Phil Volk

Phil Volk was born in Burbank, California to Anne-Marie "Mimi" Wagner Volk, a former singer, dancer, and actress and George Norbert Volk, an actor and businessman. His father taught acting at the Pasadena Playhouse and appeared in some films. Volk was one of seven siblings, including brothers George and Danny, and sisters Irene, Marilou, Christine, and Jeannie. When he was a young boy, the family moved to a farm in Nampa, Idaho, about 20 miles west of Boise. Volk was encouraged to sing by his mother, Mimi. The first complete songs he learned were "(I'd Like to Get You on a) Slow Boat to China" and "If You Call Everybody Darling" (the latter a hit for The Andrews Sisters). At the age of 3, he recorded these songs in a carnival trailer. At Nampa Junior High School, Volk met Drake Levin, who had moved from Chicago, in their 9th grade journalism class. At a noon dance in the school gym, the girls asked Volk to sing along with a recording of "Donna". While Levin and the girls loved the performance, many male students did not and threatened to "pants" Volk and cut off his hair after school. Levin helped him find a way out by allowing Volk to climb down a drainpipe from the second floor to escape to his father's car. The two boys were friends from that point on. At age 14, Levin came to visit at the Volk family farm, where he and Volk wrote their first song together. The first time Volk saw Paul Revere perform with his band was at a variety show at Nampa High School. His older siblings were already well-acquainted with the group, who always drew large crowds when performing at area dances and clubs. Volk was impressed with the energy and showmanship of the band. ==Early bands==

The first band Volk joined was called The Classics. They formed in Nampa, Idaho at Nampa H.S. Volk played guitar and did some of the lead vocals. He remained with the band from 1960 to 1961. Revere had seen the Sir Winston's Trio on the television show and asked if they would be interested in becoming the house band while the Raiders went back to Portland, Oregon, their new home base. Revere insisted that the trio have a drummer if they were to play his club. Volk and Levin did not know of anyone that could join the group right away, so they asked Revere if they could borrow The Raiders' drummer, Mike 'Smitty' Smith, for the first week they played the club. During the summer of 1963, The Surfers played the popular Miramar Ballroom in Boise and were given the opportunity to open for Paul Revere and the Raiders, who had recently signed with Columbia Records, at the Boise National Guard Armory. Their popularity soared with the addition of the choreography that Volk and Levin created for the band, including their "guitar battles" that involved intricate slashing movements with their guitars, all the while dancing and playing. They worked diligently on the choreography and their dance steps later became a big part of The Raiders show as well. Their most famous guitar battle came during the song "Big Boy Pete", which they later performed on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. In August 1963, Revere auditioned Levin as a replacement for Charlie Coe, the Raiders lead guitarist. Levin, who had dropped out of high school, joined the band on the road. When Volk left for the University of Colorado on a scholarship in September 1963, the friends said goodbye at the Boise train station, not knowing that in little more than a year, Volk would also be joining The Raiders as the final piece in what would come to be considered the "classic" Raider line-up. ==Paul Revere & the Raiders==

