The Novells

Thousands of copies of our album have already been sold through on-line Internet vendors. Royalty Recovery is currently pursuing our Royalties. Our album is typically being sold on a "Radioactive" label under the spelling Nouvells or possibly Novells. Use the Google search engine to locate where it is being sold, or visit Amazon.com in the United Kingdom. If you still can't find our album That Did It! contact Chip or me ... we'll give you a better price anyway. chipmo884@yahoo.com cedbenson@yahoo.com

chipmo884@yahoo.com

cedbenson@yahoo.com

HOW IT ALL STARTED:
I remember it quite clearly. My band, the Sultans, had placed 2nd to this great group in a battle-of-the-bands the night before, The Novelles. I had found our match; I mean these guys were good! They had showmanship and great harmonies.

So out of all people, who did I see the next morning but the leader of that band - who just happens to be walking straight towards me, and no matter which way I turn, my ever elusive attempts at being lost are in vain. . . . and with a tap on the shoulder ... "Excuse me, but weren't you in that band last night?" Embarrassed having been beaten by Bob's band the night before I humbly replied "yes." "Well hey ya wanna join a good group . . . ?" The answer obviously did not require a whole lot of thought from any somewhat intelligent person. I mean what musician wouldn't want to be in the Novelles? [Porter Junior High School, Granada Hills, California, spring 1964]. "Practice tonight at 5:30. Call me - here's my number." I was 13-years old at the time and about to become the youngest and final member of the Novelles.

You see, all the other guys were in high school, a grade above me and attending Granada Hills High and Monroe High Schools while I was graduating from Porter Junior High. Therefore, when I saw that Bobby was not at his school but instead at mine, I suspected he was there for a good reason. However, I didn't know for sure until he actually asked if I wanted to join the group. It was the beginning of the most exciting times in my life.

NOVELLE'S BIOGRAPHY
The Novelles initially formed in 1963 in the San Fernando Valley. The San Fernando Valley is about 20 miles northwest of Los Angeles in Southern California, in the United States. The first member of the Novelles was bassist Terry Tibbetts who began a band while attending junior high school. Tragically, the drummer of that band was electrocuted and died after a portable pool collapsed and the filter fell into the water.

Bob Archer was recruited by Terry who then brought in drummer Chip Moore. "He told me I was the drummer and to sing a song," says Chip. "I was just beginning to learn how to play drums and I thought to myself ... wow, play the drums and sing too ? Okay." Later in early spring 1964 Ed Benson was brought into the group. That was all it took - the chemistry was perfect and the band took shape. From that time on, the Novelles would begin their rapid climb to popularity. "We were all young musicians - seriously dedicated musicians - determined to make it. We were extremely talented for our ages - always striving for perfection." "Our personalities merged nicely and we worked very well together." It wasn't long before the Novelles were making up to $1,000.00 a week playing only about eight hours a week. "We were always playing ... all over the valley and Los Angeles, even up to Central California [Vandenberg AFB]."

"I loved the idea of joining the Novelles. My step-father up to that time would have me work on the yard everyday when I'd get home from school and often on the weekends as well. When the Novelles recruited me, it required a lot of my time and therefore got me out of doing all that hard work," says Ed Benson. I loved it when Bobby told me we had to practice at least twice a week on the weekends. "We knew we were good and always strived to be better." "We would spend hours working on our vocal arrangements and harmonies, often without instruments over and over until our voices were perfectly blended. We were very self-critical. We were doing then what the Eagles do now in their so-called "'Circle of Fear,'" where they practice their vocals with only acoustic guitars."

In addition, we really got to know one another and did a lot together, we were like best friends, played practical jokes, clowned around and often did fun things together. We were together solid for a good seven years. Chip and Terry lived in Mission Hills while Ed and Bob lived in Granada Hills. "I remember we used to have our rehearsals at Bob Archer's home on San Fernando Mission near Havenhurst Avenue." Ed states, "I was dating my high school sweetheart Debbie Davies who had a big influence on all my music. This was eventually reflected in the band's style." "Debbie had a girlfriend that knew Phil Ramone, states Ed - a big-time producer, and she was always giving me promo albums of popular groups such as The Byrds, The Association, The Grass Roots, Chad and Jeremy and other top selling artists." "I remember I used to spend hours at home playing these vinyl records ... trying to figure out new songs so I could bring them to practice. Debbie kept the music coming and it became a part-time job learning new songs at home." "Music was my life and I was living it all the time."

