The Daily Flash are an American

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...

and psychedelic bandMike Stax, liner notes, '' Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968'' (1998 CD), p. 63. founded in 1965, active until 1968 and reformed in 2002.Nick Warburton
The Daily Flash
on the site of the group

Rhinoceros (band) Rhinoceros was an American rock band established in 1967 through auditions conducted by Elektra Records, rather than organic formation by musicians. The band, while well respected in many circles, did not live up to the record label's expectati ...

; dated 2001, but clearly updated since that time. originally based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

and later in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. The group was composed of guitarist/singer Steve Lalor, lead guitarist Doug Hastings, bass player/singer Don MacAllister and drummer Jon Keliehor. According to Mike Stax, they "had become a major force in the growing Seattle underground scene by 1965." Their sound, which incorporated elements of

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

as well as

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

stood in contrast to the garage rock sound typical of the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

at the time, anticipating the sound that came to be identified with

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

Origin

Don MacAllister and Steve Lalor first met in early 1964 on the Seattle folk music scene. MacAllister was in a bluegrass trio called The Willow Creek Ramblers; Lalor had dropped out of college in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

in January 1963, spent some time in San Francisco where he had met future core members of Jefferson Airplane and

Quicksilver Messenger Service Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. The band achieved wide popularity in the San Francisco Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe, ...

, then traveled north to Seattle, where he made some good connections and ended up appearing regularly for a time on Seattle Center Hootenanny which aired on KING-TV. At this time he was performing with Alice Stuart and Mike Hall as the Upper University District Folk Music Association and Mandolin Society and Glee Club and they recorded a single, "Green Satin", for Jerden Records. MacAllister and Lalor began to play together informally. Lalor played for a time in the Driftwood Singers, which he formed with Lyn Brooks and Courtney Branch. Courtney dropped out and was replaced by Billy Roberts, writer of "Hey Joe". They became the house band of the

hungry i The hungry i was a nightclub in San Francisco, California, originally located in the North Beach neighborhood. It played a major role in the history of stand-up comedy in the United States. It was launched by Eric "Big Daddy" Nord, who sold i ...

. The band broke up and MacAllister convinced him to move back north and form a group in Seattle with another guitarist, Doug Hastings, still in college at the time and occasionally sitting in with another local outfit, The Dynamics. They planned to recruit drummer Don Stevenson (later of

Moby Grape Moby Grape is an American rock band founded in 1966, known for having all five members contribute to singing and songwriting, and who collectively merged elements of folk music, blues, country, and jazz with rock and psychedelic music. They were ...

), but instead Stevenson joined the established local band The Frantics and that band's departing drummer Jon Keliehor (who had a background in jazz and classical music) joined MacAllister and Lalor.

Heyday: the original lineup (1965–1967)

From the outset, two things characterized The Daily Flash. Their eclectic blend of folk, blues, pop and jazz set them apart from the "

garage band Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

" sound that dominated the Pacific Northwest. Their flair for publicity was such as to get the band press before they even got their first gig. They devised a sound system that suited their tight harmonies, pioneered new venues and aimed beyond a teen audience, and aligned themselves with the emergent hippie counterculture. Around the end of 1965, local record distributor Ron Saul got the group a deal with

Parrot Records Parrot Records was an American record label, a division of London Records, which started in 1964. The label usually licensed (or leased) recordings made by Decca Records, England, for release in the United States and Canada, most notably by the ...

, a division of London Records. Their first single was a cover of

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

's "

Queen Jane Approximately "Queen Jane Approximately" is a song from Bob Dylan's 1965 album ''Highway 61 Revisited''. It was released as a single as the B-side to " One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)" in January 1966. It has also been covered by several artists, includin ...

". The B-side was originally supposed to be

Dino Valenti Chester William Powers, Jr. (October 7, 1937 – November 16, 1994) was an American singer-songwriter, and under the stage names Dino Valenti or Dino Valente, one of the lead singers of the rock group Quicksilver Messenger Service. As a songwri ...