In January 1965, Levin recommended Volk to Paul Revere, who needed a replacement bass player for Mike "Doc" Holliday, who was leaving The Raiders for personal reasons. Levin convinced Volk to leave school and join the band on tour. Volk sent his parents a message overseas, informing them of his decision. At the end of Volk's first concert appearance, lead singer Mark Lindsay "baptized" Volk with a jug of water, making him an official member of the Raiders. The album remained on the charts for 45 weeks. The first song on which the Raiders' new signature sound was evident was "Steppin' Out", written by Lindsay and Revere. Volk and Levin worked together on their guitar parts, with Levin coming up with a repeating lead line and Volk following with the same bass line that is played throughout the entire song. The song was the band's highest charted hit to date, peaking at #46 in August 1965. The band's biggest break proved to be a huge one. On the basis of their popularity in the Northwest where they outdrew Dick Clark's touring show The Caravan of Stars, The band also performed on many other television shows during Volk's tenure with the group, including Hullabaloo, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Colosseum, Milton Berle, Batman, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and The Hollywood Palace. Just Like Us! peaked at #11 on the Billboard charts and became the group's first album to go gold. The album's second single, "Just Like Me", became the group's first national hit and featured a distinctive, double-tracked guitar solo performed by Levin. Not willing to lose the momentum the national exposure of their television show provided, the group quickly recorded and released Midnight Ride, the first album to contain song writing contributions from all five members of the band. The single "Kicks" was the big hit from the album, reaching #4 on the Billboard charts. In November 1966, The Raiders released their fourth Columbia album, ''The Spirit of '67'', which proved to be the final Raider album to include work by all of the members of the "classic" Raider lineup. In addition to playing bass on "Community", Volk played rhythm guitar, with Levin on lead guitar, and a friend of Melcher's, Van Dyke Parks, contributing the organ part. was credited to the writing team of Melcher, Paul Revere and Mark Lindsay. Volk stated that the song was written at the Cielo Drive home of Melcher in the Beverly Glen section of Los Angeles. It was later to become infamous as the home where Sharon Tate was murdered by followers of Charles Manson. Some of the band members, including Volk, were spending a great deal of time there poring over ideas and jamming. Someone in the group said something like, "This is a good thing". After putting together some more lyrics with the others who were present and coming up with some chords for the song, Volk thought he would get partial writing credit along with Jim "Harpo" Valley, who was filling in while Levin was in the National Guard. But neither Volk nor Valley got any credit for helping to create the record. In April 1967, just a week after his older brother, Army Captain George Francis Volk, was killed in Vietnam, Volk, Levin, and Smith flew to New York from Los Angeles to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show. Although Levin was present for the taping, Revere had already hired guitarist Freddy Weller as his replacement and Levin did not appear on the program. During rehearsals, Volk showed Weller the steps he and Levin had made famous and Levin worked with Weller on his guitar parts. Although Volk had already completed half of the next Raider album, Revolution!, he did not receive credit for his contributions. ==Brotherhood==

In mid-1967, Volk, Levin, and Smith, along with organist Ron Collins, formed Brotherhood. However, the trio was being sued by both Columbia Records and Paul Revere which delayed RCA from releasing the group's first album, titled simply Brotherhood. By the time the legal situation was resolved, a full 18 months had passed. Volk incorporated the first recording he ever made as a child into the last song on side 1, "ChildSong", which also uses the voices and sounds of children playing in a park and school as part of the background. {{listen The final album, titled Brotherhood, Brotherhood, was released in 1969. This album was closer to straight out rock and roll and featured covers of several previously recorded songs, in addition to new songs by Volk and Levin. Among the covers, Volk says that John Phillips' "California Dreamin'" was recorded live in the studio by the band in 25 takes. Volk's favorite original song from the album is "Back Home Again" due to its a strong environmental message. Brotherhood disbanded later in 1969. The internet has helped to spark a new interest in the band. A two-CD set titled Brotherhood: The Complete Recordings was released on February 4, 2014. The liner notes are extensively updated. ==Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band==

Volk had several connections to former teen idol Rick Nelson. Volk's mother Mimi was the massage therapist for Nelson's mother Harriet, and Nelson's uncle Don was manager of Brotherhood. Nelson came to see The Brotherhood at one of their performances at a release party and complimented Volk on his singing and musicianship. The two started to socialize. In December 1969, Volk joined the Stone Canyon Band as Nelson's bassist, replacing Randy Meisner. Volk toured with the band for 7 months, including a performance with the band on The Johnny Cash Show. Philosophical differences, particularly over drug use, which Volk had renounced after the break-up of Brotherhood, caused him to leave the band. However, Volk credits Nelson with teaching him some new styles of finger-picking on the guitar that Volk still uses today. ==Later Appearances==

In 1970, at the request of Paul Revere, Volk briefly returned to the Raiders for four concert appearances as part of a tour with The Beach Boys. Revere was experimenting with having Freddy Weller and new bassist Keith Allison play lead and rhythm guitar, respectively. Volk took over playing bass for these concerts. ==Equipment==

