On January 17, 2001, when I called up the Los Angeles office of Del-Fi Records to start my first of what would be two interviews with Rock’n’Roll pioneer Bob Keane, I asked him how much time he had. He replied by saying: “Oh well I’ve got the rest of my life.” This set the tone for the next two hours of listening to this man’s stories about the dawn of Rock’N’Roll, his big band days, why he does what he does, and of course his friendship and partnership with the late Ritchie Valens.

When I was seven years old, my mother took me to see a movie called La Bamba, because apparently the young character Ritchie reminded her of me. That movie, however embellished it may have been, changed my young life. Aside from wanting a career in music, what I got out of seeing that that was the desire not only to record in a studio not unlike the one Keane had in the movie, but to be recorded by Keane himself. The fact that I was speaking to him and recording the conversation was only too appropriate.

While researching this interview, I was amazed at how prolific his career has been. And still is, for that matter; The eighty-three year old Keane still comes into the office everyday and has creative involvement over every matter affecting Del-Fi. Aside from producing the Ritchie Valens sessions, Bob Keane is also responsible for the rise of Sam Cooke, Barry White, Frank Zappa. He’s also responsible for the Bobby Fuller Four, one of the most underrated groups of the Sixties, among a hundred more artists that have, in one way or another, forged their special place in rock history. What most people don’t know about Keane is his pre Del-Fi work, where at the age seventeen, and as a master of the clarinet, he was billed “The World’s Youngest Bandleader” at MCA, while releasing numerous recordings and even fronting Artie Shaw’s band for a short time.

Keane has decided to share his wealth of stories and experiences in a book called The Oracle of Del-Fi, which was due for release around the time of the interview, but as of this day remains unpublished. In this interview, Bob shares some of his stories and experiences with me.

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32 Elvis Movies: What initiated the concept of your book?

Bob Keane: Ever since the motion picture La Bamba came out, we’ve gotten a lot of publicity because we were portrayed in it. With that, Ritchie Valens really came into full bloom. Quite a few people were saying: “Bob, you’ve got so much to tell… All the people that you’ve recorded and you were one of the first ones out there on the west coast.” So for the last couple of years I’d been working with a couple writers. We got started, but I didn’t care for them, so I finally decided I would write my own book. Bryan Thomas is working with me on this. He really knows his way around so he’s been giving me a lot of advice as to different way to bring this all about. He’s done a lot of research, which was necessary because we’ve had over 112 artists. It’s finished now, and it’s in the hands of an agent. The real impetus for the book itself was my relationship with Ritchie Valens. Nobody has been able to tell that story. There have been a few books and things written about it but its all hearsay, really.

32: There’s a real lack of information on Ritchie, which is why I think your book couldn’t have come at a better time.

BK: Well, I could write a whole book on Ritchie Valens. I’ve been thinking about that, actually.

32: I’m aware of one existing biography, Ritchie Valens: The First Latino Rocker, by Beverly Mendheim.

BK: Yeah. Everything in it was a lie. I say that truthfully. What she said was truly ridiculous. I mean, she had Phil Spector claiming that he himself wrote “Donna” for a girlfriend he wanted to impress. That’s the kind of stuff she was writing about.

32: Where does your book start off?

BK: Well, I open with Ritchie Valens, giving off a lot of information that people don’t know about Ritchie, and then I go back and start over at the beginning of my life, from the age of three, to school, to Mexico, to pilot training, to the war, and then into MCA where I signed on as the “World’s Youngest Band Leader”, then the motion picture thing at Paramount, meeting all the stars, and also my little episodes with the females along the way… which were quite numerous. That walks right into Keen Records, which was my work with Sam Cooke, or course. So we started Del-Fi from that, and then right up into the current period and so forth. I do talk in the book that I’m a clarinet player. Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman were my idols. I ended up fronting Shaw’s band for a while. I didn’t play much clarinet in those three years I was in Mexico, because Latin music didn’t fit with that instrument.

32: Where did the transition lie between your big band days and the dawn of Rock’n’Roll?

BK: I think it was around ’55, and I met this Greek guy who was one of my fans. He said: “Let’s start a record company!” which was a pretty far out idea back then because there weren’t any record companies out here. There were a few backdoor things. Of course Chicago had the blues, and R&B. Then in the south there was Memphis with Sun Records… At that point there really was no such thing as Rock’N’Roll. Elvis Presley hadn’t really hit yet. He was getting there.

32: So this was nearly a year before Elvis really broke through, then.

BK: Yeah, so I told this guy he was crazy. He wanted to update Greek music, which was ridiculous, of course. So he says “Well, do you know any black musicians?” So I said: “Yeah, I used to jam with Nat Cole!” Bunch of those guys. In fact when I had my band I used a lot of black musicians, because they are the greatest, as far as I’m concerned. So that’s how we came out with Sam Cooke, as one of my very first artists. My very first artist was a piano player. Warner Bros was just starting their record company at the time and they purchased his contract, which helped put me in business.

32: Did you ever expect that the music you helped pioneer was going to change the face of American culture forever?

