The Leaves
The Leaves were an early 1960s American garage rock band, who released the earliest version of "Hey Joe", which would later be covered by Jimi Hendrix as one of his signature songs.
The Leaves' first actual show was in a school gym, together with Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band.
Guitarist Robert Lee Reiner would be listed as one the inspirational names in the sleeve of Zappa's Freak Out! album. The bass player of The Leaves, Jim Pons, would join The Turtles in 1968 and played bass with Frank Zappa during the early 1970s.
Zappa referenced "Hey Joe" in his song Flower Punk.
The scene in Los Angeles was far more bizarre. No matter how 'peace-love' the San Francisco bands
might try to make themselves, they eventually had come south to evil ol' Hollywood to get a record
deal.
My recollection is that the highest cash advance paid for signing any group during that time was for the Jefferson Airplane -- an astounding, staggering, twenty-five thousand dollars, an unheard-of sum of money.
The Byrds were the be-all and end-all of Los Angeles rock then. They were 'It' -- and then a group called Love was 'It.' There were a few 'psychedelic' groups that never really got to be 'It,' but they could still find work and get record deals, including the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, Sky Saxon and the Seeds, and the Leaves (noted for their cover version of Hey, Joe).
