Gary James' Interview With Ray Graffia Of
New Colony Six



New Colony Six, or NC6 as they are sometimes referred to, were the first Chicago based group to have a hit record on both the local and national charts. In fact, they would produce fourteen more hits for those charts. They appeared on The Mike Douglas Show, Upbeat and Lloyd Thaxton. In 2002 they were inducted into the Iowa Rock 'n' Roll Music Association Hall Of Fame. Ray Graffia of New Colony Six fills us in about the band.

Q - Ray, for the record, New Colony Six formed in 1965?

A - Five of the six of us graduated from St. Pat's in the summer of '64. We played a few parties that summer as The Patsmen. When Bruce Sneath, who passed away maybe three or four years ago now, got drafted, he was a couple of years older than the rest of us, hence Walt Kemp came into the band on bass just prior to the name change to NC6 later that summer. And when the accordion player, Chris Wolski, who was only a sophomore, was told to quit the band of graduated seniors by his dad, Walt had a cousin, Greg Kempinski, stage name Craig Kemp, who played both accordion and piano/organ, and he came into the then renamed Colony. So, the direct answer to your question would be later in 1964. Now you have more details in case anybody but me would be interested in them. Pat never played guitar, but wanted to pose with one. He became a pretty dang solid harmonica player over the years though.

Q - What were you guys doing before that? Were you all in other bands?

A - I believe that Gerry, Walt and Chic were all in other bands. One name might have been The Dynamics, but I cannot recall if that was all three of them or not. Pat and I were not. Later days resulted in Chic, Craig and I forming the RJM Band in my time away from the Colony and releasing a couple of tunes, but we all believed then that NC6 management, who were the primary providers of tunes to the radio DJs, told the jocks not to play our tunes sent along by the record company for consideration of airplay. "Let There Be Love" was just added to that Bee Gees tribute compilation finally released out of Australia.

Q - How did you hear about each other?

A - Other than Craig, Walt's cousin, we knew each other from the 1964 graduating class at St. Pat's High School.

Q - Did you hand pick the members after seeing them in other bands?

A -Nope. We were buddies who were blessed to cover "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" in our Senior year in high school. It was Pat and I onstage, with Chic, Walt and Gerry playing in the combo dance band. Pat MC'd the event, Walt and I were in the chorus while Chris Wolski, later forced out by his parents... plus Walt, Chic and Gerry were the musicians offstage, but set-up directly in front of the crowds who came to see the concerts. We either did two or three of those performances to close out our Senior year.

Q - Who was writing the majority of the material for the group? Was it Ronnie Rice?

A - Nope. Early on, before Pat and I asked Ronnie if he wanted to join the band, it was primarily Gerry and myself writing as a duo, but also with Pat at times, and Walt also writing solo. After a while we switched up and/or combined efforts. Ronnie was somebody Pat and I knew from our Sophomore year at Columbia College, since I spent freshman year at Northern IllinoisUniversity, DeKalb, IL, but transferred since band commitments made classes in Chicago far more logical and when Craig left we asked Ronnie to join the band, only subsequently finding out about his own incredible singing/writing skills but less than stellar work on the keyboards, which led to inclusion of our seventh member, Chuck Jobes, and we remained with seven but never changed our name due to fears of folks thinking that an NC7 was merely trying to rip off NC6 and we still typically have seven of us in the Colony even today! And then after Walt left and Les Kummel, stage name Les Stewart, took over on bass, he and Ronnie wrote together a lot, but we all had writer's credits in different combinations over the years.

Q - It was this Chicago radio station, WLS that started playing your records, wasn't it?

