Little John & The Sherwoods (MA)

LITTLE JOHN AND THE
SHERWOODS (Lowell, MA)

Little John And The Sherwoods were David Arsenault (dr), John Harrington (g, voc), Barry Blufer (b, voc), Bob Star (voc) and Bob Rock (g).

Ed O'Neill (g, voc) replaced Bob Rock later.

Their record was released on Fleetwood [FL 001] from Revere, MA:
"Long Hair" / "Rag Doll", composed by the whole group.

It's 1964. David has invited John, Barry and Bob over to jam in his cellar. The boys decide to form a band and Little John And The Sherwoods is born. John knew a singer named Bob Star and asked him to join. Bob Rock on the other hand was soon replaced by Ed O'Neill.

David: "At first we played at some local night clubs in MA, then we got hired as the house band at the Commodore Ballroom in Lowell, where we were the opening act for many of the recording artist of that era from the US and the UK (groups like the Yardbirds, Cream, Eric Burdon & The Animals, Mitch Ryder, The McCoys, etc. The owner became our manager and he got us booked at other venues, mostly colleges, and the ballrooms at the beach resorts throughout New England."

The Sherwoods played mostly everything from the top 40 charts with about half of their repertoire consisting of Beatles songs. The group played before large audiences, up to 3000 people in some ballrooms.

Asked about the band's influences, David remarks: "I would definitely have to say the Beatles, along with the Stones, Beach Boys, Righteous Brothers, Mitch Ryder and some R&B artist like James Brown".

The Sherwoods didn't play in any local Battle of The Bands "because we were way too popular and it wouldn't have been fair to the other bands competing, but what we did do was volunteer to be the judges", David says.

The group worked hard to become successful, first practising at the singer Bob Star's house, but when they became the house band at The Commodore Ballroom, they were given the key to get in and practice anytime they wanted.

David: "Sometimes we practiced until 2 or 3 in the morning and even after we had played the whole night on Friday or Saturday, we would practice after everyone was gone, up until 3 in the morning, especially if someone had made a mistake at the gig that night".

David remembers a very special gig with the Sherwoods: "It was the last night I played with the band, before I got drafted. Because I didn't want to report to the army with my long shoulder length hair - in fear of harassment - the guys decided to cut my hair on stage at The Commodore that night, so they cut away and threw locks of my hair out to the screaming girls in the audience."

The Sherwoods' manager and owner of the Commodore, Carl Braun, set up a recording session for the boys and also financed it. Recording was to be done at Fleetwood recording studios in Revere, MA.

David: "Well we were only given two weeks to come up with writing two songs for the recording session, so we did our best to create the original songs. It was a collaboration between all of us and we all contributed to the songs with lyrics and melody."

The group did have some press coverage and did have ads in the paper all the time for the Commodore appearances. The Lowell Sun did a front page about the band when they did a reunion show in the 2000s with David and two of the original members.

The band lasted from the fall of 1964 to the fall of 1967.

David: "I was in the army stationed in Germany when I was discharged and when I came home they had already broken up. They had recorded one more song while I was away".

When David got out of the army, he was married and had a child on the way and had another child a year later. Three years later though he got divorced and then went back to playing drums full-time during the 1970s with many different bands. In the 80's, David got a regular job and went to U Mass Lowell at night to learn computer programming and still played part-time on weekends.

David adds: "Now I'm retired but still jam every Friday with some old musician friends and do a gig once in awhile. I can never completely give it up, as music was my whole life."

He still has contact with John, who now lives in Nashville, and Eddie O'Neill, who is still living nearby in MA. Eddie is the manager of the American Legion in North Chelmsford, MA, and he even hired David and two other musician friends to play there New Years Eve 2015.

Bob Star passed away in the 1980s.

David recently spoke to Barry Blufer again, after not seeing him for over 40 years.

David concludes: "It was the most exciting and memorable days of my teenage years that I will always cherish and remember. We were a group of clean cut teenagers trying to make the big time and I will always have that bond with the guys. It was also probably one of the tightest and most professional musical groups that I have had the chance to be a part of".