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BUY THE NOVELLES ALBUM "THAT DID IT!" FROM THE NOVELLES THEMSELVES !!!

Send Money Order [NO CHECKS] for $15.00 made payable to Chip Moore at:

The Novelles
c/o Chip Moore
P.O. Box 1468
Allyn, WA 98524

or call Chip at: (360) 277-9019

HOW IT ALL STARTED:
I remember it quite clearly. My band, the Sultans, had placed 2nd to this great group in a battle-of-the-bands the night before, the Novelles. I had found our match; I mean these guys were good! They had showmanship and great harmonies.

So out of all people, who did I see the next morning but the leader of that band - who just happens to be walking straight towards me, and no matter which way I turn, my ever elusive attempts at being lost are in vain. . . . and with a tap on the shoulder ... "Excuse me, but weren't you in that band last night?" Embarrassed having been beaten by Bob's band the night before I humbly replied "yes." "Well hey ya wanna join a good group . . . ?" The answer obviously did not require a whole lot of thought from any somewhat intelligent person. I mean what musician wouldn't want to be in the Novelles? [Porter Junior High School, Granada Hills, California, spring 1966]. "Practice tonight at 5:30. Call me - here's my number." I was 14-years old at the time and about to become the youngest and final member of the Novelles.

You see, all the other guys were in high school, a grade above me and attending Granada Hills High and Monroe High Schools while I was graduating from Porter Junior High. Therefore, when I saw that Bobby was not at his school but instead at mine, I suspected he was there for a good reason. However, I didn't know for sure until he actually asked if I wanted to join the group. It was the beginning of the most exciting times in my life.

NOVELLE'S BIOGRAPHY
The Novelles initially formed around 1964-1965 in the San Fernando Valley. The San Fernando Valley is about 20 miles northwest of Los Angeles in Southern California, in the United States. The first member of the Novelles was bassist Terry Tibbetts who began a band while attending junior high school. Tragically, the drummer of that band was electrocuted and died after a portable pool collapsed and the filter fell into the water.

Bob Archer was eventually recruited by Terry who later brought in drummer Chip Moore. "He told me I was the drummer and to sing a song," says Chip. "I was just beginning to learn how to play drums and I thought to myself ... wow, play the drums and sing too ? Okay."

Finally, in the spring of 1966 ... Ed Benson was brought into the group. That was all it took - the chemistry was perfect and the band took shape. From that time on, the Novelles would begin their rapid climb to popularity. "We were all young, seriously dedicated musicians ... we were all determined to sound good. We knew we were talented for our ages and we were always striving for perfection. Our personalities merged nicely and we worked very well together" said a convinced Ed Benson. It wasn't long before the Novelles were making up to $1,000.00 a week playing only about eight hours a week. "We were always playing ... all over the valley and Los Angeles, even up to Central California [Vandenberg AFB]" recalls Ed Benson.

"I loved the idea of joining the Novelles. My step-father up to that time would have me work on the yard everyday of the week when I'd get home from school with often harder work on the weekends as well. But when the Novelles recruited me, it required a lot of my time and therefore got me out of doing all that very hard labour," says Ed Benson. "I loved it when Bobby told me we had to practice at least twice a week on the weekends."

"'We knew we were good and were always striving to sound tighter with more and better harmonies. We would sometimes spend up to an hour working on our vocal arrangements and harmonies, often without instruments ... over and over until our voices were perfectly blended. We were very self-critical. We were doing then what the Eagles do now in their so-called 'Circle of Fear,' where they practice their vocals with only acoustic guitars.'"

Ed continues ... "Furthermore, we really got to know one another and did a lot together ... had a lot of fun. We were like best friends, played practical jokes, clowned around, had common interests and often did fun things together. Bob was like a uniter in that he wanted us to be friends, to get to know one another ... Archer knew what he was doing ...." The Novelles were together solid for a healthy five years.

