Hub Kapp And The Wheels

 

Biography

Hub Kapp and the Wheels was a parody rock band formed in the 1960s in Phoenix, Arizona, USA as part of the cast of a popular local television show broadcast on station KPHO (Channel 5). The show was on the air from 1954-1989 under different titles: "It's Wallace?," "Wallace & Co." and "The Wallace & Ladmo Show." The band became so popular with Phoenix youth that they were offered a recording contract in Los Angeles - though Capital Records did not understand that the band was actually made up of cast members from a television show. The band appeared on the Steve Allen Show in 1964.

Band members included:

Pat McMahon (wearing outrageous fake eyebrows and a pompadour wig) as band leader Hub Kapp, "discovered" working at a gas station in Tennessee by local Phoenix KRIZ disc jockey Tony Evans. McMahon played many characters on the Wallace & Ladmo show and is also a television and radio personality in Phoenix.

Mike Condello, huge Beatles fan and extraordinarily talented Phoenix musician.

Ladimir Kwiatkowski, who also played the Ladmo character on the kid's show, and who later legally changed his name to Ladmo.

There were 2 other band members. With the exception of Hub Kapp/Pat McMahon, the band always wore the same costumes, which included dark sunglasses.

Discography:

"Work, Work" (McMahon) / "Let's Really Hear It (For Hub Kapp)" (Thompson/ Condello/ Dearborn) Take Five 631, 1964. Recorded at Alectron Recording Co., 1344 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix, Arizona.

"Sigh, Cry, Almost Die" (D. Everly/ P. Everly) / "Bony Maronie" (Williams) Capitol 5215, 1964. Recorded at the Capitol Tower, Hollywood. Features long-time L.A. session player Carol Kaye on bass. Produced by Dave Axelrod.

"Little Volks" (McMahon/ Condello) / "What You're Doin' To Me" (Lennon/ McCartney) Framagratz F-101, 1965. Recorded at Audio Recorders of Arizona, 3830 N. Seventh Street, Phoenix, Arizona.

"Sixteen Tons" (Travis) / "Don't Put Me On" (McMahon) Unreleased acetate.

Mike Condello Presents Wallace & Ladmo's Greatest Hits, Epiphany W&L 1954, 1994. CD-only compilation includes all six officially released Hub Kapp single sides plus essential related 1964-1968 sides by the Ladmo Trio and Commodore Condello's Salt River Navy Band. Regrettably, it's out of print but shows up occasionally on eBay.

The Hub Kapp Kollektion, Epiphany 1020X, 2000. Very limited CD only anthology includes all three officially released Hub Kapp 45s plus the previously unreleased "Sixteen Tons," "Don't Put Me On" and a boss 1964 radio spot by local Phoenix disc jockey Tony Evans for a Hub Kapp and the Wheels gig at his Fearless Leader Club at Seventh Street and Bethany Home Road. This collection was pressed to sell at a local Phoenix play about Hub Kapp's rise to fame and was never commercially released.