Beverly Bivens
We Five's first single, from their debut album of the same name, was a reworked version of Sylvia Tyson's song "You Were On My Mind". It became one of the first folk-rock hits, reaching number three in the "Billboard" "Hot 100" in August 1965. Tyson (then Sylvia Fricker) says that she was unaware that her song had been covered until she heard We Five's version on a car radio while driving on Highway 101 in California. One consequence of We Five's success was that Tyson's song, which, until then, had been unavailable in sheet form, was published by Witmark of New York, with a photograph of Bivens and We Five on the cover. However, with the so-called "British invasion" at its height, We Five's recording had only limited international success, having been covered reluctantly, though successfully, in Britain by Crispian St. Peters.
The Cryptkeeper Five
Vocalist Johnny Ott, guitarist Jimmy Ray, and drummer D.T. Graves (on and off) have been in CK5 since its 1997 origin, with many different supporting players over the years. The trio played music together in a band called "Navalistic Death" prior to the Cryptkeeper Five as well. Johnny's first CK5-leaning lyrics were for a song called "Black Death A Go-Go." At the outset, the group were a "straight ahead punk rock band", according to D.T. Their first album, "Dear Dr. X... I Wanna be the Creature" (1997) not only reflects this musical direction, but also was characterized lyrically by a preoccupation with "B-movies." Although they have evolved since, they have retained a "raw" and unpremeditated approach to music, letting the music flow organically. This attitude is not, again according to D.T., to be confused with being content with "sounding like shit".