Electric Hand Band
10 videos • 1,270 views • by magicianword The Bleus were a group from Gadsden, Alabama. Group members included Tony Lumpkin, Larry Sivley, Paul Smith, Terry Moore, Cliff Blackwood and Dana Loconto. After winning several local battle of the bands competitions, including one against a group called Hourglass, soon to be more famous as the Allman Brothers Band, the group signed with a booking agency and cut their first single on a local label. Soon they found themselves signed to the Amy/Mala/Bell family of record labels. A trio of releases on Amy and Bell followed, and this was the B side of the first of them. After a lack of frustration with their record company not promoting their recordings, they put out their next release under the group name The Colours, on a label Chips Moman set up specifically for them, Blue Seal Records. When this failed to chart, the group found themselves signed with Diamond records in New York City, who were on the verge of being sold to the Certron corporation. They had one fantastic single issued on Diamond before the label folded. After the single was released, Blackwood left the group to enlist in the U.S. Marines. His replacement was former Soul Machine drummer Bobby Sproul. Paul Smith and Terry Moore also decided to leave the group around this time. Dana Loconto switched instruments, going from keyboards to the guitar, while the group brought in Philip Howell as their new bass player. Their contract was sold to Certron who issued one further record, Electric Blues, under the group name The Electric Hand Band, which infuriated the group members. The band split up in 1971 but reunited briefly in the early 2000's. Due to some issues regarding some of the group members, their reunion was sadly short lived, and one of Alabama's best groups remains a thing of the past. Hopefully they will put any differences aside and continue to perform and record again. You can hear great records like this one live every night at www.topshelfoldies.org!