Jerry Coulston And The Pacers

From Watsonville, California

Jerry Coulston - Vocals
Willie Bryant - Lead Guitar
Louie Payne - Bass
Ron Coulston - Drums
Jerry Summerall - Rhythm Guitar

BIO by Alec Palao borrowed from the booklet of the Ace Records reissue CD called "Bay Area Rockers"

Coulston formed the band when his brother Ron got out of the army in 1957. "He wanted to play the drums" remembers Jerry, "even though he knew nothing about them, but when he quit he was one of the best drummers I ever saw. Willie Bryant was on lead guitar, Gary Summerall on rhythm and a kid named Louie on Bass, that was the nucleus. Joe Jaros of Christy Records was at a dance that we did somewhere and he started talking to my brother. As soon as he said he had a recording label we were all ears, We jumped right on top of it."

Jaros hired the accomplished young combo to provide instrumental accompaniment for many Christy acts including The Jades, but he also let Coulston loose on his own crazy composition. "When I was growing up there was this old man of Portuguese decent who used to make crates to put fruit and lettuce in, and whenever he saw me he used to say 'Hey ugga bugga boo!' That's where I got that little phrase from, it was just a little gimmick I put in there. It's so simple it's good. But the thing with Joe was, you had to get things in the first take because he didn't want to pay for studio time. So he counted the start to 'Cave Man Hop' out so fast that I could barely keep up with it! The single got played a little in the Bay Area, and we had a good friend who was a Dee Jay on KMBY in Monterey who played the song a lot, even though it was considered outlandish at the time because it was so fast. You just couldn't dance to it!" The Pacers band worked heavily in central California during this period and Coulston went on to make a couple more records for Christy before the band split up, although none as frantic as the debut.

Click on a song title below to hear that song!

Cave Man Hop

Bon Bon Baby

What's A Personality

Go Ask Your Mama

Crater Creepers

Applesauce - The Pacers backing vocal group The Jades

Tell Me Pretty Baby - The Pacers backing vocal group The Jades

The Big Beach Party - The Pacers backing vocal group The Jades

Oh Why - The Pacers backing vocal group The Jades

Let It Be Me - The Pacers backing vocal duo The McMillin Brothers

Satisfied - The Pacers backing vocal duo The McMillin Brothers


Willie Bryant, Jerry Summerall, Jerry Coulston, Ron Coulston, Louie Payne


The pacers without Jerry Coulston.

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