"The What's New"

from left: Jay Huling, Colin Scot, Kevin Shipman and Carl Berg

The What's New have always fascinated record collectors: mistakenly listed as a Florida band, they released two EPs in France but nothing in the U.S.

Their story starts with the Yachtsmen, a folk group founded by students at Long Beach City College in 1959. They became regulars at Disneyland in Anaheim, releasing an LP on Disney's Buena Vista label (BV-3310), "High and Dry with The Yachtsmen" in 1961.

On the LP the group were Carl Berg (vocals, guitar), Ray Jordan (vocals, banjo, string bass), Jay Huling (aka Jay Hulingpart, vocals, guitar, bongos), and Bill Reed (vocals, bass). Other members included Kevin Shipman and Mickey Elley.

Kevin Shipman created a video history of the Yachtsmen & What's New with photos and music.

 

The Yachtsmen continued performing at Disneyland for the next several years, adding Scot Thistlewaite (stage name Colin Scot).

Scot had been playing banjo and guitar with a ragtime duo called Bud and Scotty at Coke Corner in Disneyland, with Bud Hedrick on piano.

 

 

Bud Hedrick and Colin Scot at Coke Corner, photo courtesy Bud Hedrick.

Scot was born in the UK, moved to Canada in the late '50s where he went to Sir Adam Beck Collegiate High School in London, Ontario, then moved to California where he attended Cal State University at Long Beach.

 

In October, 1965, French chanteuse Line Renaud and her husband Louis "Loulou" Gasté saw the Yatchsmen at Disneyland and brought the group over to Paris in January, 1966.

The band changed their name to the What's New though they still look very collegiate performing "Des mots d'amor" with Line Renaud on French TV. They performed at the Casino de Paris, and opened for the Beach Boys and Michel Polnareff at the Olympia on October 25, 1966.

They recorded their first EP in July, '66 at Gasté's own studio in Paris, scoring a French hit with a single version of Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain". Their first EP also has their version of Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing on My Mind" and two songs by Randy Sparks of the New Christy Minstrels, "Huckleberry Finn" and "Driving Wheels".


Their second EP showcases four original songs by Colin Scot, putting a sharp folk-rock sound behind Scot's plaintive lead vocal and the group's harmonies. It includes the now-famous "Up So High" ("Got no use for LSD, every time you look at me I'm up so high") and the excellent "Get Away" which moves from dreamy verse to tough chorus.

The What's New disbanded in early 1967. Colin Scot became part owner of a nightclub called Kahuna's Cave in Cala Mayor, Palma de Majorca, and toured the folk circuit in the UK in the late '60s. In the 1970s he released LPs on United Artists and Warner Bros, with a final single "Mandolin Man" / "Boris" on RCA in 1977. He died in Amsterdam in 1996 (though I've also seen it listed as 1999).

Chas Kit writes about garage bands at Garage Hangover
What's New EP scans courtesy Jeff of the Limestone Lounge and Obsolete, Yachtsmen LP scan from Vintage Disneyland Tickets

Comments

[Geoff Smith]

Just posted these notes to Garage Hangover but this seems to be the relevant site as well

