The Grass Roots | Dennis Provisor | Interview

Dennis Provisor is a well known songwriter and musician that has been a member of The Grass Roots and released several singles as a solo artist. He was also in bands such as The Hook and Blue Rose.

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Dennis Provisor landed a recording contract with 20th Century Fox Records while he was a teenager and worked with producer Tommy Oliver. About two years later, Provisor signed with the Valiant label and released a couple more singles, including some songs he wrote himself. In 1968, he joined The Hook featuring ex-Leaves fuzz guitarist Bobby Arlin. He played in a band called Blue Rose when he successfully auditioned for The Grass Roots.

“Songwriting is just an extension of something that was done before”

Thank you for taking your time and effort to sit with me and discuss your career. How did it all start for you? What made you start with the piano?

Dennis Provisor: My cousin, who lived across the street, started taking piano, so of course I had to take piano too. I took classical classes for about four years.

Would you like to discuss some of the early influences? What kind of singles did you like to listen to in the 50s and early 60s?

Early influences were the beginnings of rock ‘n’ roll like Ritchie Valens, a lot of the old black, doo-wop groups, Ray Charles, are used to go to music city, and Hollywood and sit in the booth and listen to all the old tunes.

When it comes to piano, who were your inspirations?

Ray Charles, Floyd Cramer, various other artists. I mostly was influenced by my piano style by playing on all those old tunes. Most of them had all the same chords so it was easy.

Were you in any bands before joining Hook?

I was in quite a few bands. I was part of The Persuaders, a very popular group. All over San Francisco and up and down the West Coast including Vegas and Arizona, I was only in The Hook for maybe eight months.

Tell us how the 20th Century Fox Records contract came about?

The 20th Century Fox Records had Tommy Oliver as the producer. He heard me play through a friend and wrote a couple of songs for me.

More singles followed on Valiant Records. I would love it if you could talk about it.

Honestly, I can’t remember that much about it. I know I did ‘It Really Tears Me Up,’ ‘Sinner Not a Saint,’ and some other tunes for them. I really have no idea how I wound up there. Just via friends I guess.

You wrote songs early on in your career, what’s the typical songwriting process for you like?

I always wrote songs. Even in my early years, I would make things up. The process may have been X-rated in later years, but sometimes I just drive in the car, and I hear a tune in my head and just sit down and play it. I could hear the whole thing, chords, melody, and everything.

Tell us about The Hook? What led you to join them?

I was playing in the Blue Rose band in the San Fernando Valley and Bobby Arlen, the lead guitar player told me I could make some good money playing with them so myself and the drummer, Dale Loyola, joined the group. We were only in a short time, we didn’t care for the group at all really.

What are some of the strongest memories from recording ‘Hooked’?

We recorded at the Capitol Records studios and did that entire album in one day.

Did the band play a lot of shows? What are some that you recall vividly?

We didn’t do that many shows. We played some pretty big events with some bands back then, but I can’t tell you who they were. The shrine Auditorium places like that.

What can you tell us about Blue Rose? That band never released anything? Who were other members of the band?

The Blue Rose band was formed when I heard this guitar player, Terry Furlong. His sound was incredible, and I heard it over the phone, and I asked him if I could join his group. So I took my drummer, Dale Loyola, and we joined his group. We played around the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood for a while. It was a very psychedelic type band. Sometimes we would jam and just go on for like 45 minutes on one song and never stop. It was pretty cool. This is where The Grass Roots eventually found me.

How did the audition for The Grass Roots come about? 

The Grass Roots came into the club. I was playing with the Blue Rose specifically to get Terry Furlong the guitar player. Creed Bratton, the original guitar player for The Grass Roots had just left and wanted to become an actor. When the band saw myself and Terry playing that night they decided to take me instead of Terry.

What was it like for you when joining the band?

It was pretty amazing. I joined the band and three days later we had a top 10 hit with the song called ‘I’d Wait a Million Years’. I couldn’t believe it. It was difficult for me. Getting used to playing one night stands in stadiums and stuff because I was so used to playing clubs. They were a fun bunch. Ricky Warren and Rob Grill.

Please share some recollection of working on ‘Leaving It All Behind’?

