the moondogs

Before The Mothers, Elliot Ingber had played in a band called The Moondogs. They excisted a short time (1958-1959) and recorded two local hits called 'Moondog' (Powers/Weaver) and Mooncat' (Taylor/Weaver).

Jett Powers' group The Moondogs consisted of Larry Taylor (later the bass player of Canned Heat), Derry Weaver (rhythm guitar), Elliot Ingber (later to become a member of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention) and Marshall Leeb (who was to become a member of the Teddy Bears and bassist with the Everly Brothers).

This info comes from the text of the backcover of a Jett Powers album. Unfortunateley, it is not clear whether these local hits were released on 7".

One year later, The Moondogs became The Gamblers, however without Jett Powers.

discography

More about the MOONDOGS and THE GAMBLERS.

Gamblers

Moon Dawg!  b/w LSD-25.......World Pacific 815....1960

Teen Machine b/w  Tonky.........Last Chance

The Gamblers. The members were:

• Derry Weaver (lead)

• Elliot Ingber (rhythm)

• Howard Hirsch (piano)

• Larry Taylor (bass)

• Rod Schaffer (drums)

There were several other artists who have been said to have played with this group. They are: Ted Marsh, Bruce Johnston (later with Beach Boys--played piano), Sandy Nelson (Teen Beat drummer) and Gary Paxton.The ³Moon Dawg! track was indeed recorded and released in 1960, technically a year before surf music´s official birth, but of the genre and style of the artform, so is included by most experts as historically belonging to the category. Like the Rumblers Church Key, Moon Dawg! was recorded by many other artists, including The Rhythm Rockers, The Challengers, and The Beach Boys. But I like the Gamblers version best.  And no, LSD-25 was not a stupid drug song.