From a reliable source, I've learned that the Ventures as a group are no more at present. The group was carrying on with Bob Spalding on lead guitar, Ian Spalding on Rhythm guitar. Luke Griffin on bass, and Leon Taylor on drums. The sale of the name and assets happened late last year and their contract to play and record as The Ventures was not renewed by Taylor, Wilson and Associates and the new owners.

Apparently, the estates of Don Wilson, Bob Bogle, and Mel Taylor sold the name and assets to Other Tunes Music LLC. So, if you are lucky, maybe you'll hear a piece of a Ventures tune on a beer, soft drink, or car commercial. The present four Ventures cannot perform or record as the Ventures anymore and have sadly disbanded.
The Ventures website is being retired - the merchandise, at present, can't be had.

So - no more seeing the group at a club or other venue - no Japan tours anymore. There's a revenue killer for you.
I don't understand the mindset of some people. Some serious dislikes had to be happening for the present members all getting blindsided with this sale - even Leon Taylor.

Well - I have my Mosrites, CDs, songbooks, and my knowledge of playing a large subset of the Ventures catalog.

This hits me worse than when the Beatles broke up.
I had "tHey Never Came Back" playing as I wrote this.

J Mo'

Last edited: May 30, 2024 07:18:18

This breaks my heart. I loved seeing them live. Thankfully i still have the awesome live videos of them on my phone and them all sighning my Aria Ventures 45th anniversary guitar

shake_n_stomp wrote:

I say this with tons of respect for the impact The Ventures had (and still have today)...but when Don Wilson retired, it seemed to me that anything further under The Ventures name would effectively be a tribute act. Not that I have any say in it whatsoever, but I wonder if labelling themselves as such would have added to their credibility. I think it is wonderful that the Ventures music is still being played live and fans get to hear the music, but is it really "The Ventures"?
My opinions aside, I have no doubt that the present musicians work very hard and are dedicated to honouring the Ventures body of material so it is a shame that things are stopping. I wish them all the best.

Totally agree, this band is a tribute, The Ventures have left the building some years ago and Don turned off the lights. In any case all the best wishes the the musicians that were doing the great tribute! But probably that’s a time to move forward for them.

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Last edited: May 28, 2024 01:28:42

To address some points made:
This last incarnation of the Ventures was a slight cut above a typical tribute band. Leon Taylor is the son of the late Mel Taylor, the primary Ventures drummer. Mel actually groomed his son as a replacement when he was thinking of retiring. Sadly, Mel really "retired" and Leon took the reins as drummer. He played 30+ years with them. He was the link to the original band when Bob and Don passed away.

Bob Spalding took over the lead guitar role in a bad fix the Ventures found themselves in circa 1979-1980. Nokie Edwards took ill - on stage no less - and had to have surgery. Bob flew to the NYC area and holed up with Don and Bob over the weekend in a hotel to learn lead guitar for their setlist. He had to have something on the ball there, I should think. They played NYC and the surrounding area in the ensuing weeks. I caught the act; it was more than OK in my book. Bob became known as the "Fifth Venture". He played in excess of 45 years with the original group. So again, a link to original lineup. That's a bit of a cut above the usual "tribute-act-composed-of-strangers" concept, in my opinion.

None of us last forever. I agree that the Ventures music will live on. It lived a bit longer as a live act thanks to the last go around of the group.

J Mo'

Last edited: May 28, 2024 09:17:43

That's a real shame. I thought the album they put out last year was pretty good - I'll spin it today in their honor ... as well as some older vinyl I've got here

It's a bummer that it came down - apparently? - to a business decision rather than an artistic one. I get where the guys are, though - nobody wants to fight a corporation for very long.

The Ventures are dead ... long live The Ventures!

--
Project: MAYHEM by Hypersonic Secret now available!

Many older musicians are selling their music to big corporations these days for big payouts but this is the first time I've heard of the new owners putting a live band out of business. That is sad. Long live the Ventures!

Patrick

ElMonstroPorFavor wrote:

...Venturesmania does The Ventures better than they were doing it.

You are too kind! We did have some fun doing it last weekend at a private party!

• Surfbeatnik

I wonder if this further pushes the Walk Don't Run documentary into limbo.

https://www.walkdontrunmovie.com/

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JohnnyMosrite wrote:

Synchro,

So the concept of The Ventures, IMHO, lived on for a time, even after Don Wilson left, but eventually came to its end. As grisly as this sounds, sometimes artists and bands are worth more dead than alive.

