David Marks & The Marksmen
- David Marks: Guitars (Lead & Rhythm) & Vocals
- Mark Groseclose: Drums & Backing Vocals
- Bill Trenkle: Bass & Backing Vocals
- Gene Fetco: Rhythm Guitar
- Ed Gauntt: Guitar
- Denny Murray: Vocals
Originally called, The Jaguars, the band was adopted by David Marks in late 1963 during his final months in the Beach Boys. Drummer Mark Groseclose, a friend of Carl Wilson, was hired to fill-in for an injured Dennis Wilson for several shows in Feb / March 1963. David and Mark immediately bonded, the Jaguars name was changed to the Marksmen, and David began recording his original music when not touring or recording with The Beach Boys. By the close of 1963, David abandoned The Beach Boys altogether to focus solely on The Marksmen.
Russ Regan, who named The Beach Boys a few years earlier, got David Marks & the Marksmen a deal with A&M Records in 1964. Regan also acted as co-producer on Cruisin’, Kustom Kar Show, Food Fair, Do You Know What Lovers Say?, I Wanna Cry and I Could Make You Mine and sang backing vocals on I Wanna Cry.
All tracks were written by David Marks, alone or with Mark Groseclose. The earliest tracks were recorded at American Recorders and engineered by Richie Podolor, while the bulk of the recording was done in a studio very familiar to David – Western Studios with Chuck Britz behind the console.
In March of 1964, David Marks & The Marksmen released their first single, Cruisin’ / Kustom Kar Show on A&M Records (A&M 730) Cruisin’ came in 3rd in a local LA radio call-in for your favorite new song contest, behind the Beatles and the Four Seasons. The following June, the Marksmen’s second single Food Fair / Do You Know What Lovers Say? (A&M 745) was released. The band embarked on a successful tour of California to support the releases.
In October 1964, Russ Regan gets David Marks & the Marksmen third single, I Wanna Cry / I Could Make You Mine released on Warner Brothers Records. During this same time, David Marks and Mark Groseclose wrote the song, Blue Roses for Ramona King which is released as the B side of her You Say Pretty Words single – also on Warner Brothers.
On Oct 24, 1964, young promoter Fred Vail, who had previously brought David to Sacramento with the Beach Boys the year before, hosts David Marks & the Marksmen, Jan & Dean, Glenn Campbell and the Fantastic Baggies at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. The night was recorded for Jan & Dean’s Command Performance LP.
In the spring of 1965, Murry Wilson approached The Marksmen an offered to manage the band as his retaliation against being fired from The Beach Boys. After playing a couple of Murry’s sessions with Glenn Campbell, David declined the offer and instead, The Marksmen joined Eddie and the Showman and Kathy “Queen of the Surf Guitar” Marshall on a tour of the West Coast to support the Warner Brothers release.
After rumors of being blackballed by DJs under pressure from Murry Wilson not to play The Marksmen, the band’s spirit was broken, so when bassists Bill Trenkle enlisted in the military, the Marksmen disbanded for good. David and Mark went on to join Casey Kasem’s Band Without a Name for a year before David and Matt Moore started The Moon with Larry Brown and Drew Bennett in 1966.
