ORIGINAL MEMBERS: 1964-1973
GEORGE NAPOLITANO- Guitar;
JERRY SCOTTI- Guitar;
JOE SIRICO- Bass Guitar;
FRED DeRUBEIS- Drums;
JOE LIOTTA- Vox Continental Organ:1964- 1969;
DOMINIC COPPOLA- Guitar: 1964-65 & 1969- 1973;
BILLY SHEEHAN- Lead singer- 1967- 1969;
"LURCH" LUIS PAGAN- Lead singer 1969;
AL "BINO' TESSITORE- Lead singer- 1969- 1973;
BILL TURNER (TRIMARCO)- Guitar- 1969- 1973;
JOEY HUSSTEGE- Lead singer 1969- 1973;
OTHER MUSICIANS who performed as part of the Ox-Bow Incident at various times include:
Richie Cervera-Maracas; Jerome Rallo-Conga Drum (for 2 days until he jumped ship at St Thomas); Jackie Napolitano- Singer on cruise aboard the Leonardo DaVinci ;Tony Dadiego- Organ: Ronnie Stern-Organ; Billy Shalder- Guitar/Singer; Tippy- Drums;Vinny Lozopone-Drums; Eddie Samarco- Bass; Joe "Scrach:- singer; James Johnson-Singer; Darlene DeSantis-Singer (At 25th year Highland Lakes Reunion Show 1989); Bobby DiScala-Guitar (At 25th year Highland Lakes Reunion Show 1989)
Influences
The Beatles;
The Dave Clark 5;
The Animals;
The Rascals;
R&B
The Ox-Bow Incident was originally know as the Creations. The Creations were formed in 1964 in Brooklyn, New York.
Watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show convinced members George Napolitano, Fred DeRubeis, Jerry Scotti and Dominic Coppola that they wanted to play music also. Friends Joey Sirico and Joe Liotta had the same desire and we all learned how to play our instruments at the same time thanks to the help of Pete Frias. Pete taught every one of us how to play and was instrumental in giving us the incentive and drive to learn and form a group.
After meeting manager Bob Herin, he booked us to play on a show promoted by the famous NY DJ "Murray the K" at the Brooklyn Fox Theatre. It was on a Saturday in March 1965 and that day we were really on! It was our first big break and to be able to play on the same stage where we had seen so many legends perform while growing up was quite a thrill. Also performing that day was the Chambers Brothers. After finishing our set we auditioned to be the house band for Jack Spector and the WMCA "Good Guys" and we beat out several other groups at the audition. After this we performed nearly every weekend at "Good Guy" shows around the area sharing the stage with such groups as the Pigeons who later bacame the Vanilla Fudge, the Hassles featuring Billy Joel and Liberty Devito, the Vagrants with lead guitarist Leslie West, the 1910 Fruit Gum Company, the Ohio Express and numerous others. At the shows we would play our own songs as well as back up artists like Neil Sedaka, Tommy James, The Shirelles, JJ Jackson, Jimmy Jones, Lenny Welch, the Jive 5, The Crystals, the Shangra-Las, Chubby Checker and many other sixties acts and performers. This added exposure helped us tremendously and we were now on our way to becoming one of the better known groups in New York.
The original line-up consisted of George Napolitano, Jerry Scotti, Fred DeRubeis, Joe Liotta and Dominic Copolla. Not long afterwards Joe Sirico replaced Jerry Scotti, but he returned a few months later replacing Dominic Copolla.
In 1967 lead singer Billy Sheehan joined the group and with the addition of Billy we really took off. Early in 1968 we recorded "Reach Out" for Smash Records but right after we finished laying down the tracks Billy was drafted into the army. Al Tessitore was then brought on board as the lead vocalist and he recorded Harmonica Man, the B side of our release on Smash Records. Our follow up was "She's Gone" with Al Tessitore on lead vocals. The B side was "You Can't Make Love By Yourself" which was sung by Al and "Lurch" Luis Pagan.
In 1969 the original line-up disbanded for a variety of reasons. However George Napolitano and Joe Sirico along with drummer Vinny Lozopone recruited 3 other musicians and recorded "Love Sweet Love" / "I'd Stumble and Fall" on Avco Embassy Records as the Ox-Bow Incident.
When the new release failed to garnish any air play George Napolitano reformed the Ox-Bow Incident with Fred DeRubeis, Dominic Coppola and Al Tessitore adding Billy Trimarco on guitar and Joey Husstege on vocals. During this time original members Joe Sirico and Jerry Scotti also performed as part of the Ox-Bow Incident on many occasions. This line-up performed until 1973 when the group disbanded. However the band members have kept in touch throughout the years and continues to play together to this day. In fact in June , 2008 all of the original members recorded seven songs for a "Then and Now" retrospective and 2 of the recordings can be heard on this page.
In January 2009 we learned that Norton Records wanted to release 2 songs that we recorded as "demos" in 1965. the songs in question are "I've Paid My Dues" and "Get On My Train". Both will now be included as part of the 4 LP Garage Rock collection that Norton Records is releasing in February and March 2009.
Who would have ever imaged that 2 songs that we recorded in 1965 when we were know as The Creations would be released in 2009, 44 years later. AMAZING!!!! Actually it's only taken 40 years to finally get a follow up record to our "Reach Out/ Harmonica Man" and "You Can't Make Love By Yourself/She's Gone" recording that we made for Smash Records in 1968/69.
Who would have thought that 45 years after we first learned how to play instruments we would still be playing and enjoying ourselves.
Thank you Pete! Thank you Dad. It couldn't have happened with you!
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Just finished adding the four newly found tracks to the "Band from Brooklyn" CD and sending them off to MD. The remastered stereo version of "You Can't Make Love By Yourself" sounds so great! - Let me know when you get your copy from MD.