A - Yep. I was driving my dilapidated but functional and pretty cool 1959 Triumph TR-3 convertible with side curtains and not windows, down the Kennedy Expressway heading downtown one night for some reason about 10:30-ish or so, maybe September or October in 1966 when the WLS jock said something along the lines of, "A highly requested record that we will debut for you now, Chicago's own, the New Colony Six with 'I Confess'". That record topped out at #2 on WLS's February 2nd 1966 survey, but was one of our four singles to top radio survey charts somewhere in the country over the years - he others being "I Will Always Think About You, Can't You See Me Cry and Things I'd Like to Say. We also had quite a few others = 17 "A" sides and two "B" sides that I found a decade ago while doing online researching back then. See attached piece with this to see all that I found then!

Q - Did you know someone at the station?

A - We knew nobody whatsoever there.

Q - Why were they so supportive of New Colony Six?

A -They played what the kids wanted to hear and then the record began to sell big time. WLS had two years of Favorite Bands competitions and we won both times! I'm unsure if they kept up the practice beyond then as we were off touring different parts of the country.

Q - Where did you tour?

A - We went wherever management and the booking agencies could land us a contract, the Midwest, and we did a little westward. We often made runs with the roadies driving our bus eastward. One of our more famous roadies, who passed away a year or two ago now (passenger in an auto crash) was Chet Coppock. CC was a highly successful writer of sports' books, former TV Sports broadcaster and radio host. He and I were great buddies at Columbia and he worked for us for a few years before achieving his own tremendously successful career.

Q - What kind of venues did you perform in?

A - All sorts. From theatres to all sorts of outdoor settings, from auditoriums to large school gyms and earlier in our career, lots of smaller joints and even bars. We played and truly became a tight and better band when we played a 4 A.M. closing time bar in Chicago's suburbs called Wine And Roses, Schiller Park, Illinois if my memory is working. But I'm pretty sure it (Wine And Roses) no longer exists. We had to play regardless of whether anyone other than staff were present. So while it was a pain at the time, in retrospect that joint was where NC6 really went from pretty good to really good in live performances. We eventually headlined most shows but were also often just one of many who entertained during any particular concert events. One gig we did involved us backing Chuck Berry. How cool was that? You name the band and we probably did work with them. Not so many of the West Coast folks other than many dates with The Beach Boys, but pretty much everyone else at one time or another. We played Milwaukee's County Stadium before it was torn down. The Monkees headlined and they built or brought in a rotating stage positioned out around second base! They had little interest in chatting before we played but "Things..." was either #1 or #2 in Milwaukee at the time so when they heard the crowd roar, they were more friendly after our set!

Q - What label did New Colony Six record for?

A - Centaur, later renamed to Sentaur, and finally settled in on Sentar. Later we were with Cameo Parkway and Mercury.

Q - How did you get that deal?

A - We rehearsed at our parent's homes, basements or garages. After our trip to California the summer after our Freshman years at college, we were downstairs at my folks' place and had done some song-writing while living on the West Coast. My dad heard songs he did not recognize and loved. So, having failed to land a recording contact in California, my father stated that he would start a record label, and with support from some of the other parents, did just that.

Q - Looking back on it, are you happy with the job Cameo Parkway and Mercury did for you promotion wise?

A - Their early work was wonderful, but once we were really rolling, both Cameo Parkway and Mercury failed us big time.

Q - Did your records chart on Billboard?

A - Several, with the highest as I recall being "Things I'd Like To Say" that reached number sixteen in the country. But we released twenty-three singles and seventeen of our A-sides plus two of our B-sides reached the Top 20 status from radio surveys sent to Sentar over the years. (Side note - see what I will attach, Gary!)

Q - Where did the group get the idea to wear colonial outfits as part of your stage act?

A - We decided to change names. We sought to present some level of replication to the outfits of the actual colonists during the early days when British Invasion was a literal movement from Europe to The Americas. We found red waiter's jackets, added frilly ties of sorts, atop white shirts with frilly cuffs made by our parents and worn over the shirts, white pants and the black, high boots.

Q - Were you aware of Paul Revere And The Raiders at the time?

