The Spiders

Vincent Furnier(Alice Cooper) - Vocals
Glen Buxton - Lead Guitar
Michael Bruce - Rhythm guitar
Dennis Dunaway - Bass
John Speer - Drums

Vincent is by now a rather well known Detroit'er, while the rest of the Spiders came from Phoenix, Arizona where also the band was located around 1965.
That year the original version of "Don't Blow Your Mind" was recorded for the Mascot label(Santa Cruz SCR 10,003) and pressed in a run of 500 copies, with the swinging "No Price Tag" as a b-side.

The a-side is some of the crudest fuzz-punk tracks ever recorded in 1965(released later in 1966), with Vincent spitting out the lyrics with a voice sounding like it's had razorblades for breakfast, and a guitar with a fuzz-pedal stepped to the max for a extra primitive and rough effect.

The single has become a rather sought after collectors item, probably because the band used to toss copies to the audience from the stage, with the result often being that the now so rare copies would be stamped in pieces. How many copies that is left by now is still unclear.

 

 

 

An alternative version of "Don't Blow Your Mind" was recorded in 1966, and released for the first time on a 7" from Sundazed records. 

 

A bootleg EP "Battle Of The Bands" with "No Price Tag" and "Don't Blow Your Mind" by "The Spiders" on the a-side, and the great psychedelic tracks "Wonder Who's Loving Her Now"(a-side, released 1967) and "Lay Down And Die, Goodbye"(b-side) by The Nazz on b-side was released, probably in the 80's.

The Nazz kept the same line-up as The Spiders, except for Neil Smith taking over the drums for John Speer. The band would also re-localize to Los Angeles. Later  The Nazz would be known as The Alice Cooper band.  

 

A version of "Don't Blow Your Mind" was performed live in Toronto, 1969, by Alice Cooper, with new lyrics, better known as "Freak Out Song" on several bootlegs.