Former Hot Nuts band member speaks to music class

American Studies professor Bill Ferris remembers Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts as the most popular musical group among his peers when he was studying at Davidson College in the ’60s.

And on Tuesday, his college days came full circle as John Clark, an original member of the band, spoke to his Southern music class about the band’s history and the trials they faced as a black band playing at predominantly white colleges throughout the United States.

“They were black musicians playing on white campuses, and there were a lot of issues they faced,” Ferris said. “I think that will be very moving to hear about that period and the development of the band musically and as a business. It has implications for race relations as well as music.”

Clark, who played saxophone in the band, said his brother, Doug, formed the band after they worked at the fraternity houses helping with parties.

“At the time, my brother and I were both musicians. We heard a band playing one night, and he asked the fraternity what they were paying for the band,” he said. “He decided to get some members of his high school and start playing for the fraternities. I was at Greensboro in school, and on the weekends, I would come home and play.”

Clark said the band played old Motown, rhythm and blues. He said the jobs were significant mainly because they were something they could make money on. But he said there were other perks to the job, as well.

“We played over 150 colleges and universities in 33 states, and those were places I had never been before and never would have gone if it hadn’t been for the band,” he said.

Clark said the name for the band came after the group was working at a house and heard another band play the song “Hot Nuts.” He said the band started playing the song after that.

“It was a gimmick. We started playing that song, and the fraternities would give us songs similar to that,” he said. “People would recognize us more easily as ‘The Hot Nuts’ band than ‘The Tops,’ which was our original name.”

Clark said he was surprised when Ferris asked him to come speak about his experiences as a musician.

“See, back in the old days, when we were recording songs like the ‘Hot Nuts’ song, they were considered racy, raunchy songs. They were not as popular among schools and administrations as they were among fraternity parties,” he said. “We were a little (racy) before our time singing those types of songs.”

But even though there were many good times playing with the band, Clark said they met a lot of challenges because the colleges they played at were predominately white.

“We couldn’t stay in hotels — they had no hotels for African-Americans. They would arrange rooms in the community for us,” he said. “And it was difficult trying to find somewhere to eat — sometimes we would have to pack our food before we left to travel with because we couldn’t eat in restaurants.”

Clark said they weren’t even allowed to use the restrooms when they stopped at service stations to get gas.

“It was an experience — we made adjustments,” he said.

Steven Weiss, the head of the Southern Folklife Collection, said it was important to bring Clark to speak at the campus because the Hot Nuts band has a history that is deeply integrated into that of UNC.

After all, Clark and his brother Doug were born about three blocks away from campus. Their father worked at South Building, and their mother worked at Memorial Hospital.

“The Hot Nuts played a significant role in an important music scene,” Weiss said. “The fact that they were an African-American band performing during the civil rights era adds another dimension to their story.”

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