Artists

Vince Mariani (solo)

IIt's 1969 in Austin, Texas. Sonobeat Recording Company is searching for another super group to replace its 1968 successes with Johnny Winter and Lavender Hill Express. Sonobeat co-founders Bill Josey Sr. and Rim Kelley (Bill Josey Jr.) make a one-album deal with Johnny, sell the album (The Progressive Blues Experiment) to Liberty Records, then watch it climb to #49 on the Billboard Top 100 album chart in mid-April '69. But Johnny has moved on to sign a $600,000 multi-album deal with Columbia Records in which Sonobeat does not participate. Sonobeat has released three successful singles with Lavender Hill Express but plans for an album with LHE have been scrubbed as the band begins to unravel. Although 1968 has been prosperous for Sonobeat, with the release of eleven singles and three albums, '69 is shaping up to be lean. It's against this backdrop that the Joseys make a fortuitous connection with drummer Vince Mariani, freshly returned to his home base in Austin after working with several bands in Colorado. When the Joseys meet Vince, he's jamming around town but unaffiliated with any band.

Vince takes lessons from legendary drummer Gene Krupa, developing a complex jazz-rock style using a larger kit – including double bass drums – than most other rock or jazz drummers. In January 1969, when the Joseys deliver the Johnny Winter master tapes to Liberty Records in Los Angeles, they visit several Hollywood recording studios and at Wally Heider's legendary studio meet session drummer Sandy Nelson, who has released a string of successful drum specialty singles and albums throughout the '60s. Back in Austin, Bill Sr. recalls meeting Sandy and proposes that Vince record a pair of drum solos for release as a Sonobeat stereo single.

In July '69, the Joseys build a drum and vocal isolation booth at their home-based Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin, and there they record Vince performing his compositions Pulsar and Boots. Because there are no other instruments to simultaneously record, almost every piece in Vince's kit is individually miked, providing a very detailed stereo mix. Despite what many think after hearing Vince's single, Vince has overdubbed nothing. He's just that good. Nonetheless, Rim suggests adding effects to Pulsar, and, apropos of the song's title, gives it a light "flanging""Flanging" is a sweeping audio frequency comb filter created by playing two identical tapes on synchronized tape decks and recording the combined output onto another tape deck while lightly and alternately dragging a thumb on the outer flange or rim of each tape reel during playback; the resulting slight frequency delays create a swooshing sound. Modern digital audio workstations create a similar effect with the turn of a knob., much like he's done with the Lavender Hill Express single, Watch Out!, the year before. The flanging imparts a distinctive otherworldly swooshing or tunnel effect to Pulsar. It becomes the "A" side of Sonobeat stereo 45 RPM single R-s116, which Sonobeat releases near the end of '69.

Mariani (group featuring Eric Johnson)

Although Vince's single is a commercial failure – drum solos are already wearing thin when Pulsar is released, as Doug Hanners notes in his 1977 Not Fade Away article about Sonobeat – Vince's remarkable talent and almost otherworldly charismatic personality seem the perfect centerpiece for a blues-rock band that the Joseys can custom-build around him, so they begin searching for guitar and bass players. At Vince's invitation, fifteen-year-old Eric Johnson, who Vince has met a year earlier, drops by the Sonobeat studio to audition and blows the Joseys away with his ear-popping guitar pyrotechnics. Bassist Bob Trenchard, a solid Austin musician, rounds out the band.

In November '69, the newly formed unit begins work on fresh material. At the same time, the Joseys and Vince begin looking for a name for the band and planning an album. Prior to committing to the album, Bill Sr. requires that the band record demo material, so Vince, Eric, and Bob work up two instrumentals. Shortly after recording the demo tracks, Bob leaves to join Pall Rabbit and is replaced by bass guitarist Jimmy Bullock. Jay Podolnick, son of Josey family friend Earl Podolnick (in 1968 Earl and Bill Sr. co-produce the Ray Campi Establishment's Sonobeat single) comes aboard as lead vocalist. And, because the band has been built around Vince, and finding no other band name that he likes, Bill Sr. decides to call the trio simply Mariani.

