The Snaps – “You Don’t Want Me” / “You’re All Mine” (Cuppy C103) 1966

Rare and very cool 45 by The Snaps. Not only is it a great garage punk record but also the label is a gorgeous gold colour. Most of you will be familiar with their classic ’Polka Dotted Eyes’ from Psychedelic Unknowns Volume 6 and Crude P.A Volume 1.

Surprisingly, the two tracks on this 45 have never showed up anywhere. ’You Don’t Want Me’ is surely ripe for compiling. It has a Bo Diddley R&B beat with fuzz. The flip ’You’re All Mine’ is also pretty good and has the added bonus of a cool guitar break.

Both songs were written by leader Robert Hummel and were produced by Magic Mushrooms Manager Sonny Casella. The latter band were responsible for ’It’s A Happening’ that can be found on the original Nuggets compilation. (original post 17/03/07)

The Snaps hailed from Folcroft, Pennsylvania and sometime in 1967 changed their name to The Underground Balloon Corps. This was then shortened to The Balloon Corps. I’ve recently exchanged emails with The Snaps drummer Charles Walsh who has kindly sent me some great Snaps pictures and answered questions about the group.

The Snaps had a cool 60s punk image and were obviously rebellious as detailed in local newspaper The Wildwood Leader, September 7th, 1967.

The group were busy playing to fans at the Fairview Bar but started pissing off the Management when they refused to quit playing after closing hours. By 3.35am The Snaps were forcibly removed from the venue by the Police and booked for creating a disturbance. They were also busted for possession of drugs but this accusation was dropped.

01. How and where did The Snaps form? Who was in the group?

I worked a day job with a friend that told me a friend of his Bob Hummel needed a drummer for a gig he had. Bob and myself stayed together through a couple of bands until we joined the Snaps. After some personnel changes we stayed together as The Snaps.

02. Where did The Snaps perform?

We played Atlantic City, Wildwood, and various clubs in NJ and PA.

03. How did the single deals come about?

We were approached by different producers and managers to record some of our songs.

04. Where did The Snaps record? Can you remember the name of the studio?

We recorded at Cuppy Records, Sigma Sound, Virtue Studios, and a couple others I don’t remember.

05. When were the unreleased songs ’Like A Cave Man’ and ’Mr Ease’ recorded? Where these songs going to be the next Snaps single?

We had hoped all of our songs would be released, but not all got released.

06. How did the records do sales wise? Did The Snaps perform on any TV Shows?

They didn’t do so good sales wise, at least in the US. We heard that The Balloon Corps did OK in UK and Germany. We did the Hy Lit Show, The Ed Hurst Show, and Summertime on Steel Pier in AC.

07. How and why did The Snaps change name to The Underground Balloon Corps?

A friend of ours told us of a name he thought would be a good name for a band, and we were changing our image so we used the name Underground Balloon Corps. Our producer at the time thought it was too long, and label us as an underground group, so we shortened it to the Balloon Corps.

Recently two unreleased Snaps songs ’Like A Cave Man’ and ’Mr Ease’ dubbed from an acetate were uploaded to YouTube by Charlie. ’Like A Cave Man’ has that familiar 60s garage Bo Diddley beat and is GREAT. So too is the folk rock Dylanesque winner ’Mr Ease’. Both songs need to be compiled or released as a 45 NOW!!

THE SNAPS LINE-UP:

Charles Walsh (drums)
Robert Forsythe a.k.a. Linc Davis (keyboards and lead vocals on some recordings)
Gary Young (bass and background vocals)
Robert Hummel (lead guitar and vocals)

DISCOGRAPHY:

The Snaps 

’You Don’t Want Me’/’You’re All Mine’ (Cuppy C-103) 1966
’The Voice’/’Polka Dotted Eyes’ (East Coast Records C-1023) 1966

The Underground Balloon Corps

‘(Heart) Made Of Soul’/’Grass Is Greener’ (Scope XX1/2) 1967

The Balloon Corps

’Up In Smoke’/’Perfect Vision’ (Bell 796) 1969
’Muddy Water’/’Make It Right’ (Dunhill 4219) 6/1970