The Palace Guard was an American

garage rock 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 ...

band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. Though the band never obtained national success, they made a huge splash in Southern California with their song "Falling Sugar". The group is also notable for featuring the first commercial appearance of

Emitt Rhodes Emitt Lynn Rhodes (February 25, 1950 – July 19, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer. At 14 years, Rhodes began his career in musical ensembles the Palace Guard as the group's drummer before jo ...

, later a member of

the Merry-Go-Round The Merry-Go-Round was an American psychedelic rock, Los Angeles based band, best known for the singer-songwriter Emitt Rhodes and featuring Joel Larson on drums, Gary Kato on lead guitar, and Bill Rinehart on bass. The group gained inspiration ...

History

The foundation of the Palace Guard was set in early 1964 with the formation of the Emerals in Los Angeles. (The Emerals are sometimes incorrectly noted as the Emeralds; however, The Emerals chose their name after deciding it sounded more "exclusive" than "Emeralds.") Several members of the Emerals left the band after a contract dispute, including drummer

. However, Rhodes then had a change of heart, reconciling with some of his former Emerals bandmates and rechristening themselves the Palace Guard. The earliest lineup consisted of Rhodes, Rick Moser (bass guitar), Mike Conley (rhythm guitar), Chuck McClung (piano), and brothers David (

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

, vocals), John (tambourine, vocals), and Don Beaudoin (lead guitar). For a brief period, the band also featured actor

Don Grady Don Louis Agrati (June 8, 1944 – June 27, 2012), also known as Don Grady, was an American actor, composer, and musician. He was known foremost as one of the Mickey Mouse Mouseketeers and as Robbie Douglas on the long-running ABC CBS tele ...

—contributing vocals, keyboards, and drums—of ''

My Three Sons ''My Three Sons'' is an American television sitcom that aired from September 29, 1960, to April 13, 1972. The series was broadcast on ABC during its first five seasons, before moving to CBS for the remaining seasons. ''My Three Sons'' chronicl ...

'' fame, who went on to become a member of the

sunshine pop Sunshine pop (originally known as soft pop) is a subgenre of pop music that originated in Southern California in the mid-1960s. Rooted in easy listening and advertising jingles, sunshine pop acts combined nostalgic or anxious moods with "an appre ...

band the Yellow Balloon. Grady stayed with the Palace Guard to record one obscure single, "Little People", in early 1965, which was credited to Don Grady and the Palace Guard. The band was known for their style of dress, clothing themselves in military-themed red coats, as if they were members of the

Queen's Guard The King's Guard and King's Life Guard (called the Queen's Guard and the Queen's Life Guard when the reigning monarch is female) are the contingents of infantry and cavalry soldiers charged with guarding the official List of British royal res ...

. After months of rehearsal, the Palace Guard's big break came when

KRLA KRLA (870 kHz) "AM 870 The Answer" is a commercial AM radio station broadcasting a talk radio format. Licensed to Glendale, California, it serves Greater Los Angeles and Southern California. The station is owned by Salem Media Group, which also ...

deejay

Casey Kasem Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio personality, who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably '' American Top 40''. He was the first actor to voice Nor ...

invited the group to perform on his local television dance show ''Shebang''. In mid-1965, the group began an extended residency at the Hullabaloo club, on

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in t ...

, earning popularity as a need-to-see attraction in Los Angeles. Two singles followed on the Orange-Empire record label, before the group scored a regional hit with "Falling Sugar" in early 1966, described by music historian

Lenny Kaye Lenny Kaye (''né'' Kusikoff; born December 27, 1946) is an American guitarist, composer, and writer who is best known as a member of the Patti Smith Group. Early life Kaye was born to Jewish parents in the Washington Heights area of upper Ma ...

as "a catchy Moptop-ish toe tapper brimming with youthful fervor". "Falling Sugar", like most of their material, derived from a blend of

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 suc ...

and the harmonic sound of

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

. Rhodes began to have larger ambitions, both as a songwriter and to become a guitarist, leading him to depart the band to form

and reaching number 63 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 with his song "

Live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music *Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of albums ...

". His replacement Terry Rae, formerly of the Driftones, an early version of the Yellow Payges, recalls in an interview that prior to leaving Rhodes "used to bring up his acoustic guitar and sing " Yesterday" at the Hullabaloo while he was with The Guard. I think this gave him the inspiration to play guitar full time, and to do only his material". After Rhodes' departure, the Palace Guard signed to

Cameo-Parkway Records Cameo-Parkway Records was the parent company of Cameo Records and Parkway Records, which were major American Philadelphia-based record labels from 1956 (for Cameo) and 1958 (for Parkway) to 1967. Among the types of music released were doo-wop, ...

, releasing "Greed" and "Saturday's Children". However, with no national distribution in sight for the group, they decided to disband in mid-1970. Since their disbandment, the Palace Guard's songs have been compiled on several

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

s, including the ''

Nuggets Nuggets may refer to: Music * ''Nuggets'' (series), a series of compilation albums by Elektra Records, continued by Rhino * '' Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968'' * '' Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from ...

'' albums ''Nuggets Volume Four: Pop Part Two'', the 1998 expanded box-set reissue of '' Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968'', and '' Where the Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965–1968''. On February 23, 2003, Gear-Fab Records released all of the band's recorded material on ''The Palace Guard'' album.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palace Guard, The Garage rock groups from California Folk rock groups from California American pop rock music groups Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical groups established in 1964