The first guitar Volk played was a red, sunburst Harmony acoustic guitar, given to him by his parents for Christmas at age 13. When he joined Paul Revere & the Raiders, he was playing an Epiphone Newport bass. Shortly after, The Raiders were the first American band to be endorsed by Vox. The bass that Volk was given to play as part of the endorsement deal with Vox was the white Vox Phantom IV. However, Volk disliked the bass very much saying, "The neck was as big as a two by four. If you look at some pictures you'll see that I put a Fender Precision neck on it. I had to have it custom fitted into the slot where the neck goes. And sure enough, after doing that, I could play the thing, and it really had a good feel to it. If you go to Seattle and go to the EMP (Experience Music Project) Museum -- that bass is hanging there. And it has the Fender neck on it!" Wanting a better bass, Volk went to a guitar store in Los Angeles to purchase one. A young girl, looking to sell a Fender '62 Jazz bass to the owner of the store, walked in. The store owner was not interested, but Volk was. She offered to sell the bass guitar to Volk for $200 but she was not prepared to sell it immediately, needing it for a gig that evening. Volk also had a recording session that evening and struck a deal that she immediately sell the guitar to him, and he would loan her a brand new VOX Phantom bass which he had in the trunk of his car. The girl was to return the VOX bass to Volk the next day. Money and guitars were exchanged, and in a recent interview Volk acknowledged that he "never saw her again." Volk went on to record several of The Raiders biggest hits with the Fender bass, including "Kicks", "Hungry" and "Good Thing". He purchased a Höfner Club bass, using it primarily for television appearances because it was lighter and easier to carry. He did not use it much in the studio, because producer Terry Melcher preferred how the Fender bass sounded in recordings. Volk was presented with one of only 50 numbered Höfner Club basses a few years ago in tribute to his helping to popularize the model. Volk and Levin often stood on the amps, playing behind their backs, and dancing on top of the amps, which each stood nearly tall. There were several instances when the bandmates fell off the amps, so eventually they required spotters on their crew to catch them if they did. ==Other musical associations==

Following the end of his association with Rick Nelson, Volk went on to form a group called The Great Crowd. It consisted of 15 people, including a horn band and 4 female singers. They played at Disneyland and were recording on Lute Records. However, Volk's wife's former manager, who got them the job at Disneyland, asked them to scale back the number of group members. and his sisters, Jeannie and Marilou. A Broadway-style show, created by Anita Mann, called "A Blast From the Past", was Volk's next gig. It featured songs from the rock and roll era and debuted in Las Vegas in 1986, where it played until 1993. In 1994–95, the show originated in Lake Tahoe, and finally moved to Hawaii in 1996. Volk, Levin, and Smith played several dates together following the 1997 Raider reunion, but when Smith moved to Hawaii, the group was unable to continue. Volk and two former Raiders, Drake Levin and Keith Allison, as well as former members of The Grass Roots and The Buckinghams, formed a group called The American Rock All-Stars. They performed at various venues from 1998 to 2002. ==Fang and the Gang==

Volk's newest group is Fang and The Gang, with whom he recorded his latest album "Fang Reveres The Raiders", released in January 2005 on Sonic Wheel Records, his own label. The album consists of covers of all of The Raiders top 20 hits, plus Volk and the band revisit his own compositions for The Raiders, including "Why, Why, Why", "In My Community" and "Get It On". The album also includes covers of other artists' work, a new composition by Volk, and a Brotherhood song. The new version is harder rocking than the original. Volk calls it, "A Song for the World in Turmoil". It was coincidental to the message of the song that Osama bin Laden was killed on May 1, 2011, the same day the single was released. Volk stated, "We all share the fragile, little planet. We all need to work together, like Lennon said, 'Come Together' and 'Imagine all the people, livin' life in peace'. You know, that's a bigger vision and it's not only a vision that a lot of people have had, but it's also on a scriptural basis, that the world would be a better place if we'd all get on the right path". In November 2020, Volk released a 2-CD set called "Rocker", comprising 39 songs and covering five decades of his career. The songs include some by guest artists and members of Volk's bands through the years. It includes original music as well as cover versions of some of Volk's favorite tunes by artists who influenced him over the course of his career. ==Awards==

In 2007, Paul Revere and the Raiders were inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame. Former Raiders Volk and Mark Lindsay were on hand for the induction ceremony and performed a medley of Raider hits at the show put on for the ceremony. ==Personal life==

Volk married singer Tina Mason, whom he met on the set of Where the Action Is, on June 25, 1967. They had four children, Christian, Kelly, Brian, and Jessica, and resided in Las Vegas, Nevada. He and his wife were baptized as members of the Jehovah's Witnesses on July 17, 1970. Volk's uncle, character actor Jack Wagner, had a recurring role on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet as, "Jack, The Soda Jerk". Jeannie Snow is a vocalist with the Tommy Thompson Band in Las Vegas. == Discography ==

With Paul Revere & the Raiders Studio albums Singles ==References==