Lonely Guest

"Here’s a little more on the history of “The Pawns”, an El Paso, Texas band that got its start in 1964. The four original members were: David Hayes, Don Doize’, Freddie Paz, and Tex Grant. We were classmates at Eastwood High School in El Paso. We were mostly a surf band until David Hayes decided he would be our frontman and we started doing some vocals. Tex didn’t last long, and was replaced by guitarist Jack Watkins (who penned “Lonely”). Most of the surf songs were arrangements by me, and none were originals. On drums, Freddie (The Pawn, South Bay, Voices, and Lonely) was replaced with David Marcum, then with Jimmie Wagnon (Lonely Weekends and Meet Me Here), and finally with Barry Davis. We added bass player Jack Duncan when Jack Watkins left. We had a few other guest members for a short time but the core was always Don Doize’ and David Hayes. When I left in 1966, the group slowly fell apart and finally faded out completely. I joined a psychedelic band called Mother Grossell’s Assorted Pyes and after about a year, left to join a bar band called the Fifth Estate. On graduating from UTEP in January of 1971, I hung up the guitar for good, moved to Northern California and started my sales career that lasted until my retirement in April of 2013." -Don Doize