You might not have heard of The Hassles, a US band that formed in 1964, but you’ll almost certainly know the name of their keyboard player. A certain Billy Joel joined the outfit in 1966, staying with them until they broke up, in 1969.
Formed in Long Island, The Hassles only released a couple of albums, but made a big enough impression to be inducted into the Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame a couple of weeks ago. There to accept the honour was drummer Jon Small, who went on to become a successful music video producer and director, and during his speech, Mix reports that he discussed how Joel ended up joining.
The opening came up after original bassist and organ player Harry Weber left the band in 1966. “We had a search for a new keyboard player,” says Small. “Our managers at the time, Danny Mazur and Irwin Mazur, owned a club called My House, and we were the house band. It was a great club, and we were building a following. Danny came up with this great idea - he said, ‘We’ll put an ad in the paper that My House is looking for a new house band and all the Long Island bands will come in. You just sit there and you’ll steal the keyboard player!’”
Sounds like a decent plan, but it wasn’t one that bore immediate fruit.
“Band after band came in and there was nobody we liked - and finally Billy’s band came in, called The Lost Souls, and none of the remaining Hassles liked Billy,” Small remembers. “They thought he was too short. He wore a beret, and it was just very kind of corny; he sang on one knee! But he had ‘it’ - I saw it. I came from a family of musicians, so I could see past the dust, and I knew he had it, so I asked him to come into Danny’s office, and I made him an offer to join The Hassles.”
Small remembers that Joel was reluctant to jump ship, but was convinced when he was told that joining The Hassles would come with a very enticing sweetener for a young keyboard player.
“He said, ‘I’m not leaving my brothers. I go to school with these guys. No, I can’t. How could I do it?’” says Small. “I knew I was losing the argument - what am I going to do? All of a sudden, it came to me. I said, ‘So look, if you join The Hassles, I’ll give you this brand-new B3 Hammond [organ].’ He said, ‘Fuck those guys!’”
The Hassles’ recordings ended up being the first releases to feature Joel who, as we all know, went on to have a stellar career as a singer-songwriter. There was one further stop with Small before that, though: Attila, the short-lived drums-organ rock duo that the pair formed.
Their single, eponymous album was released in 1970 and, as Small is happy to admit, wasn’t great. It came after Irvin Mazur had secured them a deal with Epic Records that came with a $50,000 advance.
“We were so excited to get it,” says Small. “And then we went and we made the record in one day, including mixing it - and that’s why it sucked.”
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.