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The Romancers:  The Father of 60s East L.A. Bands

by Mark Guerrero

     Before the Premiers, Cannibal & the Headhunters, and the Blendells, there was the Romancers.  The Romancers were the first East L.A. Chicano band to record an album and were the main influence of the mid-sixties East L.A. sound.  They were also the first East L.A. band to work with Billy Cardenas and Eddie Davis, who went on to record many other Eastside bands throughout the 1960s.  The Romancers made two albums on the Del-Fi record label and many other singles for Eddie Davis’ Linda label. The main figure in the Romancers' story is Max Uballez, the leader, chief songwriter, and rhythm guitarist.  Max was involved in the production and/or wrote songs for many recordings by the Romancers, as well as other top Eastside bands.

     The Romancers got their name from flyers and posters promoting East L.A. dances which read “Dance and Romance” this Saturday night, etc. They thought “Dance and Romance to the Romancers” would sound good, and it did.  Max Uballez and lead guitarist, Andy Tesso, have different remembrances on the genesis of the band. According to Andy, he had the Romancers for about a year before Max joined.  Max concedes that Andy may have had a band first, but the name came about after they were involved with their manager, Billy Cardenas.  According to Max, the pre-Romancers were: David Brill, drums; Andy Tesso and Richard Provincio, lead guitar; Joe Whiteman, sax; Manuel “Magoo” Rodriguez, bass; and Max Uballez, rhythm guitar.  They lived in the Lincoln Heights district of East Los Angeles and attended Lincoln High School.  Max Uballez looked and sounded a lot like Ritchie Valens, whom he admired. Once Max was playing a gig in Pocoima, California, where Ritchie had grown up, shortly after Ritchie’s passing and caused a near riot when he sang Valens' song “Donna.”  A guy who was supposedly related to Ritchie became enraged because Max sounded like Valens.  I can only guess that the irate party guest thought Max was trying to steal Ritchie Valens' act.  Max and his band had to pack up immediately and get out of town for their safety.  Billy Cardenas called Bob Keane, owner of Ritchie’s former record label, and told him about the incident and requested an audition for Max.  The story piqued Bob's interest so he said to Billy "okay, bring the kid in."  When Bob heard and saw Max, he noticed the similarity as well and agreed to record him.  The song recorded was one which Max had heard on the radio and reworked, adding some lyrics and changing the arrangement. Keane decided not to release it, or perhaps took too long, and Billy Cardenas went to another label, Magic Circle, and re-recorded it.  Members of the Romancers were the backing group, along with some studio horn players.  The promotion man at Magic Circle thought Max should change his name because “it sounded too ethnic,” so he became Maximillian on the record without his knowledge or consent.  “You’d Better” was added to the play list of L.A.’s biggest rock station, KFWB, the first day it was released.  The release of “You’d Better” launched the Romancers success on the dance circuit. Sometimes they were billed as Max Uballez or Maximillian and his Romancers band.  They were so busy they added more musicians to the mix, sometimes splitting up into two bands to play two venues at the same time.  The additional musicians were: Jimmy Pasqual, lead guitar; Chris Pasqual, bass; Manuel Mosqueda, drums; Armando Mora, David Bojorquez, Louie Davila and Bobby Marty, sax.  At this point, Bob Keane wanted to keep Max with his label so Billy and Max went back to Del Fi, where they wanted to be anyway.  They recorded and released a song called “Rock Little Darling,” which had previously been recorded by Ritchie Valens on his “Live at Pocoima Jr. High" album.  The new version, released on Bob Keane’s Donna label, had Max’s name slightly altered to “Max Uballes.”  Bob Keane used the “s” instead of a “z”, as he had done with Ritchie Valens.  Max changing labels again created legal problems with Magic Circle records.  As a result, “You’d Better” vanished from the radio airwaves and Max found out he couldn’t record as a vocalist for five years according to the contract with Magic Circle his mother had signed.  It was a horrible situation, but it had a silver lining.  If it hadn’t been for the fact Max couldn’t sing on a record, the classic instrumental album “Do The Slauson” by the Romancers would have never happened. 

     In 1963, the Romancers (Max Uballez, rhythm guitar; Andy Tesso, lead guitar; Chris Pasqual, bass; Armando Mora, tenor sax; and Manuel Mosqueda, drums) showed up to record for Del-Fi Records with two songs written by Max, “Slauson Shuffle” and “All Aboard.”  After recording the two songs, Bob Keane asked “do you have any more?.”  They hurriedly wrote seven songs, added three covers, and finished their first album in five hours total. The album called “Do the Slauson” still sounds good today.  I remember buying the album when it came out. I was 14 years old.  I loved it and heard it until it practically wore out.  The Romancers, though teenagers at the time, sounded very mature as musicians.  Their sound consisted of a strong and steady rhythm section, an excellent tenor sax soloist, a solid “chunka chunka” rhythm guitar, and an innovative lead guitarist on a trebly, poppy Fender Telecaster.  Their sound had a definite influence on the Premiers, the Blendells, my band (Mark & the Escorts), and many others.  Andy Tesso's lead guitar style influenced a generation of East L.A. guitar players, myself included.  Andy modestly says that he was influenced by his cousin Lolly Vegas (born Vasquez), later to front the hit band Redbone.  The album featured a great cover of “Patricia” by Perez Prado, and the classic East L.A. favorite, “Huggie’s Bunnies,” written by Tesso.  “Huggie’s Bunnies,” which was named after Eastside DJ Huggy Boy, was later recorded by the Blendells and another popular Eastside band, the Ambertones. “Slauson Shuffle” was my favorite track, whose chord structure and groove provided the template for the Premier's hit record "Farmer John."  “Do the Slauson” sold well and the Romancers had no shortage of gigs.  The Slauson, by the way, was an extremely popu