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From Austin-based
Sonobeat Recording Company's first sessions -- with Leo and
the Prophets in spring 1967
-- to its last -- with Helmer Dahl
in April 1976 -- dozens of Central Texas artists recorded masters,
work tapes, or demos for Sonobeat or rented Sonobeat's facilities
for custom work.
Inevitably, over
Sonobeat's nine year history,
hundreds of recordings were never released for many different
reasons. Starting with recordings made in 1967, here's a
selection
of artists whose material was intended
for
release
but which, for better or worse, never made it out on the Sonobeat
label.
Leo
and the Prophets
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Leo and the Prophets publicity photo
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Austin
band Leo and the Prophets holds the distinction of
being the
first group recorded by Sonobeat, even before Sonobeat
had a name. In spring 1967 -- the Sonobeat
archives don't provide a specific date -- Sonobeat founders Bill
Josey Sr. and Rim Kelley (Bill Josey Jr.) wanted to give
the portable audio mixer that KAZZ-FM chief
engineer Bill Curtis had
built for them
a real-world test (Editor's note: there were strong ties between
Sonobeat
and KAZZ-FM in Austin; see Sonobeat's
history).
Through a friend who managed the Prophets, Bill Sr. arranged
for a series of recording sessions. Sonobeat's records are incomplete,
but Prophets' guitarist Danny Hickman recalls the session was
either at the Ozone Forest nightclub at 34th and Guadalupe or
The Lake Austin Inn.
Leo and the Prophets work tape
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Recorded
on an Ampex
354 2-track recorder borrowed from KAZZ-FM -- which Bill Sr. mounted
in a makeshift wooden frame to make
it portable -- the sessions
yielded
three instrumental
tracks: Ozone Forest (named for the nightclub where the Prophets were
house band), Prophecy
of Love,
and Flowers
on the Hill, all original tunes. The tracks were distorted,
a combination of inexpensive P. A.-style microphones overdriving the
mixer pre-amps and the lack of VU meters on the little mixer, made all the worse
by Rim's amateur recording techniques. Although the quality of
the recordings was disappointing, Kelley and Curtis
wanted to complete
the experiment with the Prophets and
scheduled a vocal overdub session at the KAZZ
studios.
The
result was one completed track, Flowers
on the Hill, but that ended the experiment
and the tapes were shelved. Curtis
began reworking the mixer, housed in
a gray wooden box with metal faceplate
on which
were
mounted the volume and pan controls for six inputs.
Inside the mixer box was a tangle of bare wires,
transistors,
capacitors,
and
resistors. Curtis literally soldered the components
together "in the air" and left them dangling "under the
hood".
Ultimately,
the
homebrew
mixer worked
fine,
but the experience recording Leo and the Prophets
was a challenge that almost frustrated Sonobeat's launch.
Leo and the
Prophets were Leo Ellis, Travis Ellis, Danny Hickman, Rod Haywood, and Bill
Powell. In April '67, Leo and the Prophets released
their regionally-successful single Tilt-a-Whirl backed with Parking Meter on Totem Records, one of Sonobeat's few
Austin competitors.
South
Canadian Overflow
Austin
psychedelic band South Canadian Overflow might have been
named for a natural disaster in Canada but was actually named for the south
fork of the Canadian River that passes through Oklahoma and north Texas. While
driving through Oklahoma, future South Canadian Overflow members John Inmon
and Donny Dolan saw a sign reading "South Canadian Overflow" on a
bridge that ran over the river's spillway. The sign made such an impression
that when
Inmon
and Dolan -- then members of The Reasons Why -- left to form a new band, they
adopted the
name on the sign.
In October and December 1967, South Canadian Overflow recorded
three original songs
with
Sonobeat: Psychodelic, Silent
Night Blues, and Why Even Try. The October SCO
session was recorded at the Swingers Club in North Austin and
the December session was recorded at the Vulcan Gas Company
in downtown Austin. KAZZ-FM chief engineer Bill Curtis engineered
the sessions on a 2-track Ampex 354 using the portable 6-channel
audio
mixer
he built for Sonobeat.
South Canadian
Overflow appeared frequently at the Vulcan
Gas Company, sharing the
stage with Shiva's
Headband, The
Thingies, and
the originators of psychedelic music, the 13th
Floor Elevators.
SCO was so popular with Austin's
hippie community and high school teens alike that
it often earned a remarkable $1,500 a performance,
a truly substantial amount in 1967. SCO featured
Debby Hendershott (rhythm guitar and vocals),
Bobby
Shehorn (bass), John
Inmon (guitar), Donny Dolan (drums), and Chuck Bakandi
(lead vocals). The band's manager
was Austin DJ Art Kettlehut. John Inmon's brother, Jim, was
the band's sound man. Bobby and John were later members
of Plymouth
Rock, who recorded a Sonobeat release in 1969.
Next: 1968
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