Angry

Canton, Ohio garage combo the Angry was formed in 1962 when, according to the history located online at http://mdmm.home.att.net/, drummer Jim Grant met keyboardist Hans Stucki while their respective bands were scheduled to perform on local radio station WTOF. Recruiting Grant's high school classmate Ken Stephen on bass and saxophone, and Stucki's neighbor Gary "Bean" Tinsler on guitar, the fledgling group first dubbed themselves "the Premiers," a moniker dropped after one gig, after a group with the same name scored a national hit with "Farmer John" — from there, the quartet christened themselves "the Silvertones," so named in honor of their amps. Guitarist Tom Potts then replaced Tinsler, and after adding a second guitarist, Gene Smithberger, the group began gigging extensively throughout the northeast Ohio region, in 1965 signing on as the house band at the Canton nightclub the Riviera. Grant and Stephen left "the Silvertones" around this same time, however, and following the addition of drummer Mike O'Brien, the reconstituted lineup changed its name to the Angry. In the year to come, the band emerged as one of the most popular bands in northern Ohio, even rivaling the James Gang — the next step was to make a demo, and after cutting a handful of songs at Canton's Mills Recording Studio, the Angry landed a six-album deal with Reprise Records. After relocating to New York City, they began work with the hitmaking production team of Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore, but with the threat of the military draft looming, Stucki, Potts, and Smithberger were soon forced to return to school to avoid military duty, and the Angry ground to a halt. Nothing ever materialized from the Reprise deal, and the band was shelved until 2003, when the lineup of Stucki, Potts, Smithberger, and O'Brien reunited for their first-ever U.S. tour.