Chip and Terry lived in Mission Hills while Ed and Bob lived in Granada Hills. "I remember we used to have our rehearsals at Bob Archer's home on San Fernando Mission near Havenhurst Avenue." Ed states, "I was dating my high school sweetheart Debbie Davies who had a big influence on all my music. This [as with the other members as well] was reflected in the band's style." "Debbie had a girlfriend that knew Phil Ramone, states Ed - a big-time producer, and she was always giving me promo albums of popular groups such as The Byrds, The Association, The Grass Roots, Chad and Jeremy and other top selling artists." "I remember I used to spend hours at home playing these vinyl records ... trying to figure out new songs so I could bring them to practice. Debbie kept the music coming and it became a part-time job learning new songs at home." "Music was my life and I was living it all the time."

The Novelles did it all, short of making it total big-time. They won a battle-of the-bands at the Hullabaloo Club in Hollywood [August 19, 1967] and were flown to Trenton, New Jersey where they stayed for about a week. They placed 2nd out of the United States at that battle-of-the-bands. This was out of 16 bands selected from 16 different geographical areas across the United States. They played every popular night club in Hollywood with big time groups such as Three Dog Night, Lee Michaels, the Strawberry Alarm Clock, Black Oak Arkansas, The Seeds and The Merry-Go-Round, featuring Emitt Rhodes at the Hullabaloo Club located at 6230 Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, California during 1967. The band later flew up to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with Spanky Wilson to do a benefit for Martin Luther King. They played from San Diego to Central California from the desert to the mountains. They played the entire Mormon Church circuit. They played at every high school in the San Fernando Valley and most of Los Angeles. They played at least twice a week every week for four years. They were the best band in the San Fernando Valley. They did benefits for Father Garrett and other charities. They also played in a battle-of-the-bands at Simi High School back in the spring of 1967 and came in first; as a matter of fact the Novelles were in a lot of battle-of-the-bands and only once placed lower than 1st place - 2nd place at the then Pacific Ocean Park on the popular Santa Monica Pier in the summer of 1966 - "I was 14-years old" Ed remarks.

There were often articles and pictures of the Novelles appearing in the Daily News and Los Angeles Times telling where the group had performed or where they were performing, as well as other upcoming, local valley events where they would be. "We're working on getting pictures and other memorabilia on this MySpace site ... please be patient." "This was a long, long time ago."

IN THE RECORDING STUDIO:
Prior to the making of the album, "That Did It!” the Novelles had already spent quite a bit of time in the studio. Richard Monda, a producer and singer/songwriter/recording artist himself, took the Novelles into the studio quite often where they did some pretty crazy stuff [Trains Don't Go There No More]. In addition, they also recorded some very melodic songs, such as "Age of Innocence" and "Shades of Night" which were also written by Richard Monda [d.b.a., a.k.a. "Daddy Dewdrop"].

Daddy Dewdrop is a pseudonym for an American songwriter named Dick Monda (born Cleveland, Ohio, 1940), backed up by some studio musicians, including Tom Hensley who later became the musical director for Neil Diamond and Butch Rillera who later became a member of the group Redbone. Monda had written the song "Chick-A-Boom" for the cartoon, Sabrina and the Groovie Goolies. The song was re-recorded and distributed by Sunflower Records, and released a full album of novelty based tunes, including "Chick-A-Boom" and was retitled "Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It)". The tune was a hit in the US, peaking on the Billboard Pop Singles chart at 9 in 1971, and 3 on Cashbox. [1] A second single, "Fox Huntin'/The March of the White Corpuscles" and also his further release, "Nanu Nanu (I Wanna' Get Funky With You)" from 1978. Richard Monda had earlier also founded and worked with a popular Los Angeles band the Novelles back in the mid to late 1960s, who later recorded an album on Mothers Records under the supervision of H.B. Barnum. The album, "That Did It!" contains a song on it titled "Age of Innocence," which was written and produced by Richard Monda. Therefore, Richard Monda [Daddy Dewdrop], despite rumors to the contrary, discovered the Novelles before H.B. Barnum did. Monda went on to write hits for other artists such as Ringo Starr, Kenny Rogers, Tom Jones, Englebert Humperdinck, Sammy Davis Jr., and many others. The Novelles in 1968 recorded the album "That Did It!," which contained Richard Monda's "Age of Innocence." The album, "That Did It!" was never promoted by Barnum during the 1960s. Then 40-years later "That Did It!" was re-released in the United Kingdom in July 2005 and again in December 2007. Monda continues to record, recently releasing a CD entitled This Time under his real name M. Richard Monda[2] and also continues to record as Daddy Dewdrop. (1)

