Brendan Hanlon and the Bat Men

 

Brendan Hanlon and the Bat Men

13419 - Christmas Alphabet
(Buddy Kaye-Jules Loman, Budd Music ASCAP)

13450 - Christmas Party
(Hank Levy-Brendan Hanlon, Welz Music ASCAP)

Directed by Will Taylor
Produced by John A'Hern & Joey Welz

Bat Records 2203 Maryland Ave., Baltimore, MD
Another Fly By Night Recording

 

After this first obscure single, Brendan Hanlon managed to have three singles on the major Columbia Records in 1967.  In 1973 with Oatis Stephens (who played in Hair, the Broadway show) he authored the song "Ketchup, Indiana, Blues" which paid the rent for eight months.

★

Native of Boston, Brendan Hanlon studied theatre at Emerson College and, as a graduate student, at Smith College. Thereafter he had a varied career in show business: ballyhooing, clowning, acting in regional theatre for five years as well in television and clubs.

A serious actor with a remarkable record of experience in the regional theaters of America, Brendan was just as proud of his achievements as a clown. As Hobo The Clown he was one of The Agony Trio at Pleasure Island, a Massachusetts amusement park)  Also in clown white, Brendan has made appearances with the Lone Ranger, Lassie and other personalities and has been a frequent visitor on TV variety shows.

He has been a member of the resident companies at Philadelphia's Theatre of the Living Arts, Washington's own Arena Stage and Boston's Charles Playhouse.  His last off Broadway show persuaded him to seek a less tenous life and started a new career of private tax preparer, specializing in the performing arts.  He wrote "The New Tax Guide for Performers, Writers, Directors, Designers and Other Show Biz Folk."

He died of cardiac arrest in Marshfield, Massachusetts, on January 2, 1999. He was 62. 
 

Joey Welz on Bat

Joey Welz And His Rock-A-Billy Piano

CP-2356 - Boppin' The Stroll

(Joey Welz, Gil Music Corp.)

CP-2357 - Shore Party

BAT 100

A Fly By Night Recording

BAT Records
2203 Maryland Ave.,Baltimore 18, MD.

[October 1959]

First issued record of the self-proclaimed “Boogie Woogie King of Rock n' Roll”. 

Joseph Wallace Welzant was born in 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland.  Welz has written over 1000 published songs, recorded over 35 vinyl albums, 75 singles and 60 CDs.   

Official website

Joey Welz, Louis Hinkle, Charles Shriner

Joey Welz: 

I first started the band business of making Baltimore our stomping ground for this new type of music. We were the first rock & roll band in Baltimore and actually our roots were rockabilly. The group was called the Jayrockers with Sam Cataldie on drums, and Jimmy Staggs on guitar, myself on piano and we had a bassplayer by the name of Greggard and later replaced by a slapping bassman by the name of Flirby. The Jayrockers made their first recordings in Baltimore in 1955 "The Jitterbug Rock", "I'm Lonesome" and "You're The One".  The way that this worked was that I figured if I could get a group togehter I could open for Bill Haley and get to know the band and consequently that's what happened.   

In 1957, Joey formed a new band known as the Rock-A-Billies. The line up featured: Lou Hinkle on drums, Charlie Shirner on lead guitar and Flurry (or Flirby?) on stand up bass. By this time, Joey was using the Monumental Studios in Baltimore, and got a more professional sound with Will Taylor at the controls as engineer.

Quite of interest is a recent post on the tapwrecks blog titled :  Boy With A Dream (and some scissors and glue) .... The Real Joey Welz (Baltimore 1950s-70s / Lancaster 1980s-present) . Excerpt :

For years, Joey has promoted his act out of his house and has his own rock'n'roll museum. He cuts and pastes his face into photos of famous musicians including the Comets and the Beatles for his press kits. Many of his original songs from the 50s and 60s have his more recent Roland keyboard and drum machine inexplicably overdubbed, so it's really hard to know what to make of the "Joey Welz Legend."