The Castaways

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the garage rock band; for the short story by P. G. Wodehouse, see The Castaways (short story).

The Castaways were an American garage rock band from the Twin Cities in Minnesota. Their first and only hit single, "Liar Liar", written by band leader James Donna and Denny Craswell and produced by Timothy D. Kehr, it reached number 12 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1965. "Liar Liar" is featured in the films Good Morning Vietnam and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The Castaways may be seen performing "Liar, Liar" in the 1967 beach movie It's a Bikini World.

The original members were James Donna on keyboards, Robert Folschow on guitar, Dick Roby on guitar, Roy Hensley on bass guitar and Dennis Craswell on drums. Folschow contributed the distinctive falsetto vocal on "Liar Liar".

Bass guitarist Hensley died on 8 June 2005 and was buried in Fairmont, Minnesota. The Castaways continue to perform today, although according to their website Donna is the only founding member still in the line-up.

In 2007 a Dutch hiphop group called The Opposites used the music of the hit Liar, Liar and made a new hit with Dom, Lomp & Famous. This means: dumb, ponderous & famous.

In the early 1980s two members, Robert Folschow and Denny Craswell led a west coast version of the band under the name The Castaways in Pismo Beach, California. Folschow, who was using the stage name of Bob Leroy, played guitar and a hung-around-the-neck electronic piano on many song including "Liar, Liar" which had the distinctive piano intro/riff. The two had local musicians like B3 organist Dennis Hayes providing additional keyboard and bass backup.

Fans and collectors of American 80s rock band, The Pretenders, will find "Liar Liar" was included as the hidden final track of the Not Real Records bootleg LP, "Talk Of The Town."