BK: Rock’N’Roll? Definitely. It was the music of the future, as far as I was concerned. But at that point, we didn’t know what it was, and that’s what was so interesting about it. It’s hard for me, you know, having been a part of it, to sit back and look at it and see what it was all about. But out of all those artists, every one of them had a different story, a different style. Everybody had their own thing because there was nothing to copy. Today, 99% of the new releases are copies of something that’s already out there. So that’s really what was so interesting about it. So I mention in the book that I didn’t know what I was doing, but if I liked it, I released it. I had all these guys walking in, who were nobody at the time and eventually became big stars, so I guess I picked the right ones.

32: In the studio, did you adopt a certain philosophy during recording sessions?

BK: Well, I got into that too. I used to say that you use the recording studio as an instrument to capture whatever the artist has to say, rather than trying to come up with a great sound, or a great this or a great that. You try to get the artist. And the basis of all my recordings was two things: Number one was that the song had to be there, and the sound of the completed recording had to be there. My definition of a hit record was anything that sells, but I feel that what makes a hit record of course is number one a great song, and number two: a great ambiance. For instance, on “Come On Let’s Go.” That song had something to it that just made you feel good all over. It’s one of those songs you can listen to over and over. And there are a lot of songs like that. That’s what makes them hits, and that’s what I was always looking for. I always used that as the criteria. If I can get that out of it, I think people are gonna buy it.

32: Back in the Fifties, recording technology was really primitive as compared to today’s digital studios. Was the recording process easier then?

BK: Well, my biggest record, of course, was Ritchie Valens’ “Donna”, and “La Bamba”. “La Bamba” was recorded in the studio, but “Donna” was recorded on my little two-track Ampex in my home. Now my son is a very fine producer, songwriter, and so forth. He has a million dollar studio in his home. He’s always in there working and working and working. Now the guy is so fried with the fabulous sounds that come out of there. But it takes a musician to really appreciate the sounds that come out of there… and we all know that they don’t buy records!

32: Ha!

BK: You know what I’m saying? What it does is that is that it can actually fry your brain and brainwash you to the point where you’re no longer looking for soul or feeling. You’re looking for great sounds, and tricks. I was quoted in a Cashbox a long time ago where I said if you spend more than forty-nine bucks on a single, then that’s too much money. That’s about what we were making ‘em for. One of my biggest records was recorded in my little studio before I even had a state of the art studio. I had a little RCA mixer, four microphones, and a little tiny room… your bathroom is probably bigger. We cut that record and had it on the air that night. The next morning, the distributor called, saying: “Man, you’ve got to cut that record! You’ve got a hit!”

32: One of the most amazing things about the sound in Ritchie’s recordings was the echo effects. How were some of those effects produced on songs like “Ritchie’s Blues”?

BK: Gold Star Studios was always famous for it’s echo chamber. That’s where Phil Spector got what became known as the Wall of Sound. Burying everything up in the echo and then cranking it up. All of Ritchie’s stuff was done in there with the exception of “Donna”, which was done by crossing channels. That was all delay echo within the machine. I didn’t have a chamber with that. By the time I came to Bobby Fuller and those guys I built my own studio. We had echo chambers that were in the basement. That’s where we achieved some of the great sounds you hear in stuff like “I Fought The Law”. I also always felt that I liked to hear a bit of reverb on the voice. It warms it up and makes it stand up a little more. Of course a lot of the guys who record today with the contemporary stuff like the voice absolutely dry. I don’t go for that.

32: How old was Ritchie when you first met him?

BK: He was sixteen.

32: He was one hell of a big kid for his age.

BK: Yes he was. In fact Capitol Records had already passed up on him when I met him. They said he looked too old to be a teenager.

32: That’s something they omitted from the film. What was his guitar playing like when you first met him?

BK: He was a great guitar player when I first met him. He only knew two or three chords, but what he did with them was incredible. He had a lot of chops, and knew quite a few tricks. In fact, when he was on tour, the tour he was killed on, they said Ritchie was very popular. I mean everyone loved him because he was such a wonderful kid, but his playing, in fact I think it was Waylon Jennings who said Ritchie’s guitar playing was just awesome.

32: Did he play any other instruments at all?

BK: Yeah, he played the trumpet. He could play the drums as well.

32: What was most important to Ritchie?

BK: Well, I don’t know how many Latins you know, but family is their middle name. The most important thing in his life was to get a house for his mother.

32: Did he ever finally get to do that?

BK: Yeah, I loaned him some money. Then I made a deal with BMI to advance him some money.

32: Are you fascinated by Ritchie’s immense rise in popularity over the last few decades?

BK: It’s amazing really. After he died, and like all new artists, if they get one hit record, and then something happens to them, they disappear. They don’t play their music anymore. They didn’t play “Donna”. It was off the charts. “La Bamba” kept bubbling under, but yeah. You know, maybe that’s the thing: that song. That song is the thing that’s kept him out there all these years, ‘cause he just gets bigger and bigger. I just can’t believe it.

32: Especially these days with the recent induction into the Rock’N’Roll Hall of Fame.

