Effective period / Period of releases: 2018

Members: Greg Cohen, Danny Cohen

Proto punk band Charleston Grotto has got to be one of the weirdest, longest-running garage bands in the U.S.

Formed in 1960, four young boys from the Larchmont area of Los Angeles started a band called the Fantastic Four: Rear (Danny Cohen), who sang and played chromatic harmonica, his younger brother Front (Greg Cohen) on converted bass, Bottom (John Haupenthal) on cardboard drums, and Fidel (George Bell) playing guitar. Rough and primitive the band existed in nether zone between surf and the first British Invasion and quickly name-changed to Charleston Grotto. They incorporated funk sounds into the avant garde stylings and punkish attitude. They played infrequently into the mid 1970s.