Satisfied with the demo material, Bill Sr. asks the group to record a single – which turns out to be Sonobeat's only 45 RPM release in 1970, and a double-rarity, as it's one of only two Sonobeat singles issued in monaural rather than stereo – as a sort of trial balloon before making a final commitment to a full album. Re-birth Day, composed by Vince and Eric with lyrics by Sonosong tunesmith Herman Nelson and featuring a double-tracked vocal by Jay, is selected as the "A" side. The song provides a solo break that shows off – no, outright flaunts – Eric's lightning fast lead guitar. The "B" side is a Mariani-Johnson-Podolnick composition, Memories Lost And Found, again sung by Jay and again providing a spectacular guitar break on which Eric shines. The single is a good first draft by the fledgling group, but it doesn't have quite the magic the Joseys have hoped for and doesn't attract much attention from reviewers or radio stations. Believing the trio needs something "more" to succeed, the Joseys begin recruiting additional musicians and singers, looking to build a modular band that will better support the core trio.

The Joseys recruit folk-blues songwriter/singer Bill Wilson, an airman stationed at Austin's Bergstrom Air Force Base (introduced to the Joseys by local folk singer Cody Hubach), and Vince brings in St. Edward's University junior Darrell Peal. The group works up four new songs (two vocals and two long instrumental jams) and, with new versions of Re-birth Day and Memories Lost And Found, the band is finally prepared to go into the studio to cut an album.

After several practice sessions, Bill Sr. realizes Sonobeat's tiny Western Hills Drive studio – occupying a suite on the lower level of the Josey family home in a quiet northwest Austin neighborhood – is too inhibiting for the group, so he rents a 100 acre ranch near McDade, Texas, about 30 miles east of Austin on US 290. There, following a massive March rainstorm that leaves the dirt and gravel road into the ranch as treacherous as quicksand, the Joseys truck an entire studio of equipment – including Sonobeat's half-inch 4-track Scully 280 tape deck and new 16-channel custom mixing console – getting stuck in the muddy access road for hours and enlisting everyone, including Vince, Eric, and Jimmy to free the truck. Eventually, the console, tape deck, and monitor speakers are set up inside the vacant ranch house, in front of a picture window that faces the field where Vince, Eric, and Jimmy set up their amps and speaker boxes. Microphone and power cables are carefully run over a 50-80 yard stretch into the field. Over a three day period, Sonobeat burns through half a dozen 12-inch reels of half-inch tape to complete the basic instrumental tracks. The Joseys expect that recording in an open field will yield completely clean tracks, but, surprisingly, and notwithstanding that the band performs at arena volume, the microphones pick up a slight delay echo bouncing off the ranch house and the thick stands of trees surrounding the clearing where the trio performs. The Mariani sessions are filled with these kinds of surprises.

Returning to the Western Hills Drive studio, Vince and the Joseys select the best takes, begin the vocal overdubs, and work out song sequencing for the album. Bill Sr.'s original sequencing uses First Song (later titled Last Milestone), Second Song (a re-recording of Re-birth Day), Third Song (a re-recording of Memories Lost And Found), and Fourth Song (later titled I Can't Hurt Myself) as the track titles for side I. All four songs on side I are vocals, so Bill Sr. pitches the idea of adding short jazz instrumentals between each of them, so the trio records those alongside their vocal overdub sessions. The album, with additional instrumentation, vocal overdubs, special effects, and the jazz interludes, is completed over the month following the ranch sessions. One of the more interesting sonic treats on many of the tracks is Eric's use of an Echoplex tape delay machine on his lead guitar; the Echoplex adds discrete and continuous delayed repeats of the notes he plays. The album becomes a tour-de-force of every musical trick in the band's repertoire and every recording trick in Sonobeat's arsenal.