The Novelles did it all, short of making it total big-time. They won a battle-of the-bands at the Hullabaloo Club in Hollywood and were flown to Trenton, New Jersey where they stayed for about a week. They placed 2nd out of the United States at that battle-of-the-bands. This was out of 16 bands selected from 16 different geographical areas across the United States. They played every popular night club in Hollywood with big time groups such as Three Dog Night, Lee Michaels, the Strawberry Alarm Clock, Black Oak Arkansas, The Seeds and The Merry-Go-Round [featuring Emitt Rhodes at the Hullabaloo Club in Hollywood, CA]. They flew up to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with Spanky Wilson to do a benefit for Martin Luther King. They played from San Diego to Central California. They played the Mormon Church circuit. They played at every high school in the San Fernando Valley and most of Los Angeles. They played at least twice a week every week for five years. They were the best band in the San Fernando Valley, if not more. They did benefits for Father Garrett and played in a battle-of-the-bands at Simi High School back in 1966 and came in first; as a matter of fact the Novelles were in a lot of battle-of-the-bands and only once placed lower than 1st place - 2nd place at the then Pacific Ocean Park on the popular Santa Monica Pier - they were 14-years old.

There were often articles and pictures of the Novelles appearing in the Daily News and Los Angeles Times telling where the group had performed or where they were performing, as well as other upcoming, local valley events where they would be. "We're working on getting pictures and other memorabilia on this MySpace site ... please be patient." "This was a long, long time ago."

IN THE RECORDING STUDIO:
Prior to the making of the album, "That Did It!? the Novelles had already spent quite a bit of time in the studio. Richard Monda, a producer and singer/songwriter/recording artist himself, took the Novelles into the studio quite often where they did some pretty crazy stuff [Trains Don't Go There No More]. In addition, they also recorded some very melodic songs, such as "Age of Innocence" which was written by Richard Monda [d.b.a. "Daddy Dewdrop"].

"Daddy Dewdrop is a pseudonym for an American songwriter named Dick Monda (born Cleveland, Ohio, 1940), backed up by some studio musicians, including Tom Hensley who later became the musical director for Neil Diamond and Butch Rillera who later became a member of the group Redbone. Monda had written the song "Chick-A-Boom" for the cartoon, Sabrina and the Groovie Goolies. The song was re-recorded and distributed by Sunflower Records, and released a full album of novelty based tunes, including "Chick-A-Boom" and was retitled "Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It)". The tune was a hit in the US, peaking on the Billboard Pop Singles chart at 9 in 1971, and 3 on Cashbox. [1] A second single, "Fox Huntin'/The March of the White Corpuscles" and also his further release, "Nanu Nanu (I Wanna' Get Funky With You)" from 1978.

Monda went on to write hits for other artists such as Ringo Starr, Kenny Rogers, Tom Jones, Englebert Huperdinck, Sammy Davis Jr., and many others including the Novelles back in the mid to late 1960s.

Monda continues to record, recently releasing a CD entitled This Time under his real name M. Richard Monda and also continues to record as Daddy Dewdrop. (1)

Probably the best promo the Novelles ever did was a song by Richard [Dick] Monda titled, "Shades of Night" which features a flute part and solo. "Why we didn't put these two songs [Shades of Night and Trains Don't Go There] on the album I can't recall, but they are two of the Novelle's best songs with great harmonies, music and lyrics." "Those two songs should have been on our That Did It! album instead of the covers we did," says Ed Benson. "I guess we just didn't think of it ... I'm really not quite sure." "I would like to work with Mr. Monda on the possibility that these audio tapes or promos may possibly still exist, and if so, getting them onto a CD." "Age of Innocence" is on the Novelles That Did It! album, but it was originally recorded prior to the "That Did It" album version at a recording studio Richard Monda took the Novelles into earlier. Hence, there is an alternate version of "Age of Innocence" somewhere in archives. It was recorded when Bob and Ed both had 12-string Rickenbackers as opposed to the generic one done at Paramount Studios which is when Bobby had gotten his Gretsch 6-string. Dick actually did the original "Age of Innocence" and was responsible for its existence. In addition, "Trains Don't Go There No More" was also written/produced by Richard Monda as well. Furthermore, the song featured Chip playing the Xylophone in the background. The song was written by Monda back in 1966 ! "That song has to be about the corrupt politics in our country," adds Ed, "The words are really heavy in that Monda song ... I'd love to bring it back now." [i.e. "I hear the words you're saying. And though they sound sincere, they don't ring true, time has changed the meaning of the things we do. (cont.) Everywhere I look there's trouble ... people saying this ... people saying that - and the voice of authority is talking through his hat" 1966]. Wow ... Monda at his best !!!

