Kak (band)

Last updated
Kak
Origin Davis, California, U. S.
Genres
Years active1967-1969
Labels Epic
Past members

Kak was an American psychedelic rock band, based in San Francisco between 1967 and 1969.

The band was formed in Davis, California, in late 1967, by singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist Gary Lee Yoder, and lead guitarist Dehner Patten. Both had previously been members of The Oxford Circle, a garage rock and early psychedelic band. Adding Joe Dave Damrell on bass and sitar, and Chris Lockheed on drums and harpsichord, they started performing together as Kak around San Francisco. After meeting songwriter and record producer Gary Grelecki, they were signed by Epic Records. [1] [2]

The band released their only album, Kak, in 1968, with all songs written or co-written by Yoder, some with Grelecki, in a style influenced by such artists as Moby Grape, Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Grateful Dead, and Donovan. Reviewer Richie Unterberger characterizes the music as "minor-league San Francisco psychedelic rock". [1] Two singles, "Everything's Changing" and "I've Got Time", were also released but were unsuccessful. [3]

Damrell left the band before the end of 1968, and Kak split up early in 1969. After one solo single, Yoder later joined Blue Cheer. [4]

Although, at the time, Kak's records were not successful, they later became highly collectable, and the album was bootlegged. It was legitimately reissued in 1999, as Kak-Ola, with additional tracks including demo recordings and solo tracks by Yoder. [3] [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue Cheer</span> American rock band

Blue Cheer was an American rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009. Based in San Francisco, Blue Cheer played in a psychedelic blues rock or acid rock style, and are also credited as being some of the earliest pioneers of heavy metal, with their cover of "Summertime Blues" sometimes cited as the first in the genre. They have also been noted as influential in the development of genres as disparate as punk rock, stoner rock, doom metal, experimental rock, and grunge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Country Joe and the Fish</span> American psychedelic rock band

Country Joe and the Fish was an American psychedelic rock band formed in Berkeley, California, in 1965. The band was among the influential groups in the San Francisco music scene during the mid- to late 1960s. Much of the band's music was written by founding members Country Joe McDonald and Barry "The Fish" Melton, with lyrics pointedly addressing issues of importance to the counterculture, such as anti-war protests, free love, and recreational drug use. Through a combination of psychedelia and electronic music, the band's sound was marked by innovative guitar melodies and distorted organ-driven instrumentals which were significant to the development of acid rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Miller Band</span> American rock band

The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1966 in San Francisco, California. The band is led by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles that are staples of classic rock, as well as several earlier psychedelic rock albums. Miller left his first band to move to San Francisco and form the Steve Miller Blues Band. Shortly after Harvey Kornspan negotiated the band's contract with Capitol Records in 1967, the band shortened its name to the Steve Miller Band. In February 1968, the band recorded its debut album, Children of the Future. It went on to produce the albums Sailor, Brave New World, Your Saving Grace, Number 5, Rock Love, Fly Like an Eagle, Book of Dreams, among others. The band's Greatest Hits 1974–78, released in 1978, sold over 13 million copies. In 2016, Steve Miller was inducted as a solo artist in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Beau Brummels</span> American rock band

The Beau Brummels was an American rock band. Formed in San Francisco in 1964, the band's original lineup included Sal Valentino, Ron Elliott, Ron Meagher, Declan Mulligan, and John Petersen (drums). They were discovered by local disc jockeys who were looking to sign acts to their new label, Autumn Records, where Sylvester Stewart—later known as Sly Stone—produced the group's early recording sessions. Initially, the band's musical style blended beat music and folk music and typically drew comparisons to the Beatles, while their later work incorporated other music genres such as psychedelic rock and country rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Chocolate Watchband</span> American garage rock band

The Chocolate Watchband is an American garage rock band that formed in 1965 in Los Altos, California. The band went through several lineup changes during its existence. Combining psychedelic and garage rock components, their sound was marked by David Aguilar's lead vocals, songwriting, as well as proto-punk musical arrangements. The band's rebellious musical posture made them one of the harder-edged groups of the period with many critics labeling them as America's answer to the Rolling Stones.

Psychedelic folk is a loosely defined form of psychedelia that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of folk, but adds musical elements common to psychedelic music.

Gary Lee Yoder was an American musician who was part of several 1960s San Francisco psychedelic rock bands, including the Oxford Circle, Kak, and Blue Cheer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sons of Champlin</span> American rock band

The Sons of Champlin are an American rock band, from Marin County, California in the San Francisco Bay Area, formed in 1965. They are fronted by vocalist-keyboardist-guitarist Bill Champlin, who later joined rock band Chicago, from 1981 to 2009, placing Sons of Champlin on hiatus from 1981 to 1996. They brought to the late ‘60s music scene in the Bay Area a soulful sound built around a horn section, sophisticated arrangements, philosophical themes, Bill Champlin's songwriting and blue-eyed soul singing, and Terry Haggerty's jazz-based guitar. They are one of the enduring 1960s San Francisco bands, along with Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and Moby Grape.

