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Big winners

In August 1970, blues-rock group Contraband (which started its life in 1969 as The Contraband) won the Austin Aqua Festival Battle of the Bands, competing in a field of ten top regional Texas finalists. As one of the top prizes, Contraband was awarded a recording session with Austin’s Sonobeat Records, which already had released 19 stereo 45 RPM singles featuring Austin, Central Texas, and international acts. The idea behind the prize was that the Aqua Festival Battle of the Bands winner could become the next act appearing on the Sonobeat label. Contraband’s Sonobeat sessions, which we’ve been able to determine were held in early September 1970 (the Sonobeat archives aren’t clear on the actual recording dates, but Sonobeat co-founder Rim Kelley“Rim Kelley” was the pseudonym used by Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Jr. as a radio deejay in Austin, Texas, during the 1960s and as a Sonobeat producer from 1967 to 1970., who produced and engineered the Contraband sessions, left to attend law school in Houston in mid-September, helping establish the latest time frame in which the sessions could have occurred), yielded demos for Try (Just a Little Bit Harder), a spunky cover of Janis Joplin’s signature rocker, with a solid lead vocal by Frieda Borth (from tiny Pittsburg, Texas, who at the time Contraband recorded with Sonobeat was a University of Texas student) backed with dynamite harmony vocals by the whole band, and a cover of British band Free’s mini-opus I’ll Be Creepin’, a cool rocker with an equally cool double-tracked vocal by Frieda. At the time Contraband recorded with Sonobeat, the band featured Frieda, Austin native George Rarey (guitars and bass, who later joined Sirius, formed by founding members of seminal Texas psych band Bubble Puppy), Ralph Gebert (guitars), Steve McDaniels (drums), and Kim Snider (keyboards). Frieda returned to Sonobeat in 1975 and 1976 as the lead singer for the Austin Blues-Rockers.

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The plague of bass player turnover

As seemed to be prevalent with Austin bands during the ’60s and ’70s, Contraband went through several rapid personnel changes, and at various times included bassist Steve Hansen (at 6'2" and 120 pounds affectionately known as “Fat Steve”), bassist John Hauser, and bassist Larry Nye (better known for his lead guitar with Steven Fromholtz’s band and who now owns the La-Z-L Recording Studio on Lake LBJ in Kingsland, Texas, a bit over an hour’s drive from Austin). Among luminary Austin musicians who have recorded with Larry at the La-Z-L are Fromholtz and Rusty Wier, who recorded with Sonobeat in 1967 and 1968 as a member of supergroup Lavender Hill Express. We’re curious why the band went through four bass players, including George Rarey, who played on the Sonobeat session.

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Contraband kicked around Austin for at least two years, playing all the River City’s major nightclubs, including the Action Club, Cave Boogie Joint, Jade Room, and New Orleans Club. In March 1971, the band won in the pop-rock category at The University of Texas Intercollegiate Music Festival and performed at The University of Texas “East Mall Ball” the following month, sharing the stage with Genesee, Phoenix, Rusty Wier, and Shiva’s Headband, all Sonobeat recording artists, among other top regional acts.

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Contraband was managed by Austin radio station KNOW’s drive time deejay Mike Lucas (a friendly rival to Sonobeat co-founder and Contraband session engineer Rim Kelley, who until the end of 1967 deejayed on KAZZ-FM opposite Lucas; Lucas also managed Lavender Hill Express). Although there’s no explanation in the Sonobeat archives why Sonobeat never released Contraband’s recordings as a single, one plausible reason is that the length of the tune I’ll Be Creepin’s (almost seven minutes running time) just would’t fit on a 45 RPM record, which has a physical capacity just under five minutes per side. But Sonobeat solved that problem before (on Lavender Hill Express’ seven-and-one-half minute Outside My Window) by simply fading out long tracks when the 45 RPM vinyl disc’s capacity was reached. It’s more likely that Sonobeat preferred to release singles by groups who wrote their own material in order to feed its Sonosong Music affiliate; Contraband’s repertoire appeared to be only cover songs.

Even with its rapid turnovers of bass players following the Sonobeat session, Contraband remained a top Austin band right up into April 1972, when it went through a major reorganization, taking the name Calico and moving toward a country-rock sound. Kim and Larry broke away in 1973 to form Brushy Creek, touring with Michael Murphey, and Steve McDaniels joined Austin country blues band Freda and the Firedogs (Freda, no relation to Frieda, is Austin blues legend and 2018 Texas State Musician of The Year winner Marsha Ball’s musical alter ego in the ’70s). By 1977, core members of the original Contraband/Calico/Brushy Creek groups – Frieda, Larry, George, and Kim – formed Back Bone, spending six months backing Rusty Wier, who by then had moved on to a successful solo career.

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