Furthermore, there is still yet another single the Novelles did at another studio which was sung by drummer Chip Moore. The song was titled "Pink Lady" and is very interesting in that it speaks of an "amaryllis plant and it's affect on one's mind and body." "Many of our songs represented themes, political views [Trains Don't Go There], romance and ideas and were often visionary," Ed remarks. "There must be others too as Pink Lady must have had a B-side."

When the boys recorded That Did It! at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California it was done in two days. "We were that polished," adds Ed. "We laid down the instrument track then went back and added the vocals ... it was that simple ... that basic. There weren't any complicated overdubs." That Did It! was finished on the second day in the studio. On the Lee Michaels' cover song Love, Ed used Bob's Gretsch to do the guitar part and solo while Bob played the keyboard. There is no 12-string in that song. "We didn't need a lot of tracks and we didn't want a bunch of muddled over-dubbed tracks, so we did as much as we could on a limited amount of tracks." What you hear on the CD is how the Novelles sounded when they performed live. They sounded just like the record.

COLOURFUL STAGE SHOWS:
One major group feature you can't see on this MySpace site are the dress, step and dance and themes the Novelles incorporated into their sets when performing. "There were a lot of shows we'd often do while on stage. We had professional step routines we used for one of our sets. Often we all dressed the same wearing long-tailed jackets with ruffled George Washington-like white shirts, wigs . . . somewhat like Paul Revere and the Raiders used to wear. On another, Bob would play the fiddle in a freak-out type show with strobe lights and all - then we all dressed different this set in colourful psychedelic-type outfits."

PRACTICES:
We practiced at least twice a week - there was never any question about that however, if we had a battle-of-the-bands or big gig coming up we would practice up to four or five times a week and months before the event. Moreover, we were certainly polished when we performed. We even played at "Nudist Colonies" in the Southern California Mountains. Now that was strange but "no" we did not have to play in the nude! However, one night we did get naked and went into the pool when most people were asleep . . . just being kids. "Actually, we were also all very good friends and did a lot together, like a family !!!" "At one point Ed Benson was living with the drummer Chip."
(1) Source: Wikipedia


Chip and Lori Moore.


Ed Benson now.


Dr. Robert Archer now.


. . . and . . . Mr. Terry Tibbetts

Bobby Archer was the leader of the band and it wasn't long before he and the other band members, especially Chip and Ed, began writing some nice original tunes together, i.e. "Glasshouse" which was initially thought up by Ed Benson while "Only You" was conceived by Chip and Ed and sung by Chip. "Almost There" and "Can't You See It" were excellent songs Bobby brought to band practice. I feel "Time to Show Her" should be released as a single now. "I spoke with Bob today and he's talking about doing some re-mixing in the future, nothing specific as there is a lot going on in our lives presently." The song "Time to Show Her" has so many hooks you could catch a fish with it and the counterpoint effect of Bob's six-string Gretsch and Ed's 12-string Rickenbacker adds a very unique backdrop to the song. Furthermore, Chip uses a lot of subtle and unique tempo changes and shuffles throughout the song ... he keeps the song moving and interesting. Terry's bass helps carry the song and is equally interesting. In reality, ideas were put forth by all members of the band. "No single member wrote songs for the band - we wrote together.""We'd bring our ideas to practice and then assemble the song together - as a group should."

NOVELLE'S BIOGRAPHY END:
Terry Tibbetts the steadfast bass player eventually left the band and moved to Box Canyon in Chatsworth then finally to Oregon. Another bassist was bought in to take Terry's place. For the first time in seven years there had been a personnel change in the Novelles. The band's demise became more evident by 1970 when Ed Benson left the band to get married. "The next thing I knew, I was wearing a suit to work every day and married with two children on the way.?