I can add a few details to Colin Scott's life in Europe after the break up of The What's New.
He was working as a solo artist around Europe, particularly the U.K., playing what would be called 'contemporary folk' music. He released several albums in the UK. His first and the most important one is just called 'Colin Scot', released 1971 It features several of his own songs listed under his real surname of Thistlethwaite, as well as a number of excellent covers.
The albums includes musical support from a large number of UK musicians including Peter Gabriel (Genesis), Robert Fripp (King Crimson), David Kaffinetti (Rare Bird) and Rick Wakeman & Jon Anderson (YES). Several songs on the album, became firm favourites with UK audiences and remained part of Colin's live set until his death in 1999.
In the early 70s I used to work at a rockclub called The Penthouse, in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in the U.K. Yes, the same one as in 'Scarborough Fair' and the home town of the late Robert Palmer. Although the club featured bands such as FREE, Derek & The Dominoes, Thin Lizzy, etc, Sunday evening was 'Folk Night' and it was there that I first saw Colin Scot perform in about 1970/71. Colin (or Scotty as everyone he met called him) became a big favourite with the Penthouse audience and returned many times over the years. After Scotty's death his first album was re-issued on cd by Eclectic Discs ECLCD 1036 and the sleeve notes were written by a friend and fellow Penthouse DJ, Mat Watkinson.
So if you buy a copy of the CD you can get lots more info from those notes. However I'm going to quote a couple of sections that sum up the feelings of all those that met and knew Scotty. I'm sure Mat won't mind and I may bump him to him today and I can tell him about 'The What's New'.
"Colin Scot was a big person in many ways; big figure, big fun, excessive (an understatement somewhat), loud, bright and lovely, dry, disparaging and kind and gentle. Right now he is singing 'Everyday'; close youe eyes and he really is Buddy, though Charles Hardin Holley probably didn't drink vodka and tonic from pint glasses".
I would add that before I became a DJ, thanks to Mat, I worked as a barman at the Penthouse and I can recall serving Scotty large Tequila Sunrises in half or pint glasses and then he would spend ages explaining to us Brits how to serve the best Tequila Sunrise before getting up on stage for 90+ minutes.
"Colin played regularly and always to packed houses. He was a much loved friend for many years of the club's owner, Peter Adams who lived in Whitby (a fishing port 20 miles north and where Bram Stoker wrote 'Dracula')had a rambling house where many of the artists including David Bowie, Mike Oldfield and Scotty would occasionally stay, sometimes for a week or more"
Scotty also became friends with Penthouse staff and many still remember the great nights spent in his company. Just last night my friend Frank (another Scotty fan)dropped by, both of us had been going to the Penthouse from mid 69 when it opened until 1982 when it finally closed, and I showed him the posting about 'The What's New'and we watched the videos on the 'Bedazzled' site.
Another fan of Scotty, Les, rents my garage, so when he comes by with the rent he'll be getting a look at 'The What's New' and face the question "Who do you recognise on That Video"? I think Les once spent a weekend in Amsterdam with Scotty when the Penthouse organised a Ferry trip across The North Sea to visit The Melkweg (the Milky Way) Amsterdam's equivalent of The Penthouse, which was owned by a Dutch friend of Peter's.
Sad to relate that when Scotty died he was living in Amsterdam and the news never reached many of his friends and fans who were by now scattered around the world so they couldn't get to the funeral. If they had I know the crowd would have been enormous and made up of the friends, fans and fellow musicians who loved him.
If you get the opportunity please grab a copy of any of Scotty's three albums on vinyl, as far as I'm aware, only the first is available on cd. The other vinyl albums are called 'Out of the Blue' and 'Just A Clown'.
If you would like to read even more about Scotty then search for Colin Scot online and read the comments about him on the 'Amazon' site, what a great guy!

[Cookie]

Thanks for all that info Geoff!

[Mat Watkinson]

I've been thrilled and amazed by turns to find your site. I'm Mat, knocked out by my friend, Geoff's contribution. There's a lot I didn't know about Scot - his friends, Derek Brimstone and Dr. Allan Taylor, along with Rahim (Peter Adams) and the many people who agreed to be interviewed for the CD re-release, provided me with heaps of material. Rick Wakeman explained his reasons for not wanting to be quoted and I understand completely. Dave Cousins was generous to a fault, Davey Johnstone a most engaging contributor whom I talked to in Las Vegas for the notes. I was contacted some years ago by a woman claiming to be nursing Scotty's Dad, but subsequent investigation suggested things might not be as I hoped they seemed. I could still be wrong. Derek Brimstone's memoirs contain lots of tremendous stories "Till I was 20" and "I'm glad I practised" - find 'em all over at all good book sellers. I was at Mike Oldfield's 18th birthday at Newcastle's Mayfair Ballroom, where he was playing with Kevin Ayers - and dear, departed David Bedford. But that's another story...