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

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