade and had my first son at age 19, so things changed real quick. I went to school on my dad's V.A benefits to get paid and got my first apartment. My dad had an old 1967 Tbird I restored and all the car clubs were hitting me up to join .

So ,it was time to get serious: "What am I going to do with my life"? I was a single mother raising a son as his father was murdered in 1988. I began working for the state as a park ranger aid and working nights as a waitress - it was tiring but I needed to do what I had to. In my late 20's is when I answered an ad for a retail store called Gabriel's fashions. He needed a clothes coordinator for fashion shows. He would have like 10 girls come out and auction off the clothes in bars here in San Diego. So, I decided to pull all the clothes for each model, including myself. We had posters up.

The owner, Gabriel, said someone called here and wants you to call him. I said ok. I called and it was Robert Vaughn , who asked me to meet him and his wife Christina in Point Loma at his house . I went and he explained about the Love and War album, what he was looking for and the look and his songs and Band. I was excited. He was very nice and talked about his faith as a Christian. His wife was very beautiful and caring. At the time I was pursuing my modelling career and was signed with San Diego model management and modelling for Nordstroms in their fashion shows, so I thought this would be great for exposure.

I met him again with the Santana artist and that's how the cover started for the album. When it first came out I loved the music. I said “This guy and his band are awesome” and I could see him going somewhere really big. I met with him and Christina for the opening party and met the band members. It was a fun night.

From that point on I was following my dream and pursuing my career. I was doing magazine work, fashion shows, beauty pageants and working as an extra in movies. There wasn't really any work where I lived, so I was going back and forth to L.A. When I won a few beauty pageants, I was then discovered by Nina Blanchard and L.A models and also Zoli wanted me to go to Europe. My dream finally seemed to be coming true - all those years of hard work and determination would pay off.

But, as soon as they said we have a flat waiting and a nanny, something clicked in my mind. I wouldn't have quality time with my son… and a nanny? It could be good or bad. I thought about what was best - my career or being a mom. I turned down my biggest dream. God leads your path and I guess that wasn't it. After the album cover party I always wondered about Robert Vaughn and the Shadows. I would Google here and there. But devastation hit my son Joel in 2015. He was diagnosed with a rare cancer that comes in 3 places both legs and the spine. He was healthy all his life no symptoms, nothing. We went to UCSD and he had 6 months to live and it was stage 4. I never left his side, he passed in my arms 4/16/2016.My life changed…. he was my only son.

Then last year I was looking around on the Internet and decided to contact Randy Layton. We had a long conversation on the phone. I was like “Wow a CD”. The work and exposure from everyone was amazing. Then Leo sent me a CD and I have been jamming it in my car every since. Brings back a lot of memories of when I was young. I just want to thank everyone for the opportunity to be part of this incredible journey!!!!

Here is the link to the Facebook Page for RV and The Shadows that was set up to reissue the classic "Love And War" album on double CD.

Click on the album cover...

This project was the first official CD release, remixed from the original masters and with a whole extra disc of rarities, alternate mixes and unreleased songs.

There are some great links on this Facebook page to all sorts of audio and video related to the project. Make sure you join the page to get access. The CD's are all sold out but you can get the digital files.

Here's an article from the LA Times about how the surf movie came to be made and also a bit about how things were going for the band at that time:

Three years ago this month, Island Records released the debut album by Robert Vaughn and the Shadows. Despite great reviews in Billboard and other prominent national music magazines, “Love and War” was a commercial dud, a fate singer-guitarist Vaughn attributes to a lack of promotion on Island’s part.

Less than a year later, the Point Loma rock ‘n’ rollers had severed ties with Island and were once again free agents. Since then, they’ve been cutting demonstration tapes at The Studio in Kearny Mesa and sending them out to various other major labels in the hopes of landing a new record deal.
Between sessions, the band has had a lot of free time on its hands, and for the last few months, Vaughn has been putting this time to good use.
He produced a surf video, “Locals One: Psychedelic Surf Collage.” The 61-minute video is currently being distributed nationally by the Surf Video Network, which services nearly 2,000 video stores throughout the country.
Vaughn shot most of the scenes himself at two popular local surfing spots, Sunset Cliffs and Big Rock (off La Jolla). The sound track consists of unreleased Shadows material, and the project was personally financed by Vaughn, to the tune of $20,000.
“I’ve been a closet filmmaker for years--I’ve got more than 150 hours of video tape, just of our band--but this is the first time anything I’ve shot has been released,” Vaughn said. “A while back, Clarke Poling used some Shadows songs from our Island album for the sound track to a new surf movie he’s got coming out.
“I showed him some of my video stuff, and he encouraged me to put out my own tape. He said: ‘You’ve already got the music, so why don’t you do your own surf video, and I’ll help you out.’ ”
Poling helped out by supplying additional surf footage filmed in Hawaii, and then putting Vaughn in touch with the Surf Video Network. “Locals One” hit the streets three weeks ago, and initial retail response was so good that Vaughn is already planning a follow-up.
That’s not all. The band just got back from Los Angeles, where they spent three weeks at Abracadabra studios, recording seven songs for Windswept Pacific, a music publishing house that also produces motion-picture sound tracks for Warner Brothers and Paramount Pictures.
“If they place one of our songs with a major movie, maybe we’ll get a hit off the sound track and things will come through that way,” Vaughn said. “It could lead to a recording contract with Warner Brothers Records, which like Windswept is a subsidiary of Warner Communications.
“In any event, I’m confident we’ll have another album out before the year is over. We’ve already gotten plenty of offers from other labels, but they’ve all been Island-type offers--do an album, put it out, and see what happens.
“I’m holding out for the right deal, a deal where the label promises to not just put out our album, but really promote it, really push it, so that the public can respond. What good would it do me to do a record and then sit at home? I’ve already been down that road.”