Probably the best promo the Novelles ever did was a song by Richard [Dick] Monda titled, "Shades of Night" which features a flute part and solo. "Why we didn't put these two songs [Shades of Night and Trains Don't Go There] on the album I can't recall, but they are two of the Novell's best songs with great harmonies, music and lyrics." "Those two songs should have been on our That Did It! album instead of the covers we did,” says Ed Benson. "I guess we just didn't think of it ... I'm really not quite sure." "I would like to work with Mr. Monda on the possibility that these audio tapes or promos may possibly still exist, and if so, getting them onto a CD." "Age of Innocence" is on the Novelles That Did It! album, but it was originally recorded prior to the "That Did It" album version at a recording studio Richard Monda took the Novelles into earlier. Hence, there is an alternate version of "Age of Innocence" somewhere in archives. It was recorded when Bob and Ed both had 12-string Rickenbacker’s as opposed to the generic one done at Paramount Studios which is when Bobby had gotten his Gretsch 6-string. Dick actually did the original "Age of Innocence" and was responsible for its existence. In addition, "Trains Don't Go There No More" was also written/produced by Richard Monda as well. This particular, unreleased song featured Chip playing the Xylophone. The song was written by Monda back in 1965 ! "That song has to be about the corrupt politics in our country," adds Ed, “The words are really heavy in that Monda song ... I'd love to bring it back now." [i.e. "I hear the words you're saying. And though they sound sincere, they don't ring true, time has changed the meaning of the things we do. (cont.) Everywhere I look there's trouble ... people saying this ... people saying that - and the voice of authority is talking through his hat" 1966]. "The final mixed-down version Monda did, I thought, was a music breakthrough - a phenomenal piece of art," cites Ed Benson. "Unfortunately, some of our most experimental and contemporary material was never released."

Furthermore, there is still yet another single the Novelles did at another studio which was sung by drummer Chip Moore. The song was titled "Pink Lady" and is very interesting in that it speaks of an "amaryllis plant and it's affect on one's mind and body." "Many of our songs represented themes, political views [Trains Don't Go There], romance and ideas and were often visionary," Ed remarks. "There must be others too as Pink Lady must have had a B-side."

When the boys recorded That Did It! at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California it was done in two days. "We were that polished," adds Ed. "We laid down the instrument track then went back and added the vocals ... it was that simple ... that basic. There weren't any complicated overdubs." That Did It! was finished on the second day in the studio. On the Lee Michaels' cover song Love, Ed used Bob's Gretsch to do the guitar part and solo while Bob played the keyboard. There is no 12-string in that song. "We didn't need a lot of tracks and we didn't want a bunch of muddled over-dubbed tracks, so we did as much as we could on a limited amount of tracks." What you hear on the CD is how the Novelles sounded when they performed live. They sounded just like the record.

COLOURFUL STAGE SHOWS:

Performing live at the Hullabaloo where we came in first place. August 19, 1967.

One major group feature you can't see on this MySpace site are the dress, step and dance and themes the Novelles incorporated into their sets when performing. "There were a lot of shows we'd often do while on stage. We had professional step routines we used for one of our sets. Often we all dressed the same wearing long-tailed jackets with ruffled George Washington-like white shirts, wigs . . . somewhat like Paul Revere and the Raiders used to wear. On another, Bob would play the fiddle in a freak-out type show with strobe lights and all - then we all dressed different this set in colourful psychedelic-type outfits."

