2021 restock. Three-LP box version in purple-and-gold hot-foil-stamped box with eight-page insert and poster. A treasure trove of previously unreleased West Coast guitar psychedelia, 1966-1975. "Uther Pendragon was more than just a band, it was a family. Closer than brothers, they lived together, made music together, worked, played, laughed, cried and dreamed together." --Mike Stax (Ugly Things)
This is the incredible story of Uther Pendragon, a lost psychedelic band from San Francisco whose music has remained buried until now. Formed in the Bay Area in 1966 as a teen garage group called Blue Fever, Uther Pendragon lasted from 1966 until 1978. During that time, the band went through different names and phases, as their music evolved from garage to psychedelia to hard rock, but the core of the band always remained the same: Mark Lightcap (rhythm guitar, vocals), Bruce Marelich (lead guitar, vocals), and Martin Espinosa (bass, vocals). After finding their ultimate drummer in Mike Beers, the group finally settled on the Uther Pendragon name in the early '70s. But despite being active for all that time and recording at numerous studios (including their own in Palo Alto), Uther Pendragon never released any recordings. Their complex and fascinating story, which involves winning a Bay Area Battle of the Bands and playing with Country Joe & The Fish, recording a killer garage-psych 7" acetate in 1967, going to the legendary Pacific Recording Studios in 1969 to record a demo, living as a family in the same house for many years and rehearsing seven days a week, building their own recording studio and music corporation, being managed by Craig Pedersen (Something Wild, Tripsichord Music Box), being involved in an occult-themed rock opera called Sabbat, and much more, is told with all the details by Mike Stax from Ugly Things in this set's extensive liner notes, with rare photos. Produced from the band's vast archive of original master tapes, San Francisco Earthquake includes their unknown-until-now 7" acetate from 1967 (fab garage-psych in the vein of The Human Expression or The Music Machine); tracks from 1966-'69 including a groundbreaking, moody psycher from 1966; a demo tape from 1969 recorded at Pacific Recording -- an incredible document for any lover of early SF garage-psych (think Oxford Circle, The Savage Resurrection, Moby Grape . . .) -- and many tracks recorded at their home studio in Palo Alto. 100% unadulterated West Coast guitar psych and hard rock that recalls QMS and even Kurihara-era White Heaven.