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the Cliches


Kent/Canton, 1965-9

The Cliches (or Cliche's) were a house band for the Dome in Kent for a few years. The band included locals and Kent State students. Joe Onorato (from KSU) played lead guitar and Don DeHass (from Millersburg) played bass. According to to a 1980 interview with Joe, the drummer later played with Peter Frampton.

The band opened for the Beach Boys in Canton and later, played the Mint in Las Vegas and the Metropole in New York City. The band was managed by Marty Conn in Cleveland who helped get them the out of town bookings.

The band recorded 2 45s on their own and one side of an odd split 45. The first 45 was recorded at Audio Recording in Cleveland and the band does a cover James Brown's "Good Good Lovin" on one side, while the other is a folk recording by Cleveland's Jim and Pinky Jenkins. A production error on the record has both the Jenkins' and the Cliches credited on both sides even though the Jenkins' have nothing to do with the Cliches recording, which was renamed 'Got Something For You Baby" after the first line in the song.

The band recorded a second 45 at Maarc, covers of the Coasters "Little Egypt" and the standard ballad "What's Your Name". They sound right out the Kent college bar scene and you can picture the KSU students dancing away on both songs.

The third and last 45 was recorded at Wes-Mar in the spring/summer of 1966 and has the uptempo "Why, Why, Why" and the moody jangler "Save It For Me". The writers on the A side were Cantonites Richard Del Rader and Jamie Rader, while Joe Onorato gets credit on the B-side with "Dickie Gintert" which was a psuedonym for Richard Del Rader. We don't really know much about the Raders othen than they were in their mid 20s and probably related to Wes-Mar. 

The band didn't release any other records but continued to play locally and disbanded in 1969, according to the 1980 interview.

Don DeHass passed away young, in 1977.  Both his daughter, and Joe Onarato, have written that in 1965, they were playing "Hang On Sloopy" using a similar arrangement that was recorded by the McCoys, and that the McCoys had seen/heard them play it some weeks before the McCoys record was released. 

Discography:
Got Something For You Baby / Manry and the Sea (by Jim and Pinky Jenkins) - Pama 1001, 1965
What's Your Name / Little Egypt - Maarc 1530, 1966
Why, Why, Why / Save It For Me - Wes-Mar 1020, mid 1966