[1] The band released several singles for the Decca and Alamo labels, which included the songs "Saturday's Son", "Feathered Fish" (written by Arthur Lee) and "Baby Show the World".
[1] By 1963, they had enlisted Sonny Lombardo on drums, then adding Joe Kooken (later known as Jac Ttanna) on guitar, to complete the original lineup.
They changed their name to The Fendermen, and made arrangements to relocate to Southern California, in hopes of riding the crest of the then-current surf rock craze to find success in Los Angeles, which was becoming a center of the recording industry.
[1] Unlike in Maryland, the drinking age in California was 21, so the band members went to Tijuana, Mexico and had fake IDs made in order to be able to play gigs at nightclubs and bars.
Doane and Schmidt knew music biz mogul Russ Regan, who arranged for the group to be signed to the Imperial label.
[1] Several months before they recorded this first single, The Beatles had appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and the British Invasion had swept the music industry.
[4] They were seen by Dewey Martin, who had been performing as the leader of Sir Raleigh & The Coupons, and recruited the band to back him at shows in Seattle and Juneau.
They replaced The Walker Brothers as resident band at Gazzarri's, and became noted for their loud volume, Holden repeating the mantra "Never turn down".
[1][4][3] They made a brief appearance playing in a nightclub scene in the 1965 movie The Slender Thread starring Anne Bancroft,[5][6] though the music was later overdubbed by session musicians.
[1] By the end of the year, disappointed in lack of record sales, the band broke off connections with Bill Doane and Ozzie Schmidt.
Michael Stuart, after Arthur Lee's constant requests, finally decided to join Love as their drummer just in time for the recording of the seminal Forever Changes;[1] he was replaced in the Sons of Adam by Randy Carlisle from The Yellow Payges.