Sunday, February 3, 2013

The Dimensions (Of Refugio)

From all the way down in small town Refugio, Texas (halfway between Victoria and Corpus Christi on Hwy 77) originated the 1960's high school garage band The Dimensions.
They got started around 1964 and would practice regularly at the Refugio City Hall. On the weekends, they would rent the hall out for $50 and play all night, usually pulling in $3-400 in profit...
Not a bad payout for the mid 60's!
Lead singer of the band- Vincent Heard, had his share of local inspiration. He recalls getting to see The Bad Seeds, Zakary Thaks, The Argyles, and Playboys Of Edinburg, all play in his area.
The Dimensions themselves would venture out to Victoria, Corpus, Mercedes, and Harlingen to play the local dances.
Sometime circa 1966, the band made several recordings at Doyle Jones recording studio, which were financed by Frank Scanio's dad.
These recordings led to two 45 singles. The first was a decent original jangler called "Worryin'" paired with a cover of the Rolling Stones "Time Is On My Side."
The second 45 was pressed but never distributed because the band was unhappy with the quality of the pressing. It featured two sleepy little instrumental versions of popular songs: "Michele" b/w "Harbor Lights."
There are other unreleased studio recordings from those same sessions, including a cover of "Zilch" by The Bad Seeds.



The band member lineup from the photo above, starting from front left:
Vincent Heard - Rhythm Guitar and Lead Vocals
Frank Scanio - Guitar
Grover Caldwell - Guitar
Robert Henning - Bass
Chris Rainey - Drums



"Worryin'"

"Time Is On My Side"



"Michele"

"Harbor Lights"




Thanks to Vincent and Frank from the band for their help.