Let's address that notion with some hard facts:
The band came to its end by design; not by "natural causes".
The sale to Other Tunes Music was done by Taylor, Wilson, and Associates, spearheaded - quite covertly - by Fiona Taylor, wife number-who-the-hell-knows of Mel Taylor. Drummer Leon Taylor was totally unaware, as were the other members, that the Ventures name and assets were being sold. Who does that to a stepson, the son of your late husband? Leon, like the other members, were all blindsided by the sale when their contract was not going to be renewed. This all indicates some serious animus going on behind the scenes. The premise that artists are worth more dead just isn't germane here. The Ventures kept going on for years without Nokie or Gerry. The four present members were very much alive and generating tour and CD income for "the company".

But - OK - it is decided to retire the band. For 30 years of service (Leon) and 45 years of service (Bob Spalding) to the Ventures, would it have been better to give maybe a notice of intended sale and maybe a year's notice to the company's "employees" (the Ventures) instead of having them waking up one day to not having a livelihood anymore?

Easy and correct answer is "YES!" It shows some class and respect.

As for the George Harrison "All Things Must Pass" cliche:
Yes, we all come and go. But - we can let things pass ourselves, naturally (Nature boy Harrison would probably agree) and don't need force or subterfuge to assist in that regard, do we?

My point of view, for what it's worth.
J Mo'

I am in no way commenting on whether this was done with consideration for the musicians involved. I’m not a fan of how this happened. But, it would appear that The Ventures, as live performing entity no longer exist. I’m sorry to hear this, but this is what happened.

Some years ago, I saw a band whose name reflected a connection to a very famous one hit wonder band from years ago. They were an excellent band and definitely worth going to see. The connection to the famous band is that one member had been a replacement in this band, many years ago. They came as close as possible to the original band’s name, and did an excellent cover of that one hit. I feel as if they are well within their rights, but if you went to see this band you were seeing no one who was connected with the original recording; the song that had made the band’s name famous.

No one was being deprived of any income because of this. The original band probably does not exist in any meaningful way, at this point in time, and the one member who had been a replacement player in the original band was using what he had at hand, to promote his endeavor. To the best of my understanding, they were on fire ground, legally.

But what do you do with a band when it’s no longer the same group of people. Bands are losing members to aging, retirement, even death. At what point is there nothing left to tie a band to its original identity. One of my favorite bands is Chicago, which has existed since the latter ‘60s. Some members have left, at least one has died (in 1978) and the band changed forever, thereafter. If I went to see Chicago I wouldn’t be watching the band I listened to as a teen. That band hasn’t existed for many years now.

I was also a fan of The Eagles, from the first time I heard the intro to Take It Easy, in 1972. I saw them live after Leadon and Meisner had left, and they were still great, but it wasn’t the band that recorded Take It Easy. To me, The Eagles best lineup was Frey, Henley, Meisner, Leadon and Felder, and even that lineup was not original. If they were playing a concert nearby, I wouldn’t bother going. At this point they no longer command my attention. I support their right to tour, and to play their old songs, but, speaking only for myself, the moment has passed, just as it has for Chicago.

If I had the chance to talk music with Don Felder or James Pankow over a cup of coffee, I’d jump through hoops to be there, because I would find that rewarding, but IMHO, at a certain point, bands can lose their momentum, as members leave. My own band, essentially, did that, and we narrowed our setlists and eventually just became a tribute to our own band. We could rehearse for two hours and perform our regulars well enough to please a crowd, but to really get back in the saddle, we’d need some fresh material.

That last sentence is a mouthful. Bands can easily become hidebound to their prior works. I can come up with new material, but if someone comes expecting me to sing Memphis or play Pipeline, I need to give due consideration to the desires of the audience. For a nobody cover band in SE Arizona, that’s not much of a problem, but for a band with a string of hits it becomes a much bigger problem. Andy Williams had to sing Moon River every performance, Roger Miller had to do King of the Road and Glen Campbell had to do Wichita Lineman. Undoubtedly, the Ventures had a lot of songs to revisit, given their vast back-catalog.

Sometimes, it’s just time to say goodbye. I miss the fact that The Ventures are gone, but they had a good run.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

ArtS wrote:

Good thing is, here in the surf community we know they can reform as a band, rename themselves something like "Walk Don't Run" (ignoring the Boston band with that name) and promote their tie to the original band.

But what if they already did that?

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