A - An interesting story here. After our freshman year at college we convinced our parents to let us move to L.A., at least for the summer. We flew out and wound up staying in a two flat with another band whose name we did not know, nor did they know us. We played auditions for record labels as well as for venues, and one of those had so little space for six of us to change that we came back to our place still in costume. As we pulled into the parking lot, lo and behold, the other band was decked out essentially exactly like we were, but with three-corner hats! Yep, Paul Revere And The Raiders. We came back to the Midwest and kept those outfits, but once Paul Revere And The Raiders hit on Where The Action Is, we changed, though we still did use those original ones on and off. Now, fast forward to the year that Paul Revere passed away (October 4, 2014). We were hired to open for them at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois. So, when we found out Paul Revere And The Raiders were headlining, we decided against wearing our red outfits in deference to Paul Revere And The Raiders and went with our black ones. After our set I went to say hi to Paul and ask if he remembered us living in the same two flat. He did, and chided me about the similarity in our stage wear. But guess what? They were wearing their own black outfits that night.

Q - You left the group in 1969. What did you do between 1969 and 1988 when New Colony Six reunited?

A - A few things. I taught Middle School English. I was hired to become part of a company just getting into the environmental field after previously making fiberglass items like the outdoor pieces on McDonald's restaurants. They were big fans of the Colony, so I'm guessing that may be why they offered me the job. That led to the staff moving down to Southern Florida, because the ownership had holdings down there and wanted the year-round access to them. Once down, while living in Wellington at West Palm Beach, my Chicago rep died unexpectedly, essentially simultaneously with my wife getting pregnant. I went back to find a home, with encouragement from management, appointed myself to that position and the company moved me back. On September 3rd, 1981 I incorporated myself as The Arbortech Corporation and have been building that ever since, albeit that too ended when we sold ourselves to others in2021, and while I trained the new team for another 13+ months, was requested and accepted retirement in July of 2022.

Q - And then in 1988, New Colony Six had a reunion show.

A -Ronnie had established himself as a solo artist after the band folded with only Gerry left from the founders, and as I think you already know, Ronnie was not a founder. Anyway, Mr. Rice was customarily booked for an annual gig at a very nice theatre venue near downtown Chicago, then called The Park West. He asked me to come back and join him in 1986, but I was already five years into my environmental field business, so I declined. I did so again in 1987, but accepted in 1988 since he said he had other players who had been in NC6 after I left and before the band stopped in 1974. I was totally nervous and felt completely out of place for about one or two songs, but then, nearly immediately became comfortable again, probably due in part if not entirely because of the fabulous responses to every note we shared with the packed venue but as to which tunes those first two tunes were, that I no longer can recall. Following that event, the guys wanted to reform the Colony, and while Ronnie could not afford to give up his lucrative solo career on a lark that the band might hit again but may also have tanked and cost him his solo gigs, the rest of us decided to give it a go. I've been doing it ever since, or at least up until the pandemic, which essentially ended live performances but we remain afloat both as NC6 and with three of us as part of "Cornerstones of Rock", which began with six of the most famous Chicago bands but, due to subsequent deaths, is now down to just four of us, with tributes to the others offered in our sharing at least one of their songs at each C'stones' event! Ronnie has stopped by to share his talents at times, but Bruce Mattey has been the voice of Ronnie Rice in the band for longer than Ronnie Rice was in the band. Actually, the three of us mentioned here are those in Cornerstones, namely Bruce, Ronnie and I. It is this trio that represents NC6 in the aforementioned touring act called Cornerstones Of Rock. Cornerstones, which began as a WTTW, Chicago's channel 11, and a PBS station TV special, included among a few others, NC6, Ides Of March, Cryan Shames, Shadows Of Knight, American Breed before Gary Loizzo passed away, and The Buckinghams.

Official Website: NewColonySix.com

Find Ray here: https://www.facebook.com/New.Colony.Six.Ray.Graffia.Jr.r/

© Gary James. All rights reserved.