Since 2004 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of Chicago Music to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who’ve been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in the first place.
In seventh grade Holvay formed his first band, the Rockin’ Rebels. Their first gig was at a go-kart shop in Lyons, with Ray Nichols on guitar, Billy Krien on bass, Dale Soltwich on drums, and Holvay on guitar. “The only thing we knew to play was a blues progression in the key of E and C,” he admits. “My brother Dennis came up with the name, which was triggered by Duane Eddy & the Rebels and Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps. Denny spotted a few rebel hats at a five-and-dime store in Brookfield, bought them, and showed up at one of our rehearsals and said proudly, ‘You guys are the Rockin’ Rebels.’”
Holvay had started writing songs a year after getting his first guitar, and he’d learned to record them using his dad’s Webcor tape recorder. “The popular beat at the time was a cha-cha,” Holvay says. “I’d graduated from playing a blues progression to a more melodic C, Am, F, G progression. I would write a cha-cha type song, make a tape, and convince either my brother or my dad to drive me down to what was called Record Row. Mercury was at 35 E. Wacker Drive, and it was very difficult to get past the receptionist. But I could walk into Chess or Vee-Jay all day long.”
“It was 1962 or ’63 when we became a great band with two horns!” Holvay says. “We worked almost every weekend. During the summer of ’63, Phil and Wayne dropped out to do other things. Luckily, I got a call from a guy by the name of Sal Ferrera, who had a group called Sal & the Sidemen. He said there was a guy by the name of Jimmy Peterson who was looking for a bass player. They were going to go ‘on the road,’ which is where I wanted to be. I auditioned in drummer Bobby Ruffino’s basement and met with Peterson, Bobby, and Chuck Russell, a wonderful jazz guitar player. I told Peterson about the MayBees and the two horn players we had, Gary and Larry. The next rehearsal, they were in the band.”
Later that year, the Chicagoans parted ways with Jimmy Peterson and moved west. “The first place we played was a club called the Blackhawk in Salt Lake City, Utah,” Holvay says. “We were there a week and the place burned down with all of our instruments. The owner gave us gas money to get back to Chicago.”
“It was grueling riding on that Greyhound bus and making those long jumps from city to city, but it was a phenomenal experience,” Holvay recalls. “The camaraderie that developed was priceless.” The Executives backed a staggering roster of performers on several mid-60s tours, among them Del Shannon, the Shangri-Las, Tommy Roe, the Ikettes, Tom Jones, Peter & Gordon, and Jimmy Soul.