This is my first opportunity to put some of my songs that I wrote on that Grass Roots album. A lot of the songs were already recorded. The fact that I was writing inspired the other guys to start writing also and they put some of their songs on that album.

What was it like to have a hit with this band? I guess everything changed when ‘Walking Through The Country’ hit the radio stations?

When I first heard walking through the country on the radio we were driving through like Alabama or something. I was shell shocked I guess you’d say. It didn’t do as well as some of the commercial pop hits, but I was very proud of it.

What do you recall from Newport Pop Festival in 1969?

It was very hot! I think there were about 60,000 people there. I’ve never seen so many people in one place. But of course you had Santana and Hendrix and Janis Joplin and all these other groups that were playing. Jimi Hendrix asked me to come up and jam with him, but the manager of The Grass Roots wouldn’t let me. So we left right away after our set.

Jimi Hendrix, who played at this festival, asked you to play with him… do tell us more about this.

I met him at the Beverly Hills hotel about a week before that, and I guess he remembered me and as I was walking by him, he asked me to come up and play, but I couldn’t do it.

More attention followed when you released ‘More Golden Grass’ which included your ‘I Can Turn Off The Rain’ and ‘Come On And Say It,’ the latter became the second hit for The Grass Roots.

Yeah, this again was a number opportunity for me to put some of my songs on The Grass Roots album. ‘I Can Turn Off The Rain’ and ‘Come On And Say It’ were especially strong songs on that album.

Why did you decide to leave the band in 1972?

I left the band in 1974. I signed a record deal with Clive Davis and Columbia Records. I had a lot of problems back then and that was probably one of my worst decisions, but this was not a good time in my life.

You started working on your solo album which remained unfinished. Do you still have the master tapes? Can we expect to hear it someday?

I don’t have the master tapes for this album. I never really did finish anything. The only thing I did was write good songs, but when it came to recording in the studio, I had some problems and I’ll just leave it there.

You are also a big part of The Grass Roots 1972 album ‘Move Along’…

Yes, I wrote a lot of songs on that album for Rob Grill and wrote most of the songs on that album. But because I quit the group at the time they wanted to erase me as a Grass Roots so there’s no pictures of me on the album, nor is there very little mention of me on that album.

How did Rare Earth collaboration come about?

Rare Earth was recording at a studio that I was recording at and heard that song, ‘The City Life’. Tom Jones also recorded it.

You again rejoined The Grass Roots. 

I left the band in 1974 and re-joined in 1976. Mainly to go back on the road because I really wasn’t doing much of anything. And that’s where I met some of these people in Wisconsin. They were really good musicians and I really liked Wisconsin, so I decided later to move here.

Looking back, what was the highlight of your time in the band? Which songs are you most proud of? Where and when was your most memorable gig?

At the time we released ‘Temptation Eyes,’ ‘Heaven Knows,’ ‘Two Divided by Love,’ ‘Sooner Or Later,’ and had so many hits back to back that when we went to places like in the south, we were draw thousands and thousands of mostly 15-year-old girls, and they would just mob us. It was pretty amazing. This happened almost everywhere we went!

What else occupied your life later in the 70s, 80s, 90s until today?

Eventually, I moved to Wisconsin because I found a great guitar player out here and I like the clubs and stuff out here so I played with a band called The Hits for the last 35 years and we did all the festivals and clubs in hotels and weddings, et cetera. This was probably my most successful group besides The Grass Roots, of course. When the drummer died about two years ago, that was about it for the band. I had some great bands in California, back in the 60s and 70s. One was called The Four Sounds. We toured everywhere including Hawaii. Then The Persuaders, which was a very popular band back in the California area. We also went to Europe and toured up and down the west coast. We were kind of a soul group.

Would you like to comment on your technique? Give us some insights on developing your keyboard technique.

I can only say that my technique is very simple. I’m not what you would call a really great keyboard player. I just have a good imagination. I like to play melodies in my solos.

Thank you for taking your time. Last word is yours.

I always tell other musicians or songwriters to just listen to the radio, listen to other songs and take it from there.

Klemen Breznikar

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Headline photo: The Grass Roots promo

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