| 'Bachs' and Null Set. Broke up June '66
Original Members:
Bruce Christensen, '66 Rhythm Guitarist/Vocals
(First Band)
Doug Christensen, '67 Lead Guitar/Vocals (First Band)
Art Battson, '66 Drums/Vocals (First Band)
Gerry Rahill, '66 Bass (First Band)
Gary Maltby, '66 Lead Vocals (First Band)
Art and Gary were Original members of the West Coast Iron Works
From Art Battson:
The first group I helped form was
"The Null Set" with Bruce and Doug
Christensen in 1965. Dad had just brought home a set of Pearl drums from Japan in June of 1965 so I spent the
summer banging on them pretending I was Ringo. In the fall of '65 Bruce was
doing some bitchin' air guitar work in Mr. Burgess's English class so we got
to talking. Then we got to playing (an instrumental version of "We Can
Work It Out") and finally to singing ("Surfer Bird" -
assuming you can call that singing). We were so bad that I was actually the
lead singer for what seemed like years (it was actually months, but the
neighbors still swear it was years). Bruce Christensen was a great rhythm guitarist and Doug managed a good lead guitar. Bruce was
also excellent on backup harmonies. Gary Maltby joined us in
late 1965 or early 1966. Gerry Rahill later joined
us on bass although I'm not sure we ever played in the same key together.
(Gerry re-emerged as part of the Pre-Fab Four for our 40th Reunion Tour down Orange Avenue in 2006.) I have some video of
the Bachs if you are interested. The Bachs was (were?) literally the new
packaging container for the Null Set. Back in those days we had to
continually change our name to get another gig.
By the time the Summer of 1966, Bruce and Doug left the band and were
replaced with Robert Mansueto and Richie Heinz. That's when we became the West Coast Iron Works. By this time, I was delegated to
singing Ringo songs and told to come up with a name for the group while they
plotted to have me learn some Pete Best tunes. (OK. I made that last part
up.) Actually, I was the one who found the name West Coast Iron Works in the
GTE White Pages. This was no small task since I started with with A's and
worked down to the end of the alphabet. Had I not been so patient we might
have been called Art's Auto Supply. (I toyed with the idea of changing Gary 's name and calling
ourselves Rusty and the Iron Works, but it never worked out.) The West Coast
Irons Works just seemed perfect for the time and place.
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