Willie Phillips Guitar Chester McCloud Bass Stanley Mayfield Tenor Sax Moe Jones Trumpet Stan Lee Tenor Sax Willie Cooper Drums Freddie Mayfield Congas
We are proud to announce the launch of our new imprint, EVER-SOUL Records, extending a careful selection of timeless vintage recordings to our customers. Daptone Records house of soul is musician-owned and run, as much as we see our reflection in the sound of bygone powerhouses like Stax and Motown, we also feel special empathy and affection for the smaller independent soul artist and effort. Daptone owes a special debt and feels a warm kinship to the example and aesthetic of these past artists and their recordings. Daptone’s Gabe Roth, Neal Sugarman, joined with David Griffiths in common accord to produce this past year’s Bob & Gene/ MODO project, in likeminded interest the trio hope to extend that vision here. So, Daptone goes forward, anxious to use this new arm of our company to tell the story of some of Soulful music’s little known sounds that continue to guide us today.
Our debut release, Hank Mullen’s ‘He Upset Your Dreams’ b/w ‘Listen’, is a record for which we have special affection . . . The A side is an up-tempo Grover concerning the saddest subject of all; not one, but two broken hearts.
Hank "Soulman" Mullen
He Upset Your Dreams b/w Listen
DAP 1035 (ES-101) NOW AVAILABLE
The Avengers formed in Buffalo, NY in the mid ‘60s and toured as a dynamic show with three very different vocalists: Hank Mullen, Moe Jones and Carlena Weaver; they released two singles in fall of 1970 on the homegrown/financed Audel imprint. Through then manager, all around music hustler and Macon, Georgia native James Reese, the Avengers traveled to Capricorn Records Studio (Macon, GA) for a session in October of ’70. “Listen” & “He Upset Your Dreams” were penned by two staff writers: Earl Simms & Alan Osborne for then Walden Artists and Productions, under the publishing Redwal Music (Redwal was formed in 1965 by Otis Redding, Phil & Alan Walden. Earl Simms was first Otis Redding’s, later Arthur Conley’s road manager and wrote Conley’s 1968 hit, ‘Funky Street’.) In the ‘70s the group toured the Midwest and the South as backing band for Eddie Floyd, Arthur Conley, Betty Wright and Betty Swan. Carlena additionally has a lone 45 on William Nunn’s MO-DO imprint and spent time singing with the Ikettes. Sadly, soon after the records release, Hank Mullen, then in his mid twenties, died tragically due to a heart attack.
Daptone is the place for quality soul and funk in the 2000s so when y'all go digging in the vaults we can be sure that whatever you find is gonna be scorching hot!
