Jerry MacNeish, who played bass in a later edition of The Fireballs and became the group's historian, recorded this tribute to the group in Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, N.M., where The Fireballs recorded their hits like Torquay, Bulldog and Vaquero in the early 1960s. The group's sound helped lay the foundation for surf music.
On the LP Jerry MacNeish Plays the Fireballs (Nor Va Jak, 1986) he plays all the instruments, with the exception of piano, some of which was provided by Vi Petty, Norman Petty's widow. Here's MacNeish's take on Chief Whoopin-Koff. It's very close to The Fireballs' original, which was on the flip side of Vaquero, released in July 1960.
Chief Whoopin-Koff
Jerry MacNeish Plays the Fireballs was reissued on CD, on a very limited basis, in 1996 by NPR Records in Germany.
The title was altered slightly and there were five bonus tracks. Both the CD and LP are long out of print, but copies turn up now and then online at widely varying prices. No download version is available.
The original Fireballs seem to be fairly well represented in digital formats with several download and CD collections.
And yes most people remember The Fireballs as the band backing vocalist Jimmy Gilmer on the No. 1 hit Sugar Shack in 1963. But here they are in instrumental mode with the "A" side of the Chief Whoopin-Koff single.
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