BK: Oh yeah. I was reading the message board [from the Del-Fi Records website] the other day and I’m getting email from people all over the world. This one girl from Sweden writing “He’s in! He’s in!” You know? It’s fantastic! Everybody is rooting for this kid.

32: I was reading the Del-Fi website’s message board a few weeks back and some thirteen year-old kid was saying “I’m going to be the next Ritchie!” I love reading stuff like that. Over forty years later he’s still influencing people.

BK: I’m just now catching up on reading those messages cause some guy said “Hey wake up!” But I’ve been busy with my book and I just finished it. So I was reading one message just yesterday and this guy wanted to know about the Carlos Brothers. “Tonight” was a real killer. So it’s nice to see that the audience is out there.

32: Any plans on releasing a Carlos Brothers album?

BK: Unfortunately, we don’t have enough material from the Carlos Bros, who were also known as The Shadows, to actually release a full album. But they’re on a few compilations.

32: Will you be attending Ritchie’s induction ceremony for the Rock’N’Roll Hall of Fame?

BK: Actually, yeah, I will be there. The induction is taking place on March 19th, and it looks like I’ll be accepting the award along with Bob Morales, Ritchie’s half brother.

32: I’ve noticed in pictures from the Winter Dance Party that Ritchie was backed up by Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup, two guys who were in Buddy Holly’s band. Did Ritchie not have his own backing band on the tour?

BK: Well, he had the band! He was part of the band. There was a drummer, Jennings [on bass], Ritchie, Buddy Holly…

32: So they were all playing together then?

BK: Oh yeah. I had never actually thought of that. On one of the nights the drummer was frostbitten, so he had to sit out, and Ritchie played drums.

32: Now what was the real deal with Donna? Were they buddies, or was there actually something happening?

BK: Oh, well, she was from the other side of the tracks, and her father of course didn’t want her seeing that ‘chicano’ guy or whatever. They did see each other in school, they’d run into each other, but he never really got to take her out.

32: News of the crash on February 3rd. How did you react?

BK: I was just driving to work. On the radio I heard the disk jockey say “The late great Ritchie Valens…” I had just talked to him the night before, so it was a great shock to me. I really couldn’t believe it.

32: How did it impact Del-Fi Records as a company?

BK: At the time, Ritchie was our big thing, but we just kept rolling. I had just signed a new lease with the new offices, and moved into a new home. So we had to keep going.

32: Just like The Buddy Holly Story before it, Hollywood has a tendency of mythologizing Rock’N’Roll characters to a point of utter exhaustion. How truthful was the Luis Valdez film?

BK: Well, he never got laid in Tijuana, that’s for sure, and I never really knew anything about a talisman or such stuff. But they put that in pictures. Especially for Ritchie ’cause I remember when they called me in to interview me when they were putting it together I said “What the hell are you gonna do with a kid who never really did anything? He just walked around the schoolyard playing a little guitar.” Luis Valdez said: “Oh you’ll be surprised amigo!”

32: Were you happy with the film?

BK: He was portrayed not like Ritchie. You have to understand what this guy was like. He was a real special guy. They had him portrayed as kind of a mama’s boy. And then of course the brother didn’t have anything to do with it at all. I never even met him until after. They weren’t fruit pickers either. That was Luis Valdez trying to upgrade the fruit pickers in California.

32: When I listen to some of the early punk rock stuff, a lot of the crunchiness and raw energy coming from it reminds of the earlier Ritchie stuff. “Come On Let’s Go,” “Hurry Up,” “La Bamba”… That was all punk rock, man!

BK: The connection between Ritchie and punk rock is something I talk about in my book. There was definitely a big impact on some of the early forerunners out here. The Plugz played “La Bamba.” [Reading from some notes – Lester Bangs writing about Ritchie for Rolling Stone Magazine] “Just consider Valens’ three-chord mariachi square-up on “La Bamba” in light of “Louie Louie” by the Kingsmen, the Kinks, the Stooges…” Anyways, he really had a lot of influence on that.

32: Where do you see Bobby Fuller standing in the grand scheme of Rock’N’Roll?

BK: Bobby Fuller was a true innovator. He took what he could from Buddy Holly and made it into his own thing. What happened to him was terrible, awful, but his music is still out there for people to appreciate.

32: Where is Del-Fi going? Are you still looking out for new talent?

BK: Well, I’ll always be looking for new talent. We got a lot of demos, but none of them are really any good. I don’t understand what these people think is gonna sell. So it gets kinda difficult. We’re working on some new compilations. Trying to pick up new masters, but we’re really sticking in the ‘legendary’ area of music.

32: Which is fair. So what does Bob Keane do when he leaves the studio?

BK: You mean what do I do for a laugh? I have an eighteen year-old daughter who goes to school in New York. I play some golf, and I paint. I still practise clarinet occasionally. But most of all I try to stay out of trouble.

32: You are the world’s oldest teenager, as they say…

BK: Let me tell you, that when you get my age, I’m sure you’re gonna look back and feel like you’re 35, cause I don’t give a damn how old you get! I still act like I’m 35, although I forget that I’m not supposed to act that way. –