's "Birdses", but Saul shelved that, releasing the funkier " Jack of Diamonds," recorded at the same

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...

studio favored by

The Wailers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

. The latter track would eventually find its way onto the 1998 CD re-issue of '' Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968''. The single, released in spring 1966, was not a commercial success. However, it did get them the attention of

Sonny & Cher Sonny & Cher were an American pop and entertainment duo in the 1960s and 1970s, made up of husband and wife Sonny Bono and Cher. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector. The pair f ...

's then-manager Charlie Greene. On the lookout for additional acts to manage, that year he signed both The Daily Flash and

Buffalo Springfield Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song "For What It's Worth", rele ...

. The band headed to

to record a stronger version of "Queen Jane Approximately," but that also met a lukewarm response in the market. Still, their reputation as a live act was growing. On the way south they headlined a pair of

Chet Helms Chester Leo "Chet" Helms (August 2, 1942 – June 25, 2005), often called the father of San Francisco's 1967 " Summer of Love," was a music promoter and a counterculture figure in San Francisco during its hippie period in the mid- to-late 196 ...

-promoted shows at San Francisco's

Avalon Ballroom The Avalon Ballroom was a music venue in the Polk Gulch neighborhood of San Francisco, California, at 1244 Sutter Street (or 1268 Sutter, depending on the entrance). The space is known as the location of many concerts of the counterculture move ...

, supported both nights by the

Rising Sons Rising Sons was an American, Los Angeles, California-based blues rock and folk music band, which was founded in 1965. Their initial career was short-lived, but the group found retrospective fame for launching the careers of singer Taj Mahal and g ...

(a band that included future stars Ry Cooder and

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...

); the additional act on Friday night was a pre- Janis Joplin version of

Big Brother & The Holding Company Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Jefferson Airplane. After some i ...

and on Saturday The Charlatans (featuring Dan Hicks). At the end of July 1966 they played the

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Trips Festival. According to Keliehor, that was the only time they ever played a gig under the influence of a mind-altering substance (

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

provided by

Owsley Stanley Augustus Owsley Stanley III (January 19, 1935 – March 12, 2011) was an American-Australian audio engineer and clandestine chemist. He was a key figure in the San Francisco Bay Area hippie movement during the 1960s and played a pivotal role ...

). The band—now based in Los Angeles but probably more popular in San Francisco and viewed as hometown heroes in Seattle—traveled the West Coast, supporting acts such as

The Byrds The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole cons ...

The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts ...

and

The Turtles ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

in Los Angeles and playing repeatedly in San Francisco at the Avalon Ballroom on bills with such bands as Country Joe & The Fish and the Quicksilver Messenger Service. Their repertoire ranged from Dylan and

Eric Andersen Eric Andersen (born February 14, 1943) is an American folk music singer-songwriter, who has written songs recorded by Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Linda Ronstadt, the Grateful Dead and many others. Early in his career, in the 1960s, ...

to Herbie Hancock, Cannonball Adderley and Gabor Szabo. Early in 1967 their second single was released:

Ian Tyson Ian Dawson Tyson (September 25, 1933 – December 29, 2022) was a Canadian singer-songwriter who wrote several folk songs, including " Four Strong Winds" and " Someday Soon", and performed with partner Sylvia Tyson as the duo Ian & Sylvia. Ea ...

and Sylvia Fricker's "French Girl" b/w

Dave Van Ronk David Kenneth Ritz Van Ronk (June 30, 1936 – February 10, 2002) was an American folk singer. An important figure in the American folk music revival and New York City's Greenwich Village scene in the 1960s, he was nicknamed the "Mayor of Ma ...