PRACTICES:
We practiced at least twice a week - there was never any question about that however, if we had a battle-of-the-bands or big gig coming up we would practice up to four or five times a week and months before the event. Moreover, we were certainly polished when we performed. We even played at "Nudist Colonies" in the Southern California Mountains. Now that was strange but "no" we did not have to play in the nude! However, one night we did get naked and went into the pool when most people were asleep . . . just being kids. "Actually, we were also all very good friends and did a lot together, like a family !!!" "At one point Ed Benson was living with the drummer Chip."
(1) Source: Wikipedia

Chip Moore now.

Ed Benson now.

Dr. Robert Archer now.

. . . and . . . Mr. Terry Tibbetts

Bobby Archer was the leader of the band and it wasn't long before he and the other band members, especially Chip and Ed, began writing some nice original tunes together, i.e. "Glasshouse" which was initially thought up by Ed Benson while "Only You" was conceived by Chip and Ed and sung by Chip. "Almost There" and "Can't You See It" were excellent songs Bobby brought to band practice. I feel "Time to Show Her" should be released as a single now. "I spoke with Bob today and he's talking about doing some re-mixing in the future, nothing specific as there is a lot going on in our lives presently." The song "Time to Show Her" has so many hooks you could catch a fish with it and the counterpoint effect of Bob's six-string Gretsch and Ed's 12-string Rickenbacker adds a very unique backdrop to the song. Furthermore, Chip uses a lot of subtle and unique tempo changes and shuffles throughout the song ... he keeps the song moving and interesting. Terry's bass helps carry the song and is equally interesting. In reality, ideas were put forth by all members of the band. "No single member wrote songs for the band - we wrote together.""We'd bring our ideas to practice and then assemble the song together - as a group should."

NOVELLE'S BIOGRAPHY END:
Terry Tibbetts the steadfast bass player eventually left the band in late 1969 and moved to Box Canyon in Chatsworth then finally to Oregon. Bobby Troll, another bassist was bought in to take Terry's place. For the first time in six years there had been a personnel change in the Novelles. The band’s personnel changes became more evident by 1970 when Ed Benson left the band to get married. "The next thing I knew, I was wearing a suit to work every day and married with two children on the way.”

So as for the Novelles ... the demise was quite evident. However that was not the end of the story ....
Here is a quote from drummer Chip [Frederic] Moore as to what happened to the Novelles after Ed Benson left:

"Went on tour with Bob Stephen, Bob Trow, and Bob Archer...Jay Rubin was roadie/driver. "Plymouth Rock" was the name of that band. A lot of fun (Lori, Chip's wife is typing for slow poke Chip).

Went across the USA in a Wonderbread truck played a lot on the East Coast. Disco hit and I stopped playing for awhile. Then I ended up in a Led Zeppelin party band called "Sweet Leaf" ! Again, a lot of fun ! Then I got married and my wife Lori got knocked up..LOL

Was already working for Ed's dad ... Greg Biller. Went into Videotape production to support my family. What an adventure! The adventure brought me to Washington State for 21 years now. It's official , I am a Washingtonian, beach bum, and funologist! Excellent !"

40-YEARS LATER:
"I was finally successful in finding Bob Archer on October 31, 2008 and Chip Moore on November 18, 2008. Then ... finally, on Wednesday, March 11, 2009 I received a call from our drummer Chip and he informed me he had found Terry, the Novelles bass player. We both got a chance to chat with Terry for awhile. He's the same old Terry. Terry apparently owns a 15-acre parcel of land in extreme southwest Oregon. He is married and sounded very happy, and has his own Internet Marketing business. He was surprised to hear our album had been selling on the market."

People have asked what happened to the Novelles. This group had what I believe to be a hit album and they would have stayed together had the album been promoted as promised by H.B. Barnum himself. But H.B. Barnum was pretty busy, too busy for us and it's too bad because the album probably would have done quite well. Today, and for the last four years it's been selling in the United Kingdom as an "Import" and it's 40-years old !!! It was released in the United Kingdom twice, first on July 12, 2005 and again on December 21, 2007. One thing for sure: The Novelles certainly had a lot of talent, wrote good songs, had great harmonies, had good showmanship and on top of that they were all really nice guys. And you just never know what will happen in the future. Even we don't know that yet. But then again, we are older now - have pretty much gone our own paths and a lot of distance separates all of us.

