They shared the stage with The Dave Clark Five, Roy Orbison, Dick Dale, The Ventures, The Shirelles, The Drifters, The Coasters, and Chuck Berry.
Forty years ago, Chicanos from East L.A. broke the mold of stereotypical Mexican-American musicians and singers, and began performing and recording rock & roll in English—an innovation for its time—re-introducing a Califas music style that was almost lost with the earlier demise of the late Ritchie Valens of Pacoima, California.
Many in the "West Coast East Side" music community believe the Blendells would have achieved far more success had most of its members not been drafted into the Vietnam War.
Rampart Records President (and Vietnam veteran) Steven Chavez stated, "Almost 50% of the artists from the East Side Sound era served in combat roles in Vietnam, losing their innocence to a war in the prime of their youth, and returned to a changed American music scene that pretty much turned their back on them with the advent of new genres like hard rock, heavy metal, punk, disco and the like.
"The West Coast East Side Sound" was screened in 2004 in the new Alan and Elaine Armer Theater on the campus of CSUN (California State University, Northridge).