Backstreet Boys 'burst?

vintage58 · Jul 22, 2006

Below is a series of images from a circa-1975 NYC performance of Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys (one of the best bands in rock and roll history, btw). The guitarist appears to be playing a 'burst with Grovers, no Rhythm/Treble ring, and no pickguard. The bridge pickup's cover is off, and the pickup looks to be a double-black. Images are kind of lousy, but the top on this guitar appears to be one of the more spectacular ones out there. See, in particular, rightmost (but fragmentary) image in lower row—the wide flame, which appears to cover the entire top, is really visible in that one. Click on entire set of images, too, to view larger version.

Anyone have any info on this guitar? Nitebob, perhaps?

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BluesForDan · Jul 22, 2006

man, for a second there, I thought I was going to be sick.

I was afraid it was going to be about some boy band has-been buying a burst in a destined-to-fail attempt to be cool.

I have to admit, though, I've never heard of these guys. Did they ever put out any records?

vintage58 · Jul 22, 2006

I think they may have released perhaps three songs, but that's about it. There are also apparently some demo recordings of them, as well as an unreleased LP, at least I seem to recall hearing that.

One of the funniest lines I ever heard was when I went to see Jayne County at Don Hill's a few years ago. In between songs, I think some audience member shouted out something about how the more recent Backstreet Boys had stolen her band's name, and wasn't she pissed about that. So she said something like, "You know, someone told me that one of those Backstreet Boys was gay. That's funny, because I thought they were all gay."

I had to laugh.
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Black58 · Jul 22, 2006

Man, I just love when a new, obscure 'burst story surfaces! Like findin' an extra prize in my Cocoa Pebbles!! This fuckin' place ROCKS!! :dude:

lpnv59 · Jul 22, 2006

His name is Greg Van Cook. He and Eliot Michaels, who now owns Rumbleseat Music, were the guitarists for Wayne & The Backstreet Boys.

vintage58 · Jul 22, 2006

lpnv59 said:
His name is Greg Van Cook. He and Eliot Michaels, who now owns Rumbleseat Music, were the guitarists for Wayne & The Backstreet Boys.

Hey, thanks for the info. If Greg was the guy playing the solos on the demos that I heard, it was definitely smoking. The two songs were a cover of the Barbarians' "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl," and Wayne/Jayne's own "Rock 'N' Roll Enema." The second song is definitely one of the ten greatest rock and roll songs in history, as far as I'm concerned.
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lpnv59 · Jul 22, 2006

vintage58 said:
Hey, thanks for the info. If Greg was the guy playing the solos on the demos that I heard, it was definitely smoking. The two songs were a cover of the Barbarians' "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl," and Wayne/Jayne's own "Rock 'N' Roll Enema." The second song is definitely one of the ten greatest rock and roll songs in history, as far as I'm concerned.
.

The band I was in in the 70's did some shows with Wayne & TBSB. Greg was a good player. Good tone, good feel. Eliot was even better. The recordings may have either one or both of them on guitar. When I met them, Eliot was on bass with Greg playing the only guitar. Wayne's manager Peter Crowley said to us, if you think Gregs good, you should see Eliot on guitar. The song I remember most was "If You Don't Wanna Fuck Me, Fuck Off". Wayne was as Jayne is, quite the showperson.:headbange

vintage58 · Jul 22, 2006

lpnv59 said:
The recordings may have either one or both of them on guitar. When I met them, Eliot was on bass with Greg playing the only guitar.

It's unclear who's playing the solos on the demos (alas, no liner notes), but the accompanying performance footage only shows one guitarist, so I would guess that Eliot is the bass player in that footage.
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DEVILBAT · Jul 23, 2006

Greg went on to play with an obscure band in England called "The Innocents" and also played with The Vibrators. Good player.

lpnv59 · Jul 23, 2006

Mrjohnnythunders said:
Greg went on to play with an obscure band in England called "The Innocents" and also played with The Vibrators. Good player.

I know Eliot lived in England for a while and played with the Vibrators. Greg went to England with Wayne and Eliot. Greg came back to the US with Wayne to play some gigs. They had recruited the last drummer in Spooky Tooth who was mindblowingly great. Eliot lived in England for a while. I don't think Greg went back. Might have though and done some playing in the Vibrators. I could be wrong and it was both of them. Last time I hung out with Greg, was when I drove down with my friend Brandy Pritchard to visit with his brother Albee in NYC. Albee, who said he was in LOK with Arthur Kane and Greg, along with his girlfriend were living in a shithole apartment above a hispanic movie theatre on Houston St. It was a bad scene looking back in retrospect. Brandy wanted to make the trip to check on his brother. He was concerned about his health because of a drinking problem. Greg and his girl friend had some issues going on too. Just sad to see nice people living in filth and not taking care of themselves. I hope they all pulled through. I lost track of them all and this was over 20 years ago. Early to mid 80's I think it was.

bigjimsguitars · Jul 31, 2006

I am friends with Eliot and the burst in question was his that he loaned to the guitar player for the Backstreet Boys....

petewhatshisname · Jan 27, 2019

vintage58 said:
Below is a series of images from a circa-1975 NYC performance of Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys (one of the best bands in rock and roll history, btw). The guitarist appears to be playing a 'burst with Grovers, no Rhythm/Treble ring, and no pickguard. The bridge pickup's cover is off, and the pickup looks to be a double-black. Images are kind of lousy, but the top on this guitar appears to be one of the more spectacular ones out there. See, in particular, rightmost (but fragmentary) image in lower row—the wide flame, which appears to cover the entire top, is really visible in that one. Click on entire set of images, too, to view larger version.

Anyone have any info on this guitar? Nitebob, perhaps?

.

Sorry to be getting to this forum thread 13 years late.

I saw how the original poster said he included a series of photos of Wayne County and the BSB;s. But alas, I didn't see any pictures posted in here. Scrubbed, perhaps? Would someone be able to re-post the pictures?

I'm a big fan of Greg Van Cook's guitar playing, to the point of slowing down his solos with Amazing Slow-Downer and counting how many times he goes back and forth with his vibrato.

There's two bootlegs that I have with Greg. One that bears the name Wayne County and the Back Street Boys, from 1976.03.04 at CBGB's, where he was having a good night but the audio is horrible, and another after the band evolved to the Electric Chairs, from a club called Dingwall's in London 1977.05.18, where the audio was way better but Greg was having a bad night.

If y'all know of any other bootlegs in existence from Greg's days with Wayne/Jayne, I'd appreciate it if you could point the way to where they might be hiding on the Internet.

surfreak · Jan 28, 2019

That is a gorgeous Burst, I want it that way...

Backstreet Boys 'burst?

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BluesForDan

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