The Routers

The Routers
Origin	Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres	Pop, surf rock
Years active	1962–1970
Labels	Warner Bros. Records
Associated acts	The Marketts

The Routers were an American instrumental group in the early 1960s.

Formed in 1961 by Michael Z. Gordon, the Routers'recordings sometimes used session musicians in addition to the actual group with the exception of Gordon who also formed another successful group, the Marketts. Gordon composed another award-winning composition, "Out Of Limits" with the Marketts. Gordon played on almost all of the Routers and Marketts sessions. The original line-up of the group was Al Kait, lead guitar; Lynn Frasier, tenor saxophone; Michael Zane Gordon, rhythm guitar, vocals; Scott Walker (then recording as Scott Engel), bass guitar; Randy Viers, drums.

The Routers first release in September 1962 was the guitar-driven instrumental "Let's Go (Pony)", which reached #19 on the Billboard chart. Its infectious "clap clap clap-clap-clap clap-clap-clap-clap Let's Go!" chant became a favorite of cheerleaders and crowds worldwide. Although the songwriting credits are given to local singer Lanny Duncan and his brother Robert Duncan, Lanny Duncan had previously recorded the original demo of the song in 1961 as a member of the Starlighters, featuring Tony Valentino on guitar and Jody Rich on bass. The demo was recorded in Glendale with engineer Eddie Brackett. Valentino and Rich would go on to form the Standells in 1962.

The Routers' recording was instigated by record producer Joe Saraceno and his co-producer record producer and composer Michael Z. Gordon, who went on to compose "Apologize" by Ed Ames. Like many pop instrumentals recorded in Los Angeles, California, at this time, such as those by B. Bumble and the Stingers, it involved Gordon (guitar), Plas Johnson (saxophone) and Earl Palmer (drums), probably with Plas’ brother Ray Johnson on bass guitar as well as Tommy Tedesco on guitar.

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