It was an era when teenagers turned on to LSD, reveled in psychedelic music and worried about being drafted for the Vietnam War. But this group wasn't like most thrown-together garage bands, because Count V hit it big. And now, after decades of silence, its members have reunited.

In June 1966, the group's song "Psychotic Reaction" took the country by storm. It quickly rushed to the top of the charts—number one on Record World and Cashbox and number five on Billboard. It became the number one most requested song in Los Angeles.

Instantly the five teens became stars, and the band was offered a guaranteed $1 million tour from the William Morris Agency. But to the shock of everyone, the teenagers turned it down.

Yet for the band the choice was simple: Go on tour and get drafted, or stay in school and avoid becoming soldiers in a controversial war.

So the group toured on weekends and appeared on the Dick Clark Show. Clark even asked the group why they turned down the tour and such a lucrative opportunity.

Vocalist Kenn Ellner, who grew up in Willow Glen and operated The Ellner Company on Lincoln Avenue for years, pragmatically replied to Clark that it was conceivable it all might be short-lived. And his statement was prophetic, because three years later the band broke up.

But history has a way of coming full circle, and in 2003 Count V is back for a reunion concert, with the band performing at The Edge in Palo Alto.

Of the five original members—Kenn Ellner, John "Mouse" Michalski, Roy Chaney, John "Sean" Byrne and Craig "Butch" Atkinson—four still live in the Bay Area. Atkinson died in 1998 in Texas. Now the group consists of original member Michalski, as well as Willow Glen resident Chaney, Ellner, who moved to Redwood City, and Phil Indovina and Rocco Astrella, who live in Campbell.

This isn't the first time Count V has had a reunion. In the late '80s, the band played at its 20-year Pioneer High school reunion. And in 1987, the band played at a nightclub in Santa Clara.

Ellner was on the high school reunion committee, and the school suggested the group perform, since its last appearance was in the '60s.

"We got the band together and didn't tell anyone we were going to be playing," Ellner says. "Now we play for fun."

And that's exactly how the band first started in the mid-60s—for fun.

"Mouse and I decided to get together and form surf music," Chaney says, looking back.

Chaney played bass guitar and Michalski played lead guitar, and the group called itself the Squires. With vocals an integral part of making a band's success, and the Beatles crashing onto the music scene, the Squires were in the market for a singer.

"We tried out a few people and then our drummer quit," Chaney says.

The group auditioned Rick Conrad—who still listens to the band practice in Indovina's garage—but Conrad says he was just too shy to get up and sing in front of people.

"Then we came across Kenn Ellner," Chaney says. "He brought his own records and said 'I know the words and you know the music.'"

Michalski remembers how Ellner knew all the lyrics for every song. Soon afterward Atkinson became the drummer and Byrne came onboard as a second vocalist. Byrne also played rhythm guitar.

The group changed its name to Count V—for the five-member band and added capes that they wore, Count Dracula-style, as part of their stage performance. They began rehearsing in Ellner's living room with Ellner's parents watching television. They practiced hard, and they played at high school teen clubs, in the basements of college parties and at other Bay Area venues.

Photograph from back of Count V record album The Morning After: Count V (from left) Roy Chaney, John Sean Byrne, Craig 'Butch' Atkinson, Kenn Ellner and John 'Mouse' Michalski posed with their infamous capes in front of the Sarah Winchester Mystery House for one of the photographs on their one and only record album.

Byrne was the composer, Ellner says, but the song was a group collaboration.

As the group continued to play at different local clubs, the band's reputation continued to grow.

"It got better and better," Chaney says. "The disc jockeys recognized us."

Ellner's dad began seeing faces of talent agents in the audience and suggested he should manage the band.

Then they were "discovered" by Brian Lord, a disc jockey from KLIV radio station, while performing at the former West Valley College site on the corner of Winchester Boulevard and Campbell Avenue.

"He liked us," Michalski says. "He asked if we had any record deals and said he had connections in L.A."

Lord told the group he knew important people at Capitol Records, but things didn't work out. So Count V went to audition for Mira Records, where they hit another dead end.

It wasn't until they auditioned for Liberty Records' label Double Shot that the band hit the big time.

"Then the record came out and we graduated," Ellner says.

It was June 1966.

