The Cherry People - History - The Hard Rock Years

The Hard Rock Years

In the spring of 1969 the Cherry People returned home to Washington, D.C., turned up the volume on their hard rock sound, and perfected their repertoire of original songs. They staked a spot as house band at the popular Silver Dollar throughout the remainder of 1969 and 1970 and tirelessly worked six and sometimes seven nights a week at the rockin’ Georgetown nightclub. The band filled in gaps in their schedule with one-nighters around the metropolitan area at places like the Greenbelt Armory, the Bladensburg Firehouse, St. Mary’s Church in Landover Hills, St. Ambrose Church in Cheverly, and the Wedge (a teen club that operated from the Bethesda Youth Center in Montgomery County, Maryland). On Sunday, October 19, 1969 the Cherry People headlined “The Intercollegiate Music Festival” at the Sylvan Theatre on the Mall in Washington, D.C. before a crowd of over 10,000. Other performers at the festival included Love Cry Want, Claude Jones, and Jabberwok. The band also headlined concerts at the Falls Church Community Center in Virginia on Saturday, March 7, 1970 and the University of Maryland’s Ritchie Coliseum on Thursday, April 30, 1970. The Cherry People continued working the Silver Dollar in 1970 and moved on to a long engagement at the Keg that lasted throughout all of 1971 and into 1972. Still trapped by the Jerry Gross Productions-Heritage Records contract, the band self-produced a single titled “Sea and Me” backed with “Come on Over” and released it on their own label, Hot Cotton (a division of Tracy Records). By June 1972 the grueling five-year period of constant nightclub work and assorted one-nighters began to take its toll. Rocky Isaac left the band and was replaced by Mike Zack, who in turn was replaced by T.C. Tolliver, a Black drummer from Southeast Washington, D.C. who had previously played with a soul band called J.J. and the Invaders. Lead guitarist Punky Meadows also left and joined BUX. A month later the Cherry People called it quits.

The break in the action didn’t last long. Chris and Doug Grimes began rehearsing musicians at the Keg later that summer and soon lined up a schedule of nightclub dates in Boston, Massachusetts. The new Cherry People lineup now consisted of the Grimes Brothers in their usual roles, a bassist Mark Hughes from Wheaton MD who was born September 13, 1951 and had previously played with Blitz, Liberation, Les Colours, The Daylight Band, Rockinghorse and Link Wray, going on to open the world's largest used music equipment store in Nashville as Mr Mark's Music, drummer T.C. Tolliver, and a guitarist from Camp Springs, Maryland named Chris Noe (who was born December 5, 1951 and had previously played in the Living Ends, Spread Eagle, Devil’s Track, and Black on White).

Things eventually fizzled in Boston and the Cherry People returned to Washington, D.C. to work the Keg in December 1972. At this time guitarist Chris Noe was replaced by Wayne Tomlinson of Landover Hills, Maryland (formerly of the band Green Eggs). Throughout 1973 the band worked the Bayou, the Keg, and the Crazy Horse and former members Pick Kelly, Mike Zack, and Jan Zukowski all passed through.

Late in the year the Grimes Brothers received an offer to work a nightclub called Beginnings in Schaumburg, Illinois. They revamped the Cherry People and the new quintet included three new members: lead guitarist Rick Benick (born January 23, 1952), who hailed from Forest Heights, Maryland and had previously played in Hailstone; bassist Andre Sokol (born January 8, 1954), who lived in Oxon Hill, Maryland and had worked in the bands Hailstone and Earth; and drummer Barry Brandt (born November 14, 1951), who was raised in Wheaton, Maryland and had recently played in Earth and Max. The band spent all of 1974 going back and forth between Chicago and Washington, D.C.

In early 1975 more changes took place. Former Cherry People guitarist Punky Meadows had spent the previous year in a Boston-based band called BUX. In September 1974 Meadows brought this band down to Washington, D.C. and worked at Bogie’s on Connecticut Avenue NW. In December 1974 BUX changed their name to Foxie, and in April 1975 Meadows turned Foxie into Angel.

Coinciding with the loss of drummer Barry Brandt was the departure of founding member Chris Grimes, who grew tired of the rock and roll nightclub routine. Their replacements were drummer Steve Riley of Revere, Massachusetts and guitarist David Namerdy of Arlington, Virginia. Both had previously played together in the band Max.

For the first six months of 1975, the Cherry People (who during this final period occasionally performed under the name “Pearls”) based out of the Varsity Grill, a legendary Prince George’s County nightclub on Baltimore Avenue in College Park that was in recovery from its roughest early seventies period of outlaw biker infestation, drugs, and rampant violence. At that point in time, the Varsity Grill loved to book bands that cranked out heavy rock and roll. The Cherry People fit the bill and thrived in the dark, cavernous nightclub. The Varsity Grill owners did well, but the band did not. Doug Grimes could see that the end of the Cherry People was close at hand. After dominating the Washington, D.C. rock and roll scene for over eleven years, the Cherry People played their final gig with a three-night stand at the Varsity Grill from Thursday, June 19 to Saturday, June 21, 1975. It was a sad ending for one of Washington, D.C.’s greatest rock and roll bands.

Doug Grimes, a pioneer who steered the band through its voyage, was the only member to survive from the first edition to the final day. As the last Cherry Person, he places the entire experience in perspective: “If anybody was to ask me about the essence of the Cherry People I’d have to look back on it and say the great thing about the original Cherry People was that there was never a night when we hit the stage that we didn’t cook. It was like an unending jam session that you loved being a part of. There were only two versions of the Cherry People I really, really liked and that was the first one with Punky, Jan, me, Chris, and Rocky for the electricity of a live performance, and then right up there as favorites was the version with me, Chris, Rick, Andre, and Barry, for overall quality. Those two are the same to me, for different reasons.”