William Penn and His Pals is available for parties and corporate functions with original members. Why have a Sixties retro group when you can have a real Sixties group.

William Penn and His Pals A.K.A William Penn V

Watch William Penn Perform on youtube.com - 2007 There I Go I've Said It Again Swami Blow My Mind and Gotta Get Away Somebody To Love

We often opened for national acts as seen on this famous poster

It's been a long time coming, in fact about 35 years. This group was formed in 1965 and extinct by 1968. They were one of the most famous groups in The San Francisco Bay Area at the time and their name was all over Radio KYA, KFRC and KLIV as opening act for the biggest national and international acts as well as headlining their own shows. The lineup boasted Mickey Hart (for a brief period) of the Grateful Dead and Gregg Rolie of Santana/Journey fame was a full time member for 1 1/2 years before he started a group with a dude name Carlos Santana. Gregg sings lead on all but one of these songs. Wm. Penn used to go toe to toe in Battle of the Bands with the Grateful Dead and recorded one of the most famous Garage Rock Classics by the name of Swami. Swami appears on at least five bootleg compilations along with the flip side.. Blow my Mind. The group changed it's name briefly to Wm. Penn V for Swami (actually it was William Penn Fyve but Pebbles called them William Penn V since they were/are bootlegging Swami) and there is some confusion as to whether William Penn and His Pals was in fact the same Wm Penn Fyve; they were. Other songs have appeared on "The Scorpio Record Collection" put out by Ace/Fantasy. Finally all the songs of this classic group are available to the public in one professionally manufactured CD with 8 pages of facts and photos.. There are even a few gems that nobody except a select few have heard. Below are clips from all of the songs on the CD so you can get a good sample of what you will get. Hearing these songs is almost like being at an show in the 60's at The Longshoremans Hall in San Francisco. Besides the wonderful songs the liner notes include the original copy from San Francisco's I.D. magazine with the run down on Wm Penn and his Pals written by their manager. You must read this to get the full scope of just how popular this group was.

Check out this interview with Mike Shapiro of William Penn and his Pals, about Wm Penn, by Mike Dugo of 60sgaragebands.com.

William Penn and His Pals playing before 5,000 plus at Oakland Auditorium 1966 opening for Paul Revere and the Raiders and Them Shapiro, Shelton, Cox, Leidenthal, Holtman, Rolie

Acid-punk outfit William Penn and His Pals formed at the College of San Mateo in late 1964; originally dubbed the DiscCounts, the founding lineup comprised singer Neil Holtmann, guitarist Mike Dunn, bassist Steve Sweet and drummer Ron Cox. Keyboardist Dave Lovell signed on in early 1965, and a few months later the group significantly overhauled its lineup and look--adopting the moniker William Penn and His Pals, the band (now Holtmann, Cox, Lovell, guitarist Mike Shapiro and bassist Steve Leidenthal) adopted Revolutionary War-era stage garb that included ruffled shirts and tri-cornered hats. The addition of former Nomads guitarist Jack Shelton swelled the roster to a six-piece, and for a short time, the lineup also included a second drummer, Mickey Hart, who would later sign on with the Grateful Dead. In early 1966 keyboardist Gregg Rolie replaced Lovell--in time he assumed the lion's share of vocal duties as well, resulting in Holtmann's dismissal from the group. William Penn and His Pals were a regular presence on the Bay Area live scene, opening for the Jefferson Airplane, Paul Revere and the Raiders and Them; in 1966, they cut their lone single “Swami" (credited to the William Penn Fyve), later anointed an underground classic thanks to its inclusion on the third Pebbles collection. A deal with the Fantasy label was pending, but in 1967 the group dissolved, with Rolie subsequently joining Santana. In 2003, the Beat label collected all of William Penn and His Pals' recorded output on CD. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

Get this nicely manufactured CD with 10 songs recorded in 1965-1966 by the original William Penn and His Pals. This compliaton also includes the infamous FLY FLY PSA commercial with their manager Vern Justus introducing himself as William Penn. For you trivia buffs please note that Gregg Rolie is singing lead on all but two of these songs. You might recognize him as the voice that also sang a little hit named "Black Magic Woman".

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Mike Shapiro, Jack Shelton, Steve Leidenthal, Ron(rabbit) Cox, Gregg Rolie