The band began living in a car and trailer, driving and playing throughout California while the group's hit tune "Psychotic Reaction" played on national radio.

Quickly, the song began climbing up the charts. It was a high point for the band, and it was also when the group was offered a $1 million promotion tour and also when the band turned it down.

Yet there were plenty of lucrative opportunities available, Ellner says.

Not hurting for bookings, the band played coast to coast. But home base was local while Ellner went to Foothill College, Michalski, Chaney and Byrne went to San Jose City College and Atkinson went to San Jose State University.

Although still in college, the band kept playing, experiencing some wild times as it traveled across the country, with groupies waiting to greet them in every town. The band was also known to put on quite a show, with Ellner creating a lot of feedback and kicking out the lights on stage.

"The promoters didn't really like that," Michalski says with a chuckle. "We went through equipment a lot."

Of the garage bands that formed during that time, Chaney says they were probably one of the more famous to emerge.

"We had a following," Michalski says. "We were the first group to sell a million records."

And though the screaming girls and cheering crowds are all a thing of the past, the band still has some interesting stories to share.

Ellner remembers the time they played in Louisiana at a sold-out concert.

"We went to get paid," Ellner says, "and the sheriff was there. He paid us half of what we were supposed to get. When I asked where the rest was, he took out his gun and said, 'Get your equipment and get the hell out of town.' "

And that's exactly what they did.

The band remembers back to when yet-to-be-famous groups played with them, including the Beach Boys, Byrds, Animals, Gladys Knight and the Dave Clark Five.

"The Doors used to open for us," Chaney says matter-of-factly.

"The Doors were just starting out at the time," Ellner adds.

The Los Angeles-based Doors did not become nationally known until "Light My Fire" came out in 1967. By then, Count V members were already pursuing other interests in life.

Ellner remembers a time when they were playing in Florida and Byrne flew back to school to take a midterm. For the band members, performing was not a priority.

"A couple of people in the band wanted to pursue other dreams," Ellner adds.

Byrne became an accountant for Montgomery Wards, Atkinson became a pilot for Delta Airlines in Texas, Ellner became an attorney and real estate broker, Michalski a landscape contractor and Chaney a general contractor. They all stayed in the Bay Area except for Atkinson, who moved to Texas.

"When it was all happening, it was surreal," Ellner says.

Yet the five members always had confidence in their music. They knew they'd make it big.

"We just figured it was going to happen," Chaney says, "and it did."

Ellner agrees. He remembers how they kept telling people they would get a record deal. Today, "Psychotic Reaction" is a song that might occasionally be heard on an oldies radio station or in a movie. The song can be heard on the 2002 soundtrack to the movie Auto Focus.

The song is considered one of the 500 most influential songs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. The band even had a book written about them—Psychotic Reaction and Carburetor Dung—which the band says was full of errors.

The book's author, Lester Bangs, "fictionalized us", Ellner says, such as attributing albums to us that didn't exist—the band only had one album.

Today the band is once again turning out the tunes, as members of the reunited Count V— filled with old friends and experienced musicians—rehearse three hours daily in Indovina's garage.

It's a group of guys with a long history together, everyone knowing each other for decades, with the band's youngest member, Rocco Astrella, replacing Atkinson on drums and vocals at The Edge on Aug. 22.

Astrella recalls playing "Psychotic Reaction" when he was a teenager, after it became a hit. Astrella has also played with other bands such as the Joe Perry Project—Joe Perry of Aerosmith—and Wylie Crawford.

The performance at The Edge is to promote their new CD called Psychotic Revelation: The Ultimate Count V, a compilation of 24 original songs. There will also be a special guest opening for Count V, though the members are keeping the name under wraps.

But the members of Count V are far from being stuck in an episode of "Where are they now." They have families and jobs and think back to the '60s fondly.

It's quite unlike how their famous song ends—"I can't get your love, I can't get satisfaction/ Oh, little girl, psychotic reaction"—because Count V's members have no regrets about the path they chose.

"To call us a garage band is a misnomer. We were a living-room band," Ellner jokes.

"We started the garage band thing," Chaney adds. "And here we are in a garage rehearsing."

Count V will be playing Aug. 22 at 8 p.m. at The Edge, 260 California Ave., Palo Alto. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster and doors open at 7 p.m.