The Filipino Kingsmen Playing “Hitchhike” – LOUIE distant relative of Week

Here’s a cool vintage discovery from the early 1960s – another band known as “the Kingsmen” that had NOTHING to do with the band with the LOUIE hit recording. This is a Filipino ‘Kingsmen” rock band playing “Hitchhike.”

For this one, I’ll recycle the YouTube description that Paquito Dela Cruz posted with his clip:

The Pinoy rock group “The Kingsmen” was founded on July 1, 1961 by J. Ramón “Mon” Faustmann (Arranger & Rythmn Guitar), Carlos Faustmann (Bass), Carlos “Charlie” de Oglou (Lead Guitar — a cousin of Ernesto “Ernie” Delgado of “The Electromaniacs“), and Jon Achával (Drums).

“The Kingsmen” would later meet up with “The Silvertones” and invite the band members to play together. Here is the story according to bandmember J. Ramón Faustmann:

“I met the Nubers in a Manila Yacht Club Regatta to Cabcaben, Bataan, around a campfire, where, as usual, I was jamming with my guitar! They were there too, also with their guitars. We struck up a friendship, and they invited me to their SanLo [San Lorenzo Village, Makati City] home to play with them and also teach them, as well. The were already getting lessons from a professional jazz guitar player, where they had learned a few songs. They called themselves ‘The Silvertones’ (their amps were all Silvertone Amps bought from SEARS), and I played with them in several places, and in time, I invited them to meet and play with the rest of the group, ‘The Kingsmen!'”

However, on several occasions the band had changed its name to: “Bob Dunn and the Kingsmen“, and later to the “Royal Kingsmen” in order to differentiate themselves from the Seattle rock group, “The Kingsmen” (who recorded the popular hit “Louie, Louie”).

According to bandmember J. Ramón Faustmann:

“I remember very clearly we recorded ‘Exodus’ (as well as ‘Miserlou,’ ‘Hitchhike’ and ‘Honky Tonk’) around September or October, 1963 in the studio. ‘Exodus’ was then played during the Kennedy Assassination in November, 1963 on DZHP. Sometime in October 1963, we obtained two Beatle albums from friends in England, and we learned the songs in a week, in time to play them at various school fairs and TV appearances. We can claim that we were the first band to play Beatles [songs] in the Philippines. They were introduced in the USA in February 1964 at the Ed Sullivan Show. The ‘Kingsmen’ had been playing Beatles for five months!”

With thanks to: http://pinoyclassicrock.com/ and J. Ramón Faustmann for providing corrections and clarifications!

https://youtu.be/GuFw1msSc3U

One correction to note: The Kingsmen with the LOUIE LOUIE hit were from Portland, Oregon, and not Seattle!

BIG THANKS to Paquito Dela Cruz for sharing this one!