Anyway, enjoy us. We had fun and the people who followed us had fun too. It's a great memory, too great to leave behind.

1. Almost There - B. Archer, C. Moore, E. Benson, T. Tibbetts
2. Love - L. Michaels
3. Age of Innocence - R. Monda [a.k.a. Daddy Dewdrop]
4. Glass House - E. Benson, B. Archer, C. Moore, T. Tibbetts
5. Sitting on the Dock of the Bay - O. Redding
6. Pink Wall Paper - B. Archer, C. Moore, E. Benson, T. Tibbetts
7. Sunshine of Your Love - E. Clapton
8. Tomorrow's Yesterday - E. Benson, B. Archer, C. Moore, T. Tibbetts
9. Only You - E. Benson, C. Moore, B. Archer, T. Tibbetts
10. Can't Ya See It - B. Archer, E. Benson, C. Moore, T. Tibbetts
11. Time to Show Her - B. Archer, E. Benson, C. Moore, T. Tibbetts

Bob Archer - 6 & 12-string guitar, vocals, keyboards and violin [fiddle]
Ed Benson - 12 & 6-string guitar, vocals, keyboard
Chip Moore - Drums, vocals, percussion, vibes, etc.
Terry Tibbetts - Bass guitar, vocals

The album was released twice in the United Kingdom. The first release was on July 12, 2005 and then it was re-released again on December 21, 2007 by a record company called "Radioactive." Ed Benson states, "One day I was listening to Pandora.com and suddenly one of our songs started playing. I couldn't believe my ears!" "Then I learned Amazon was selling it. We haven't seen one penny from the sales which has been worldwide."

Hell ... if you want to buy the album ... buy it from us. Call Ed Benson at 818-468-2568 ... we'll get one out cheaper than you'll find on the Internet.

Sincerely,

ed benson
bob archer
chip moore
terry tibbetts

Also . . . special thanks to Drop in the United Kingdom for setting up a Novelles MySpace Music site prior to this one. You may notice hers [Pink Album under Friends] was actually up about a year before this one. You can find more songs on her "Novelles" site. Just click on the pink album cover under "friends." Thanks Roxanne for letting me know what was going on and much more importantly for your support of us !!!

In addition, special thanks to Lori and Chip Moore for their help and inspiration and for believing "it was possible." Without them, we would never had pursued our Royalties. Furthermore, Richard Monda [d.b.a. Daddy Dewdrop] for his continuing support of the Novelles in the beginning when it was happening and again in the end when it still is happening. To the other band members for simply being good friends and brothers to me [remember, I was an only child!]. This is the very least I could do for us, you guys.

REVIEWS:
From: http://www.shindig-magazine.com/reviews-oct2006-1.html

THE NOVELLES That Did It (Radioactive; CD) There is, an as yet un-reissued, self-titled album by a US band called The Messengers on Rare Earth from the late '60s. It's a mixture of originals and covers but with the covers done so vibrantly that you think they're originals! The Novelles That Did It is a similar record and sounds like a second half of the Messengers album if it were a double. Originally issued on the Mothers Records label in 1968, That Did It is 34 minutes long and comprises 11 tracks. These include covers of 'Sitting on the Dock of the Bay' which is a great pop version and 'Sunshine of Your Love' which is admittedly rather thin. Everything else is great guitar and harmonized vocal driven pop-rock. 'Almost There' was a single, and is a good punchy track with tempo changes. 'Pink Wallpaper', 'Age of Innocence', 'Only You' [not The Platters song!] and 'Glass House' all stand out as well constructed and delivered songs by what sounds like a pretty youthful group. They have a delightful period naivety to their sound and a lot of it sounds like it could be used as sound library hire-out material for insertion into US TV series of the day. Overall, it's a very good and undiscovered pop album with enough guitar attack and melodic hooks to make this a very worthwhile addition to your collection. www.radioactiverecords.com Paul Martin Ed: Hart and Boyce were behind these young pretty boys, clearly hoping for another Monkees. If you want Monkees-esque US pop, with a hint of garage and psych. Go for it!

