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The Venturestour of duty in Vietnam – and dreaming of
a career in music, he and his wife moved to
Los Angeles. Before long, he’d joined a band,
Sweet Pain, and signed to Liberty Records.
“I knew that The Ventures were on
Liberty, too,” he says, “and so I was able
to meet Mel Taylor and Bob Bogle. They
invited me to recordings and rehearsals and
I just sort of hung out with them.”A FEW YEARS LATER, after Mel Taylor
had split from The Ventures, the drummer
sought out the 20-something Spalding for
his new band, The Dynamics.
“The Dynamics were made up of ex-
Ventures,” Spalding says, “like Gerry McGee
and [keyboardist] John Durrill, so that
was a real thrill. It was an eye-opening,
educational experience, as well as a really
neat work experience. After that tour,
though, The Dynamics went away, and
so we all went on to other things.”
Taylor rejoined The Ventures in 1979
and, a year later, called up his old Dynamics
bandmate. “He said, ‘Would you be willing
to go out and play lead with The Ventures?
Nokie’s not feeling too good’. So I flew out
to New York, and finished up that tour.
That put me right into the family.”For drummer Leon Taylor, well, he really
was part of the Ventures family. As Mel’s
son, he’d grown up around Don Wilson,
Bob Bogle and Nokie Edwards, and all the
various other Ventures members.
“They were really like extended family,”
says Leon, from his home outside Salt Lake
City. “We’d go to Don’s house for barbecues
and Bob Bogle lived up in Oregon. I saw
Don more than anybody else. Nokie, not so
much, as he was always travelling.”IT WASN’T UNTIL THE MID-90s,
however, that Leon Taylor finally became
professionally embedded in the group he’d
watched from afar since he was a nipper.
His father had often floated the idea of
retiring and that Leon should take his place.
Remembers Leon: “I’d always say, ‘Get out
of here, you’re not ready to retire, you’ve still
got a lot more years left in you!’”
Mel was diagnosed with cancer in August
1996 and died just a few weeks later. “I went
and visited him in the hospital, and he asked
me if I’d take over for him,” remembers
Leon. “I told him it would be an honour.”
It wasn’t long before Leon found himself
in Japan. “That first tour I did, I was there
for four months,” he remembers. “We did
around 80 shows. So that was like a rude
awakening for me into the touring life. I’d
been playing local clubs in LA up to that
point, where being on the road was just
short three-hour car rides to the venue.
That first year was a little brutal for me.”
Japan has always figured prominently in
the story of The Ventures. In the US andJoining
the ranks
of rock
legends
In 2008, The Ventures were inducted
into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s
John Fogerty (pictured below) as their
presenter. Don Wilson, Nokie Edwards,
John Durrill, Bob Spalding and Leon
Taylor were all in attendance.
“It’s my very great honour to be
introducing The Ventures,” Fogerty said
in his introduction, “and every guitar
player on this planet knows what I’m
talking about.”
“I felt so honoured to be part of it, to
be there to represent my father,” says
Taylor of that historic day. “It was
interesting to be the focus of attention.
I’ve been on stage before and, you know,
performing live and all that, but being in
an environment like that, where you’re
even more focused on, I was a bit
nervous, actually, especially doing
interviews all day, as well as the
soundchecks and all that. The thing I do
remember was when we were rehearsing
Hawaii Five-O with Paul Shaffer and his
band. You know, I consider myself a
professional, but to have somebody
like Paul Shaffer, who’s worked with
hundreds and hundreds of people, that
was cool. I also remember being on that
stage, looking down into the audience
and seeing Tom Hanks sitting there, as
well as Chevy Chase, Meg Ryan and Billy
Joel. It was pretty amazing.”The Ventures in the mid-80s for the NASA 25th
Anniversary Commemorative Album photoshoot“That first tour,
we did around 80
shows. That was a
rude awakening.”