Harvey Russell & The Rogues

From Akron, Ohio. In 1964 Harvey Russell started his own record label, Janie, named for his wife. He recorded a record of his own, but also released records by the Decades and Pacers. By 1965 he had decided to start singing for the teenage set, so he partnered with the Rogues, an Akron band who were pretty popular in the teen clubs. In 1966 he recorded "Shake Sherry" with the Rogues at Cleveland Recording, and issued it another of his own label creations, Jade records. The record was a big local hit and was picked up by Roulette records. Harvey and the Rogues made several live appearances (although they were always considered separate performers) and did TV shows like Upbeat where the "Singing Cop" angle was always played up. Dissatisfied in their dealings with Roulette, Harvey and the Rogues decided to record a 'deal breaker', a record too loud and raw to be commercial - so they went back to Cleveland Recording and laid down "Keep a Knockin'" and "Slippin' and Slidin', two sides of blasting guitar powered garage with Harvey's deliberately over-the-top screaming vocals out front! Roulette passed but Perry Stevens decided to release it on his "HANDS" label (Haims AND Stevens). This record also did OK locally.