From Lajos Sound, LTD.
http://lajso-lajsosoundltd.blogspot.com/2007/12/novells-that-did-it-1968.html

The album is a mixture of originals and covers-- for instance "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" which is a great pop version and "Sunshine of Your Love" which is pretty lame. Just about all the other songs have fantastic guitar, cool harmonized vocals, very competent drums, and melodic hooks. It's pop/psych but some tracks sound more garage-y, like Pink Wall Paper.

According to Shindig Magazine: " 'Almost There' was a single, and is a good punchy track with tempo changes. 'Pink Wallpaper', 'Age of Innocence', 'Only You' (not The Platters song!) and 'Glass House' all stand out as well constructed and delivered songs by what sounds like a pretty youthful group. They have a delightful period naivety to their sound and a lot of it sounds like it could be used as sound library hire-out material for insertion into US TV series of the day. Overall, it's a very good and undiscovered pop album with enough guitar attack and melodic hooks to make this a very worthwhile addition to your collection."

The band members are Bob Archer, Ed Benson, Terry Tibbetts, and Chip Moore-- but don't ask me who's playing what because the liner notes are of little help. Boyce & Hart wrote them, saying it was the first time they'd ever written liner notes, and well, it shows: "There's not too much we can say except we've listened and enjoyed the contents and wish the boys a very successful musical career and hope they have hit after hit and hope that you, the public, pick up on it too and can dig it." (There's more to the notes than that, but not much.)

One of the reviews I found of our group on the website [by search] is as follows:

Artist: NOVELLS, THE
Title: That Did It!
Label: RADIOACTIVE RECORDS (UK)
Format: CD
Price: $18.00
Catalog : RR 128CD

GROUP BIOGRAPHY

"Discovered by recording artist, producer and arranger H.B. Barnum and signed to his Mothers Records label in 1968, The Novells, an LA-based outfit, managed to release That Did It! and a couple of singles before calling it a day a year later. Barnum, whose arrangement credits included work for Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Etta James, The Supremes, The Temptations and Aretha Franklin, had clearly taken on more than he could chew with The Novells whose album, That Did It! was a nice blend of pop melodies and heavier rock -- not Barnum's thing at all, although he did manage to convince the band to do a cover of Otis Redding 'Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay.' There's also some tasty fuzz guitar on tracks such as 'Love' (a Lee Michaels cover) but the band seemed unable to decide on exactly what their musical identity was, as they were a passable pop group as well as a serious rock band and evidence of their ability to be both is found here in ample supply. This is a surprisingly good, though slightly confused album, but one that is still worthy of investigation."

On May 2, 2009, I discovered an unsealed copy of the Novelles, "That Did It! vinyl album. Hey guys: Can you believe that.... ? There is still a factory sealed copy of our record around and on sale [for God knows how much]? Couldn't help but pass it on:

http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=422043

Copyright (c) 1965 - 2009 the Novelles a Happening, Inc.
Property of the Novelles a Happening, Inc.
That Did It! Recorded at Paramount Studios, Hollywood, California, USA
That Did It! Productions [Formerly Mothers Records]
Copyright Reserved, Any Copying, Selling, Distribution or Duplication without the written consent of The Novelles a Happening, Inc. strictly forbidden

Last Updated: 12-15-2009 at 17:30 hours

[This site was conceived, constructed, developed and is managed by rhythm guitarist Ed Benson. It is included with quotes from band members. It is complete through the eyes of Ed Benson, yet is subject to different points of view through the other musicians Bob, Chip and Terry who were also part of the band. Any additions from band members or other is welcome and greatly appreciated. It is the only Novell(e)s site and is the most accurate source to date.]