's "Green Rocky Road" on the L.A.-based UNI Records. Greene arranged the band's first East Coast tour to coincide with the release, kicking off with a successful one-month residency at the Club Ondine in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. They also played a gig with the Jefferson Airplane at Stony Brook University. The single did well in California (though less so elsewhere), netting the band a guest appearance on the TV show '' The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.'', which in turn led to a regular spot as a house band on a local Los Angeles teen-oriented TV show ''Boss City''. They continued to gig, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle playing on bills with British supergroup

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

, Quicksilver Messenger Service,

Steve Miller Band The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1966 in San Francisco, California. The band is led by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles that are staples of classic rock, as ...

and, in Seattle,

The Seeds The Seeds were an American psychedelic garage rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965, best known for their highest charting single " Pushin' Too Hard". The band's classic line-up featured frontman Sky Saxon, guitarist Jan Savag ...

and

Paul Revere & The Raiders Paul Revere & the Raiders (also known as Raiders) were an American rock band formed in Boise, Idaho, in 1958. They saw considerable U.S. mainstream success in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s. The band was known for including Revol ...

Changes and breakup (1967)

In an era when it was more and more presumed that bands would have original material, none of The Daily Flash's members were inclined to write songs. Most of their

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

ed originals were really just reworkings of folk material in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

. The band began to grow apart, with members increasingly playing in other configurations. Hastings left to replace

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Fur ...

in the Buffalo Springfield (a short-lived gig, as Young soon returned to that band) and was replaced by Craig Tarwater. Shortly after that, drummer Keliehor was booted after he chose a

Transcendental Meditation Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent mantra meditation advocated by the Transcendental Meditation movement. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created the technique in India in the mid-1950s. Advocates of TM claim that the technique promotes ...

workshop over a gig, and was replaced by Tony Dey. The reconfigured band added a few original songs, written by Steve Lalor. They played the Avalon Ballroom in July 1967, warming up for

The Grass Roots The Grass Roots are an American rock band that charted frequently between 1965 and 1975. The band was originally the creation of Lou Adler and songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri. In their career, they achieved two gold albums, two go ...

, then warmed up for the Grateful Dead at Seattle's Eagles Auditorium and Vancouver, BC's Agradome/Dante's Inferno, returned to play some shows in Los Angeles, followed by another Pacific Northwest tour in late September and early October, including a show at Eagles Auditorium that was recorded: their version of Herbie Hancock's 'Cantaloupe Island' from that show is on the 1985 ''I Flash Daily'' album. After that they supported

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

on a short tour, but in late October this lineup also split, with MacAllister and Tarwater going one way and Lalor and Dey another. Lalor and Dey briefly formed one further incarnation of The Daily Flash in November 1967, playing six dates in Seattle and

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

with a returned Doug Hastings and Tony Dey's brother Rick, but this was understood by all involved to be a stopgap to raise some money before moving on to other projects.

Aftermath

The various members of the Daily Flash went on to a variety of careers. Hastings played in several bands the next few years, including

Rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species ...

, but in June 1970 returned to college and pursued a career in petroleum geology. MacAllister and Tarwater went on to a band originally called 'Nirvana' and later 'Two Guitars, Piano, Drum and Darryl'; its other members were Jeff Simmons (previously with Frank Zappa's

Mothers of Invention The Mothers of Invention (also known as The Mothers) was an American rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an R&B band ...

), Ron Woods (formerly of the Seattle-area band The Dynamics, later a

Buddy Miles George Allen "Buddy" Miles Jr. (September 5, 1947February 26, 2008) was an American composer, drummer, guitarist, vocalist and producer. He was a founding member of the Electric Flag (1967), a member of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys (1969–197 ...

sideman), and former

Iron Butterfly Iron Butterfly is an American rock band formed in San Diego, California, in 1966. They are best known for the 1968 hit " In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", providing a dramatic sound that led the way towards the development of hard rock and heavy metal musi ...

vocalist Darryl De Loach; they had one single on Atlantic Records and recorded the soundtrack for the film ''

Pit Stop In motorsports, a pit stop is a pause for refuelling, new tyres, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, as a penalty, or any combination of the above. These stops occur in an area called the pits, most commonly accessed via a pit lan ...