Bill Wilson sings lead on First Song (a/k/a Last Milestone) and Fourth Song (a/k/a I Can't Hurt Myself). Daryl Peal sings lead on the remake of Re-birth Day (Second Song). Jay repeats lead vocal duties on the remake of Memories Lost And Found (Third Song), but there are two quite different mixes in the Sonobeat archives: the first features Jay's solo vocal; the second begins with a frenetic performance by Bill Kolb on his one-of-a-kind synthesizer (no, not a Moog but, instead, a custom synth built by Austin electronics engineer Barry Brooks) and that features wild harmony vocals provided by members of other Austin bands and in which Jay's lead vocal is pushed to the back of the mix. Using additional vocalists throughout the album who are not regular members of the group is an innovation, something that other studio-based groups, notably The Alan Parsons Project and Mike + the Mechanics, will adopt years later because of the creative flexibility it offers. The Sonobeat archives also hold an alternate version of the album that Rim mixes and assembles with significantly different sequencing: side I consists of Ray Of Hope (the eventual title of the alternate version of Memories Lost And Found with Kolb's synth intro and the wild harmony vocals), a jazz intercut, Last Milestone, a second jazz intercut, and a nine-minute combined alternate take of Mendor-Breaker, and side II features Re-birth Day, a third jazz intercut, I Can't Hurt Myself, and a 16 minute instrumental jam entitled Tribute to Jimi that features, among multiple effects, backward recordings and bizarre bubbling sounds created by suspending a Slinky from the ceiling, stapling a piece of cardboard to the Slinky's end nearest the floor, taping a microphone to the cardboard, and then strumming the stretched-out coils.

The album, that Rim names Perpetuum Mobile, is a recording and mixing challenge – and occasionally a nightmare – but the Joseys and the band ultimately are pleased with the results. Bill Sr. sends an early mix of the instrumental Mendor-Breaker to his contacts at Liberty/United Artists Records in Los Angeles, hoping to secure their interest in the band. Oddly, Bill Sr. uses the name "Sonobeat Recording Laboratory", one of only two known instances of this designation (the other is with the Fast Cotton masters), on the tape box he sends to Liberty/UA. When the final mixes are complete and the tracks sequenced according to Bill Sr.'s original plan, he orders an advance pressing of 100 copies of Perpetuum Mobile – packaged in a plain white cardboard jacket – for non-commercial distribution to national record companies, reviewers, and the band members and their families. Vince, Eric, and Jimmy sign dozens of copies that are given away. A rare surviving copy offered on popsike.com in 2008 sells for $2,850 and includes Vince's handwritten note, "This is one of only 100 copies ever made. It has become a great collector item in certain galaxies." Rim's alternate version of the album is never released, even as a non-commercial advance pressing.

While Bill Sr. is trying to sell the album master for national release, Vince, Eric, Jimmy, and Jay begin touring throughout Texas. They're joined on some gigs by synth player Bill Kolb. At one of those gigs, Mariani performs with a then-obscure Houston band of longhair hippies better known today as ZZ Top.

No national record labels bid for the Mariani masters, a disappointment to both the band and the Joseys, and Sonobeat never releases the album commercially. Eventually, dubs of the master tapes leak out, and specialty label Akarma Records issues an unsanctioned version of the album in 2001, with the the "B" side of Vince's drum solo single and Sonobeat's Mariani single (the original versions of Re-birth Day and Memories Lost And Found) added as bonus tracks. Akarma's release is made from a dub, not from the original master tapes, and misstates (perhaps purposefully) song titles. Oddly, even though Sonobeat doesn't license any rights in the album to Akarma, Akarma gives Sonobeat copyright ownership credit on the back of the album jacket. Bootleg versions, also made from dubs (and most likely from dubs of dubs) appear following the Akarma release, some on CD and some on vinyl (including one that uses a forged Sonobeat album label overprinted with the bootleg label's information). Over the years, even before the unsanctioned and bootleg releases, Perpetuum Mobile generates both critical acclaim and disdain, but it remains a testament to the strength of a manufactured but friendly and close collaboration of diverse talents.

After Mariani disbands, Eric joins Austin's The Electromagnets. Eric makes guest appearances on many other artists' albums and singles, including Christopher Cross's eponymous album, and issues many solo albums including the acclaimed Ah Via Musicom (1990). Cliffs of Dover from Ah Via Musicom takes home a 1992 Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Eric, inducted into the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame in 1983, holds the record for the most artist awards (33 in all) given at the Austin Music Awards. Eric begins his 2019 Ah Via Musicom tour on January 19th in Kansas City, Missouri, with a final playdate on February 2, 2019, in Dallas, Texas, before joining a cast of guitar all-stars on the Experience Hendrix tour that launches in March 2019 in Pompano Beach, Florida. Eric releases EJ Vol. II, a companion album to his 2016 EJ, in February 2020, a month after beginning a new 55-date U.S. and Canada tour, Classics: Present and Past. Following a proloinged illness, Vince Mariani passes away on April 20, 2022.