Meanwhile, what was left of the band continued to employ new musicians, but the loss of Ed's 12-string coupled with Terry's bass was a blow to the groups trademarked sound. Furthermore Bobby Archer's leadership had already begun and continued to wane as he himself began making plans for a new future. New musician's entered the group and the band's identity became defused and eventually lost. This would be the end of the original Novelle's sound. "It was especially strange because it happened at the same time the Beatles were breaking up." By the time a band had finally re-grouped, they sounded totally different, nowhere near what the original Novelle's sounded like. ?It was a new group altogether, they were no longer the Novelles even though they continued to use the name probably for publicity reasons.?

[Please note that I had actually left the group and what transpired during those years best be described by those who were still in the group at that time.]

40-YEARS LATER:
"I was finally successful in finding Bob Archer on October 31, 2008 and Chip Moore on November 18, 2008. Then ... finally, on Wednesday, March 11, 2009 I received a call from our drummer Chip and he informed me he had found Terry, the Novelles bass player. We both got a chance to chat with Terry for awhile. He's the same old Terry. Terry apparently owns a 15-acre parcel of land in extreme southwest Oregon. He is married and sounded very happy, and has his own Internet Marketing business. He was surprised to hear our album had been selling on the market."

People have asked what happened to the Novelles. This group had what I believe to be a hit album and they would have stayed together had the album been promoted as promised by H.B. Barnum himself. But H.B. Barnum was pretty busy, too busy for us and it's too bad because the album probably would have done quite well. Today, and for the last four years it's been selling in the United Kingdom as an "Import" and it's 40-years old !!! It was released in the United Kingdom twice, first on July 12, 2005 and again on December 21, 2007. One thing for sure: The Novelles certainly had a lot of talent, wrote good songs, had great harmonies, had good showmanship and on top of that they were all really nice guys. And you just never know what will happen in the future. Even we don't know that yet. But then again, we are older now - have pretty much gone our own paths and a lot of distance separates all of us.

Anyway, enjoy us. We had fun and the people who followed us had fun too. It's a great memory, too great to leave behind.

1. Almost There - B. Archer, C. Moore, E. Benson, T. Tibbetts
2. Love - L. Michaels
3. Age of Innocence - R. Monda
4. Glass House - E. Benson, B. Archer, C. Moore, T. Tibbetts
5. Sitting on the Dock of the Bay - O. Redding
6. Pink Wall Paper - B. Archer, C. Moore, E. Benson, T. Tibbetts
7. Sunshine of Your Love - E. Clapton
8. Tomorrow's Yesterday - E. Benson, B. Archer, C. Moore, T. Tibbetts
9. Only You - E. Benson, C. Moore, B. Archer, T. Tibbetts
10. Can't Ya See It - B. Archer, E. Benson, C. Moore, T. Tibbetts
11. Time to Show Her - B. Archer, E. Benson, C. Moore, T. Tibbetts

Bob Archer - 6 & 12-string guitar, vocals, keyboards and violin [fiddle]
Ed Benson - 12 & 6-string guitar, vocals, keyboard
Chip Moore - Drums, vocals, percussion, vibes, etc.
Terry Tibbetts - Bass guitar, vocals

The album was released twice in the United Kingdom. The first release was on July 12, 2005 and then it was re-released again on December 21, 2007 by a record company called "Radioactive." Ed Benson states, "One day I was listening to Pandora.com and suddenly one of our songs started playing. I couldn't believe my ears!" "Then I learned Amazon was selling it. We haven't seen one penny from the sales which has been worldwide."

So instead of buying the album, sit back, relax and listen to ten tracks of That Did It! for free anytime you want!

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE SPELLING OF THE GROUP IS EITHER NOVELLES, NOUVELLS OR NOVELLS CAN BE USED INTERCHANGEABLE ALTHOUGH THE ORIGINAL AND CORRECT BAND SPELLING IS "NOVELLES."

The story here is that the original spelling of the group was Novelles. Near the time of the making of the album, "That Did It! Ed Benson became aware while taking a French class at Granada High School that the name "Nouvelles" was a French word meaning something new happening [spelled Nouvelles]. Then, to further confuse things they incorrectly spelled it Novells on the album.

Like the English word "novel", the English word "novella" is derived from the French word "nouvelle" (plural: "novelle"), news or information. As the etymology suggests, novellas [Italian] originally were news of town and country life worth repeating for amusement and edification. Definition of French Word nouvelle
French Word: nouvelle
Plural: nouvelles (2)
(2) Source: Wikipedia


Sincerely,



ed benson
bob archer
chip moore
terry tibbetts



For more, go to:

www.myspace.com/novellesahappening

ed benson