''. MacAllister became a session player and a support player in several major touring bands, but died of a drug overdose in late 1969. Lalor and Keliehor continued as musicians. Both went on to play in Bodine, who had an album on MGM records in 1969. Lalor moved back to Seattle, where he performed a variety of folk and blues music before founding a revived Daily Flash in 2002. Keliehor's career has been much more varied, ranging from an appearance on Jeff Simmons' album '' Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up'' to composing music for contemporary dance, ballet, film, television and theater. His career has been mainly in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, though he has returned at times to the United States. Both Dey brothers recorded a 1972 album on

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

with

Barry Melton Barry "The Fish" Melton (born June 14, 1947) is the co-founder and original lead guitarist of Country Joe and the Fish and Dinosaurs. He appears on all the Country Joe and the Fish recordings and he also wrote some of the songs that the band re ...

and Jay Levy as Melton, Levy & The Dey Brothers. Tony Dey was a session player in the 1970s and '80s before settling in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

and working in a record store. Rick Dey died of an overdose.

Compilation album and revivals

Keliehor and Lalor worked with Bob Jeniker and

Peter Blecha Peter Charles Blecha is an American historian, curator, essayist, author, musician, and director of the Seattle-based Northwest Music Archives. He is primarily known for research related to aspects of Pacific Northwest musical history. In additio ...

to put together a Daily Flash compilation, ''I Flash Daily'', released by UK label Psycho Records in March 1985. The compilation consisted of the group's two released singles and various unreleased tracks. US-based

Sundazed Records Sundazed Music is an American independent record label based in Coxsackie, New York. It specializes in obscure and rare recordings from the 1950s to the 1970s. In 2000, Sundazed had a staff of 15 and two mixing studios, including a vintage audio ...

released a 45 RPM EP in 1996. The sleeve lists the songs as "Jack of Diamonds", "Girl From North Alberta", "When I Was a Cowboy" and "Grizzly Bear". However, it does not contain "Jack of Diamonds", but another song recorded by The Daily Flash called "Bonny Ship the Diamond". Hastings, Lalor, and Keliehor played a one-off revival in Seattle in 1985. Lalor was the only original member in the revived version of the band active from 2002 to Lalor's death in 2018. This current configuration of the Daily Flash includes two members of

The Kingsmen The Kingsmen are a 1960s rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States. They are best known for their 1963 recording of R&B singer Richard Berry's "Louie Louie", which held the No. 2 spot on the '' Billboard'' charts for six weeks and ...

Members

Original lineup

* Don MacAllister (b. 1942, Seattle, Washington; d. 1969 Los Angeles, California): bass, vocal * Steve Lalor (b. Sept. 12, 1944, Glens Falls, New York; d. 2018 Seattle, Washington): guitar, vocal * Jon Keliehor (b. Oct. 18, 1941,

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

): drums * Doug Hastings (b. June 21, 1946, Seattle, Washington): guitar :Reference:

Replacements

* Craig Tarwater replaced Doug Hastings on guitar July–October 1967 * Tony Dey replaced Jon Keliehor on drums July–November 1967 * Rick Dey replaced Don MacAllister on bass for the band's last six performances in November 1967 :Reference:

Revived lineup

Beginning August 2002: * Steve Lalor: guitar, vocal (of Driftwood Singers) * Barry Curtis (of The Kingsmen): guitar, vocal * Don Wilhelm: bass, vocal (of Army, Shyanne, White Heart, Heart) * Steve Peterson (of The Kingsmen): vocals, percussion, mandolin, whistles :Reference:

Notes

External links

The Daily Flash is back!
official site of the present-day Daily Flash * Nick Warburton

on the site of the group

, quite a detailed history, including photographs and posters
The Daily Flash (1960s Bands of Puget Sound)

The Daily Flash
on AllMusic.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Daily Flash, The American folk rock groups Musical groups from Seattle Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical groups established in 1965