Rising from the ashes of Southside Richmond teen outfit the L'Sabres, a new band clad in black, faces covered in white corpse paint, made their mark on the city's burgeoning rock scene in the mid 60's. The Deadbeats stayed true to their garage roots, but took things in a decidedly more soulful direction. In '66 the lads hit the notoriously low-fi Richmond Sound Stages at 2314 W. Cary Street to bang out their first record, self-released on the Greenedeem label. The top side, "Movin' Out", is a fairly typical blue-eyed take on the Stax/Volt sound of the day, owing more than a passing nod to Wilson Pickett's "In The Midnight Hour". The flip, "Hearsin' Around" is a sleazy instrumental just right for midnight creepin', named for the morbid ride The Deadbeats drove to gigs.
The ensuing year and a half after this first release saw the band (many of whose members were still in high school) continue to mature, ditching the stage make up and honing its sound. The Deadbeats cut two more singles, both of which had the same pairing: "No Second Chance" b/w "Why Did You". The first recording of these songs was another characteristically muddy Richmond Sound Stages production with an extremely small press run (possibly 100). Think of it as a rough draft for what was about to come.
In mid '67 the band traveled up to Philadelphia to re-cut both tracks in an real recording studio. The result, released on the Strata label, is a perfectly realized two sided Garage-Soul stomper. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the record from quickly sinking into obscurity during "The Summer of Love".
These days the Strata issue of "No Second Chance" is by far The Deadbeats' most sought after 45, demanding big bucks amongst record aficionados and packing dance floors at Soul nights the world over. Both sides can be found on the awesome Ol' Virginia Soul Part 2 CD, along with plenty more information about one of Richmond's legendary bands.
The Dynamic Deadbeats Band "Movin' Out"
The Dynamic Deadbeats Band "Hearsin' Around"
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