Joe Nolan grew up in Islip on Bertram Street in a family known for its political aspirations: Philip J. Nolan, the patriarch, was involved with local politics; his son, Phil Nolan, among the six Nolan siblings, would become an Islip Town supervisor.

But Joe Nolan was attracted to rock and roll. And also to making films.

His documentary, “The Tuneful Trolley,” and their 50th anniversary reunion concert in 2018 at the former Viking Pub on Main Street in Islip, is being screened at the Long Island International Film Expo on Wednesday, Aug. 11.

Nolan offered to tape the concert when he found out the band was playing at the well-known bar at the time, then mused, “Hmmm, I think there’s something here.”

If you’re interested in 1960s music, and how six young teens were discovered by a member of Jay and the Americans, then signed by Capitol Records for their first and only album, then come on down.

Also, maybe you knew one of them.

The original members included Santo Ciccarello, who played lead guitar, vocals and wrote songs (he still lives in Islip); Joey DeSane, lead vocalist (Joey is deceased; his brother Frank took his place for the reunion concert.); Tony Bordonaro, guitar, songwriting, vocals (lives in Florida now); Brian Parks, bass and vocals (lives in Seattle); and Paul Conocenti, organ, backing vocals. One member asked to not be included in the documentary.

Nolan remembers thinking, This is for me, when he first heard rock-and-roll songs like “Good Golly, Miss Molly” by Little Richard and “Johnnie B. Goode” by Chuck Berry. He was 6. At age 12, he picked up the guitar, played a bit, and watched Dick Clark, a television icon known for hosting his daily teen show.

“It was a very exciting time for popular music,” Nolan recalled. “They talk about the generation gap, and there really was one between parents and their kids then. The music was changing so drastically; rock and roll kind of started in the mid-50s and we were right in the thick of it.”

Also, The Tuneful Trolley was from Islip. “We thought our friends would be as big as the Beatles,” Nolan recalled. “They called themselves The Mark of Quality when they started out. They were a conglomeration of several other bands and had a charismatic singer, Joey DeSane.”

A local connection got the boys an album contract for “Island in the Sky.”

Pretty heady stuff.

“One of the guys from the band, his father was a furniture salesman for Traub’s Furniture of Bay Shore,” said Nolan. “Mr. Traub was hosting an anniversary party for himself and his wife and rented a hall, and he asked the band to play. Sam Traub, the owner, and his wife happened to be best friends with the parents of a member of Jay and the Americans.”

Traub liked what he heard and put them in touch. Sam Yaguda, a Jay and the Americans singer, drove out to Bay Shore to listen to the young men, was impressed, and introduced them to Capitol Records and the Brill Building, which housed music industry offices and studios.

Some of the most popular American music was written here. (Think Carole King and her story in “Beautiful.”)

Jay and the Americans had several blockbuster hits in the 1960s; when the Beatles came on the scene and their music popularity waned, they went into producing, with Yaguda steering the way. The young men’s “Island” album featured fuzz guitars, oboes, and was reminiscent of The Beach Boys’ harmonies.

“During their summer vacation, they were in New York City in a recording studio making an album,” Nolan said of the Tuneful band.

“Sunny Days,” a single written by Kenny Lagona, was on the album and got airplay on 77 WABC and WBLI. It did well, but never became a chart topper.

“They had a lot of help on the album, people working with John Lennon on horns and three songs written by professional songwriters,” Nolan said. “ ‘Sunny Days,’ it was good, and sounded good, but it didn’t break through. They were signed in 1968 and by late summer of 1969, they had broken up.”

Out of the six originals, four were able to become involved in the reunion concert, Nolan said. Two came in from the West Coast; Conocenti’s son helped with camerawork.

“Their decision to have a 50th anniversary concert was what brought this up, and a lot of this story came out as they prepared,” Nolan explained. Their careers varied after their musical high: one of them became a New York City fireman; one aced it as a top computer consultant; another was a respiratory therapist and now owns a string of barber shops.

“I’m a serious amateur filmmaker,” Nolan said. “I went to Woodstock in 1969 and made a film, as well as one on Phil. I started working on this three years ago and completed it in five months.”

Nolan promises good interviews with band members, how they came together, why the band fell apart. “Also, Artie Kornfeld and his involvement,” Nolan said. Kornfeld was a songwriter and vice president of Capitol Records at a time when musicians ran the company; he was also the promoter of the Woodstock Festival.

Yaguda introduced The Tuneful Trolley to Kornfeld.

“The Tuneful Trolley” documentary (also a selection of the 2021 Manhattan Film Festival) is one hour and 17 minutes. Nolan, who lives in Ho Ho Kus, N.J., will attend Aug. 11 at the 2 p.m. showing at the Bellmore Movies and Showplace at 222 Pettit Avenue, Bellmore.

“It’s ‘The Tuneful Trolley,’ Day 2, Block 2, and I will be there,” Nolan said. “Santo will be there and a couple of other members of the band might be also.”