Garage rock bands sprouted up everywhere during the 60’s. Any teen who could master three chords on guitar or bang on a drum kit wanted to be a rock star, mainly because all the girls were ga-ga for teen idols. Cape Cod, MA was no different, and The Barbarians rose to #55 on the Billboard charts with their long haired anthem, “Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?”:
The difference between The Barbarians and all those other would-be Beatles was their drummer, Moulty, who had a hook in place of his left hand. Victor “Moulty” Moulton lost his hand in a homemade pipe bomb explosion at age 14, but that didn’t stop him from joining the rock revolution. He had his hook modified to fit a drum stick, then he and the band grew their hair out longer than the popular Beatle-bowl cut. Their unique looks helped land The Barbarians a gig in THE TAMI SHOW, a filmed concert featuring top groups like The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, The Supremes, and the one-and-only James Brown:
Moulty recorded an autobiographical tune called (what else?) “Moulty” under The Barbarians’ name, only the rest of the band was back in Boston, while he was in New York City. Instead, he’s supposedly backed by members of Ronnie Hawkins’ group The Hawks, who were soon to go solo and rename themselves The Band:
“Moulty” was featured on the seminal 1972 garage rock anthology NUGGETS: ORIGINAL ARTYFACTS FROM THE FIRST PPSYCHEDELIC ERA 1965-1968, complied by rock writer and future Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny Kaye. NUGGETS contains tracks by artists like The Electric Prunes, The Standells, The Shadows of Knight, The Seeds, The 13th Floor Elevators, and The Blues Magoos, among others, and is highly recommended. The CD is still available on Rhino Records; get your copy today!
Since this weekend around these parts we’re celebrating The Feast of the Blessed Sacrament (better known as The Portuguese Feast!), I’ll end this post with The Barbarians’ instrumental tribute to my favorite Portuguese sausage, “Linguica”! Til next time, peace out and rock on!
cracked rear viewer 