Interview with Carl Finnigan conducted August 2010.
Band photos courtesy of Carl Finnigan.
The Sting Reys (1963)
Ronnie Houston, Gilbert Razo,
Carl Finnigan, and Larry Montoya
In
1960, John F. Kennedy said, "We stand on the edge of a new frontier—the
frontier of unfulfilled hopes and dreams." But for 16-year old East
High sophomore Carl Finnigan, the new decade was anything but
unfulfilling - he had been performing in country bands since the age of
11.
"I played guitar from a very young age. I was
playing in bars, but because liquor was sold, when the band took a
break, I had to go outside and sit in the car until the break was over.
Then an older band member would come outside and whistle for me to come
back in the club and start picking the next set."
Finnigan
was a featured artist with Buddy Johnson, who had a western music
television show (the Pueblo Barn Dance) on KCSJ-TV (now KOAA-TV). The
pre-teen guitar phenom's professional resume also included regular gigs
at the local Starlight Club, the Columbine, Silver Saddle, and the
Caravan.
Photo from the Pueblo Barn Dance with Buddy Johnson
(Jimmy Cox on guitar).
Upon
seeing him perform, country superstar Wanda Jackson wanted to hire him
to go on tour with her. "But my parents said education was more
important and would not allow it."
Finnigan's family
always knew he had a special gift. At an early age he would strum his
plastic guitar to the music he heard on the
Jimmy Cox radio show.
"I
always wanted a real guitar, so my grand-paw gave me an old Harmony
model, and I was thrilled with it. I just started playing. Shortly
after that I got polio, and while in the hospital, I began to teach
myself how to play."
While he had been playing country
music throughout his young life, he always had an ear for rock and roll.
As a student at East, Finnigan began to recruit his friends for a new
band he wanted to form.
"One afternoon, while in the
restroom at East, I began talking to my friend Gilbert Razo. I asked if
he ever considered playing bass...and he said 'Not really.' But he had
played a little guitar with his dad, and I said he could learn. Never
playing bass before, Gil picked up an old used bass and I gave him a few
lessons - he was a natural."
For keyboards, he recruited 14-year old Larry Montoya, who had recently quit school.
"Ronnie
Houston was our drummer. He was had already graduated from Central, and
I think he was probably about 22 when he joined the band."
They dubbed themselves The Sting Reys.
The Sting Reys (1963)
"Everybody
named their band after automobiles back then," he said. "We just
thought it would be a different take on the name instead of going with
the exact spelling of the automobile. Plus we were concerned, and not
exactly sure, if there would be a copyright issue."
In spite of the less than legal ages of the group, they performed throughout the local Pueblo bar scene.
"We'd
play at the Honey Bucket on Santa Fe, Quickie's Sugar Shack on Main,
Ianne's/Pizza Hi-Fi Club in Bessemer, Jerry's Keg Room on 4th, Wayne's
Sky Club, as well as in the Springs and Denver. My brother Arnold was
the road manager, and we would travel in this 1956 Oldsmobile and pull a
U-Haul trailer."
But unlike most local garage bands,
the Sting Reys wanted to look the part of polished rock band, so they
took a page from the British Invasion groups of the era, and invested in
matching suits.
"We went to Joe’s on Santa Fe, and he
had these catalogs where you could go through and pick out these suits.
He had to special order them."
Finnigan and the band then took the next step - they decided to record a single.
"We
were thinking about what to put on the record, and in the process of
considering material we were thinking about Disneyland. That got us
thinking about a different arrangement for 'When you Wish Upon a Star'."
Recorded
at Kurt Goletz Studios in Denver, and released in 1963, the single
(Crazy Town 101) featured Larry Montoya on vocals. The Mike Novack
produced record (along with the Carl Finnigan-penned instrumental
flipside "You're Looking Good") received favorable reviews, and even
reached up to #2 on a local El Paso radio station.
"We
had been booked in El Paso, and that's where we met Sunny and the
Sunliners. We were on the same bill with the Bobby Fuller Four."
The
Denver sessions resulted in two other records, "Let Them Talk" / Alli
Alli Auks in Free" (Crazy Town 102) and "Just a Gigolo (Ain't Got
Nobody)" and the b-side, "Sick and Tired" (Crazy Town 104).
The band continued to tour, but by 1966 bassist Gilbert Razo was drafted into the service, and was headed to Vietnam.
"We
had been together about four years, and we had such a tight show worked
out that we just didn't have the desire or drive to try and work with
another bass player - it just wouldn't be the same sound."
Larry Montoya would also leave the group, and join the
Rudy Guiterrez Orchestra. Afterward he moved to Austin. According to Finnigan, he has since passed away.
Ronnie Houston continued to play around town. He passed away last year.
Gilbert Razo returned from Vietnam, and currently resides in California.
Finnigan
also moved to the West Coast, where he has found steady gigs working in
various groups (including the lounge group Middle of the Road), and as a
solo act. He has recorded three compact discs of vintage cowboy music
for the band Old West.
He is currently writing new music and recording in his home studio.
Samples of his songs can be found at
carlfinnigan.com.
COMING NEXT POST: We Are the Heart - Pueblo
The
20-minute show, entitled "We Are the Heart" contained four original
songs, and premiered on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 1980 at the annual dinner of
the Pueblo Chamber of Commerce. It drew a standing ovation from the
crowd of 700 and was subsequently presented to the entire community in
showings at the Sangre de Cristo Arts Centre and to Colorado business
leaders at the Governor's Mansion in Denver.
