Stone Garden interview

Stone Garden were from Lewiston, Idaho. They released an incredible single “Oceans Inside Me”/“Stop My Thinking” in 1969. They recorded some more material but it wasn’t released until Rockadelic issued compilation of their material.

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Who were your major influences?

Guitar became my passion when I was nine years old. Surf music was big at that time in the 1960s so artists like The Ventures were a big influence.

What bands were you a member of prior to the formation of Stone Garden?

Along with my brothers, Gary and Neal, we formed our first band in the mid 1960s and were called the Three Dimensions. Soon after, we added a bass player and changed the name to the Knights of Sound. We did a professional recording in 1965 of an original song, “The World is Coming to an End”, and it is included in the Stone Garden albums that have been released.

Can you elaborate the formation of Stone Garden?

As three brothers, we comprised most of the band. We invited Dan Merrell to join us on bass. He was a neighbour and in my class at school.

The name came from a psychedelic poster our manager saw and thought it was a much hipper name than the Knights of Sound so we adopted it. I contacted the publisher of the poster to ask permission to use it as our band name.

Brother Gary graduated from high school in 1969 and went away to college. To replace him, we recruited Russ Pratt who was and still is a terrific singer and organist.

What’s the most memorable recording?

The most memorable was recording the original version of “Oceans Inside Me”. It was in a home studio in Clarkston, Washington and the engineer, Doug Smith, owned a lot of professional equipment. Like many records back then, it was recorded live to mono, no overdubs or multi tracking. I don’t recall how many takes it took to get a master but I’m sure it wasn’t very many as we knew the material well.

How was the local scene in your town?

The scene in Lewiston, Idaho (our home town) was really good as there were teen dances every weekend and even a teen nightclub called Casey’s and we played there a lot. Casey’s also brought in major acts once in a while. I remember seeing the last incarnation of the Yardbirds with Jimmy Page on guitar.

What label issued your single in 1969? Only 300 copies?

Yes, the deal that Doug Smith (studio owner) made with us was to record two songs and press 300 45s for $300. I know collectors have paid that much for one copy of the 45!

We mastered the songs at a studio in Spokane, Washington (I don’t remember the name) and the owner offered to get it on Angelus-Bell Records of Los Angeles. Beyond that we never had any contact with the label or shared any of the revenue from sales.

Gary wrote both songs and sang the lead vocals. We were a five piece band at the time of the recording session with John Purviance playing sax and harmonica.

Did the band tour to support the LP?

We were attending school during most of the band’s life so the touring was primarily weekends and we played constantly covering Idaho, Washington, Montana, British Columbia, Oregon, and Northern California. We were represented by a Seattle booking agency and most of the gigs were teen dances.

An interesting concert experience was performing at a teen fair in Spokane with a diverse lineup including Canned Heat and Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. I remember lots of weed being smoked by the audience during Canned Heat’s set.

What happened next?

I can be blamed for the breakup of the band. It was 1972 and I felt the group was in a rut and not going anywhere so I decided to leave and go to music school. I was the band leader and also owned the van and PA system so when I left, that was the end.

I attended music school for two years and then moved to Seattle where I got a gig with a show band that was constantly on the road. I ended up in Los Angeles for a couple of years in the mid 1970s where my passion for recording took hold. After returning to Seattle, I began transitioning from working musician to record producer and engineer.

Long story short… My first album came out in 1984 and my thirteenth was released in 2009. I have also enjoyed a successful career as a producer with some 250 albums to my credit. I was honored in 1998 with a Grammy nomination for a video album I collaborated on with Scott Rockenfield, the drummer from metal band Queensryche.

In 1998 Rockadelic released your material.

Rich Haupt, the owner of Rockadelic Records, got his hands on a copy of the “Oceans Inside Me” single and loved it. He tracked me down not aware that I was still in the music business and asked if I had enough material for a full length album. Fortunately, I was diligent in keeping a lot of the tapes from back then and had more than enough to work with. The songs I chose were a good representation of the incarnations of the band from 1965 to 1972.

The material that was included on the album was a mix of live, studio, and home recordings. Whenever my parents would go out of town, I would turn our living room into a studio and document our original songs. I am really glad I took time to do that!

Incidentally, Gear Fab Records released a CD version two years after the Rockadelic LP and in 2007, Shadow Kingdom Records put out another CD with four bonus tracks not on the original LP.

What are you doing these days and what are some future plans?

I’m still making records but not producing as much as when I lived in Seattle. I moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 2006 and besides composing and recording my own music, I do a lot of mixing and mastering for other artists via the internet.

As far as future plans, I expect to keep doing what I’m doing now for as long as I can.

Thank you for taking your time. Last word is yours.

You’re welcome. I would like to personally thank Rich Haupt from Rockadelic, Roger Maglio from Gear Fab, and Tim McGrogan from Shadow Kingdom for allowing Stone Garden’s legacy to live on. By the way, It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine is very impressive and I am grateful to be included in an interview. Thank you, Klemen.

– Klemen Breznikar

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