The
Torquays was a rock’n’roll band from Plymouth/Terryville, CT, that
played between 1962 and 1965. Its members were Bill Barton (guitar),
Dave Pratt (guitar), John Pratt (bass & sax) and Leo Spencer (drums –
later Steve Scepankoski). We played a lot of paying and non-paying gigs,
making as much as $52 a night (for the whole band). One of my big
regrets is that we never recorded ourselves, partly because it was
costly and partly because we just didn’t have the foresight. I’d love to
re-gather the band and do it now, but Bill is in Indiana, Steve is in
Virginia, and the odds of pulling it off are pretty slim.
Sooooooo
... in late autumn of 2012 I did it myself. Using a netbook computer, a
decent USB microphone, and public domain multi-track recording software,
I recorded 26 of the tunes we did back in the ‘60s by playing/singing
all of the parts and overdubbing. Today’s technology provides pretty
good sound quality; the musical quality is another story ..............
—
Dave
This is a YouTube Playlist. Click the Play button to play all 26 songs. Use the
Next button to skip to the next song. Depending on your browser, there
may also be a Playlist button that lets you choose songs.
The
Torquay’s 2012 Recording Studio
The Real Torquays in 1964
A video
made during the recording of 'Wooly Bully',
to demonstrate how the recordings were made