Mel Taylor (September 24, 1933 – August 11, 1996) was the longtime drummer for the Ventures from 1962 to 1996. He was the older brother of Canned Heat bassist Larry Taylor. (More from Wikipedia)
The band heard a track called “Walk, Don’t Run” on an album by country guitar virtuoso Chet Atkins called Hi-Fi in Focus and decided that it would make a great single for the group. The Ventures released “Walk, Don’t Run” on their Blue Horizon label in 1960; it rose to #2 on the charts, behind only “It’s Now or Never” by Elvis Presley. With Howie Johnson as the group’s new drummer, the band put together their excellent first album, also called Walk, Don’t Run. When Mel Taylor joined the Ventures on drums in 1962, Nokie Edwards became the lead guitarist, with Bob Bogle moving to bass guitar.
The debut album by the Silencers, The Silencers came out on Total Energy Records at about the same time as several albums by their label-mates Davie Allan and the Arrows. For the most part, the songs are originals, with the one exception being “Journey to the Stars” that has five songwriters listed on Allmusic: Bob Bogle, Don Wilson, Nokie Edwards, and Mel Taylor of the Ventures, plus Sun Ra.
(December 2014)
