Season of "The Witch"

Roslie, 63 (he spells his first name with a J, not the G in most sources), cites Little Richard as a key vocal inspiration: "I liked his power -- and he made it look so easy. But another thing was the equipment we had was so poor. Half the time, you'd be singing on a microphone you got from your parents' tape recorder, plugged into the guitar player's amplifier. It made me sing louder, because most of the time people couldn't hear you."

"The Witch," a Number Two hit in Seattle, established the Sonics as regional heroes, and they were soon making a thousand dollars a night in Northwest clubs, huge bread for the day. But the band's singles, issued on local labels, never charted in Billboard, and the good gig pay kept the Sonics close to home. "We were immature and un-business-like," Parypa admits. "Our immediate goal was, how many women can we pick up tonight? We'd put our instruments in the van after a show, and not get them out again until we had to play someplace else. If we had a recording session, sometimes we didn't write the material until we were in the studio."

Roslie looks back at the outrageous-for-their-time songs he wrote for the Sonics -- "Psycho," "He's Waiting" ("He" being Satan) and "Strychnine" ("Some folks like water/Some folks like wine/But I like the taste/Of straight Strychnine") -- as the kind of fun you were supposed to have in rock & roll. "It was just me being over the top," he says. "I loved people like Jerry Lee Lewis, who got so crazy they almost forgot they were doing it, because they put their whole soul into it."

But the intensity took its toll. The Sonics broke up in '67, Roslie claims, over "crazy stuff." Parypa simply says, "We were tired." After a 1972 reunion show in Seattle, the group resisted all calls and temptations to get back together for thirty-five years. Roslie worked as a roofer and ran an asphalt paving business. Then, five years ago, he had a heart transplant and subsequently lost parts of both kidneys.

Parypa says Roslie's voice is still a thing of wonder: "It's bluesy and intense. He's doing some wild things I've never heard him do before." And Parypa believes the Sonics are playing again in part because of Roslie's close brush with mortality. "I think his medical problems shocked him into doing this. We would tell him, 'This was an important part of our lives. Why wouldn't you want to recapture that?' He finally agreed."

Roslie and Parypa have no plans for Sonics shows beyond Cavestomp -- yet. But Parypa says the old frenzy came back fast in rehearsals, especially after the new guys understood what was required. "At first, Don wasn't sure what to do on the bass," Parypa explains. "He said he didn't want to step on anyone's shoes. I said, 'Step on all the shoes you can."

"If you come to these shows expecting top musicianship, you're in the wrong place," Parypa warns. "But if we can blow your face off, that will be cool."