The Remains - Biography
The Remains were a British Invasion-inspired band that emerged in 1965 from dorm parties at Boston University, where group leader Barry Tashian was an undergraduate. Their sound was influenced both by the contemporary R&B scene as well as the British Invasion bands, particularly The Kinks. They quickly became local favorites and began appearing weekly at the Rathskeller, later to be the seat of the Boston punk rock scene in the late ‘70s. They earned a reputation for being loud and wild, as well as drum-tight and ultra-professional.
They signed with Epic Records in early 1965. Their first single, “Why Do I Cry,” was a strong regional hit but made little impact on the national charts. Indeed, they were fated to receive no national chart success at all during their career. During that summer, Tashian took a few days off from the band to travel to the Newport Folk Festival. It was at this festival that Bob Dylan was booed by many for going electric. Ironically, Tashian was largely ignored for perpetrating the same crime against the folk tradition, playing electric guitar for Richard and Mimi Farina.
In search of a wider audience, they relocated to New York City. They did manage to make a few national TV appearances, playing on both the Ed Sullivan Show and Hullabaloo. Based on these appearances they were offered the opening slot on The Beatles’ 1966 American tour. Drummer Damiani left the band shortly before the tour began and he was replaced by the young but highly talented N.D. Smart. They went on to play the entire tour, performing a brief opening set and then providing musical backup for Bobby Hebb and The Ronettes, the other two opening acts. They were there at the Beatles’ Shea Stadium Concert in New York and at their performance at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The latter would turn out to be the Beatles’ last performance in America.
Shortly thereafter, for reasons that remain obscure, Tashian disbanded the group. It is likely that their inexplicable failure to achieve any notably chart success nationally contributed to his decision. Their fourth and last single, “Don’t Look Back,” was a strong rocker with an R&B-styled call and response section, featuring a sneering vocal and a Kinks-like chord progression. It should have been a hit but was doomed by the breakup of the band. Epic released their only album, The Remains, (1966 Epic) just as they broke up. With no band to tour and promote the record it died a quick, quiet death and The Remains were effectively over. “Don’t Look Back” is probably best known to listeners as one of the inclusions on Lenny Kaye’s garage-rock compilation, Nuggets.
Following the breakup of The Remains; Tashian, Briggs and Smart fell in with an informal group of Boston-based musicians playing a mixture of rock and country — a radical concept at the time. This group eventually coalesced into the Flying Burrito Brothers. After Parsons went solo, his debut features appearances by both Tashian and Smart. Through his association with Parsons, Tashian joined Emmylou Harris’s band. He stayed with her for a decade, playing numerous tours and appearing on ten albums with her. He spent most of the ‘90s recording several excellent and well-received albums with his wife, Holly Tashian. Although not commercial successes, the records were critically acclaimed and won numerous industry awards.
In the late ‘90s, the original four members reunited to play Cavestomp and several other garage rock revival festivals. Since then, they have not only toured but have released two albums. One is a collection of mostly covers recorded in the ‘60s as an audition tape for Capitol. The other is a collection of new material. Tashian also published a book entitled “Ticket to Ride,” a collection of reminisces about their tour with The Beatles. Their original ‘60s tunes remain a touchstone for fans of tight, powerful, melodic rock. The Boston-based Lyres, particularly, betray a strong Remains influence in many of their best known songs.
