Pall Rabbit

Austin, Texas

Records with Sonobeat in 1969
No commercial releases on Sonobeat Records
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Pall Rabbit, which enjoys a run as house band at Austin's popular Action Club in the early '70s, records with Sonobeat at the beginning of its career in 1969. Unfortunately, the Sonobeat archives contain no information about the band's personnel, the tracks recorded, or the session location, except to indicate that the recorded material is a monaural artist demo mix. Although Pall Rabbit's sessions are tracked on Sonobeat's half-inch 4-track Scully 280, there are no stereo mixes in the Sonobeat archives.

Although the Sonobeat archives contain no information about the band, fortunately, drummer Tommy Taylor – who currently plays with many Austin bands – and Bob Trenchard, Pall Rabbit's bass player, recall that Pall Rabbit consists of Trenchard, Ronnie Hudgins, Chuck Greenwood, Steve Grimmit, and Steve Simon. Bob recalls the band undergoes a substantial personnel change soon after recording with Sonobeat: Clay Hemphill replaces Simon, Joe Don Davidson replaces Greenwood, and Kukla Kaigler replaces Grimmit. Even Austin guitar legend Eric Johnson does a short stint in the band early in 1970. Greenwood plays in Georgetown Medical Band before he co-founds (and names) Pall Rabbit (which simply means "dead rabbit"), and Hudgins later leaves Pall Rabbit to join Georgetown Medical Band for its spring '69 sessions with Sonobeat. The band remains headquartered in Austin but plays gigs throughout Texas, taking second place in the 1971 KEYS Radio Battle of the Bands in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Trenchard also recalls that Paul Rabbit's Sonobeat demo consists of his song The Ship and bandmate Chuck Greenwood's Shores of Treachery, which are thematically linked. Trenchard also works with Sonobeat on its first Mariani recordings, in early '69, before Hudgins invites him to join Pall Rabbit.

Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. orders a 10" acetate disc made from the Pall Rabbit monoaural mix, which he submits to Clive Davis, head of Columbia Records, but Columbia doesn't buy the master, and Pall Rabbit's Sonobeat recordings remain unreleased.

Thank you!

Our thanks to Tommy Taylor and Bob Trenchard for helping us recall the names of Pall Rabbit's personnel.

Pall Rabbit personnel

Joe Don Davidson: guitar and vocals (joins after Sonobeat sessions)
Ronnie Hudgins: drums
Chuck Greenwood: guitar and vocals
Steve Grimmit: vocals
Clay Hemphill: B3 organ (joins after Sonobeat sessions)
Eric Johnson: guitar (joins after Sonobeat sessions)
Kukla Kaigler: vocals (joins after Sonobeat sessions)
Steve Simon: rhythm guitar
Bob Trenchard: bass

Unreleased Sonobeat recordings

The Ship
Shores Of Treachery

Produced by Bill Josey Sr. and Rim Kelley
Engineered by Rim Kelley
Recorded at unknown location (but most likely at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio) in Austin, Texas, in autumn 1969
Recording equipment: ElectroVoice 665 microphones, ElectroVoice Slimair 636 microphones, Sony ECM22 electret condenser microphones, Scully 280 half-inch 4-track tape deck, Ampex AG350 tape deck, custom 10-channel portable stereo mixer, Fairchild Lumiten 663ST optical compressor, Blonder-Tongue Audio Baton 9-band stereo graphic equalizer, custom steel plate stereo reverb, Ampex 681 tape stock
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Pall Rabbit publicity photo that appeared in the Austin Statesman newspaper in early 1970
The Pall Rabbit demo master tape box