James Martin Gurley was an American musician. He is best known as the principal lead guitarist of Big Brother and the Holding Company, a psychedelic/acid rock band from San Francisco which was fronted by singer Janis Joplin from 1966 to 1968.

<i>I Got Dem Ol Kozmic Blues Again Mama!</i> 1969 studio album by Janis Joplin

I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! is the debut solo and third studio album overall by American singer-songwriter Janis Joplin, released on September 11, 1969. It was the first album which Joplin recorded after leaving her former band, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and the only solo album released during her lifetime.

Ultimate Spinach was an American psychedelic rock band from Boston, Massachusetts which was formed in 1967. In terms of style and national recognition, the band was one of the most prominent musical acts to emerge from the "Bosstown Sound", which was a marketing campaign posing as a regional attempt to compete with the San Francisco Sound. During the group's existence, they released three albums, with their self-titled debut the most commercially successful.

For the Canadian 2000s tour band, see: Leslie Carter.

<i>Triangle</i> (The Beau Brummels album) 1967 studio album by The Beau Brummels

Triangle is the fourth studio album by American rock band The Beau Brummels. Produced by Lenny Waronker and released in July 1967, it was the band's first album to include songs that vocalist Sal Valentino and guitarist Ron Elliott composed together. The band incorporated fantasy elements and surreal characters into the album's song titles and lyrics, and worked with a variety of session musicians to create Triangle's psychedelic musical style. The Beau Brummels were reduced to a trio—Valentino, Elliott, and Ron Meagher—at the time Triangle was recorded, as former group members Don Irving (guitars) and John Petersen (drums) left the band following the release of the group's previous album, Beau Brummels '66.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Mojo Men</span> American rock band

The Mojo Men was an American rock band based in San Francisco. Formed in 1965, the group underwent several name and personnel changes until their 1969 breakup. Their highest-charting Billboard Hot 100 single was a cover of Buffalo Springfield's "Sit Down, I Think I Love You", which peaked at number 36 in 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bosstown Sound</span>

The Bosstown Sound was the catchphrase of a marketing campaign to promote psychedelic rock and psychedelic pop bands in Boston, Massachusetts, in the late 1960s. The concept was conceived by the record producer Alan Lorber as a marketing strategy intended to establish several underground musical artists native to the city on the national charts and compete with the popular San Francisco Sound. Lorber chose Boston for his plan because of the several bands developing in the city, the abundance of music venues, and the proximity of MGM Records, which had signed the core groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public Nuisance (band)</span> American rock band

Public Nuisance was an American rock band from Sacramento, California who were active from 1964-1970, first as Moss & the Rocks, then later as Public Nuisance. In 1965 they recorded the song "There She Goes" as Moss & the Rocks for a single released on the local Icon label. After changing their name to Public Nuisance in 1967, they began to incorporate psychedelic elements into their sound and a series of mostly unreleased songs recorded at various sessions from 1968-1969 that went for years unissued, but finally saw the light of day in 2002 with the release of the Gotta Survive anthology. Since then, their work, both as Moss & the Rocks and Public Nuisance, has attracted the attention of garage rock and psychedelic enthusiasts worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Oxford Circle</span> American rock band

The Oxford Circle was an American garage rock and psychedelic rock band from Davis, California, near Sacramento, who were active from 1964-1967. They became a popular garage rock act with a proto-punk sound influenced by Them and other blues-based bands of the British Invasion, that, in addition to heavy guitar feedback, came to encompass psychedelia. The group began to make appearances in San Francisco, where they became a top draw in venues such as the Avalon Ballroom. They taped a show at the Avalon in 1966 and, after lying in the vaults for years, it was rereleased in 1997 on the Nuggets from California: Live at the Avalon 1966 anthology. In 1967, they released the single, "Foolish Woman" b/w "Mind Destruction", which is also included, along with several other studio outtakes, on the Nuggets from California compilation. In 1967, drummer Paul Whaley left to play in pioneering heavy rock act Blue Cheer. Lead vocalist and guitarist Gary Lee Yoder and bassist Dehner Patten left to form Kak, who recorded for Epic Records. Yoder subsequently went on to join Blue Cheer in one of their later configurations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The E-Types</span>

The E-Types were an American garage rock band formed in Salinas, California, in 1965. The group's sound combined striking three-part vocal harmonies and Jody Wence's jangling keyboards, with professional production techniques that were outside of the garage band norm. During the E-Types' recording career, the band released five singles, including their most notable record "Put the Clock Back on the Wall". Although the band was short-lived, the E-Types had a profound presence in San Francisco's live scene and, years after their disbandment, the group recorded a reunion album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High Flying Bird (song)</span> 1963 single by Judy Henske

"High Flying Bird" is a song written by American folk and country singer-songwriter Billy Edd Wheeler, and first recorded by Judy Henske in 1963. It was performed and recorded by many musicians and groups in the mid and late 1960s, and was influential on the folk rock genre.

Mother Tucker's Yellow Duck was a Canadian folk-rock and psychedelic band, formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1967.

References

  1. 1 2 Richie Unterberger, "Kak", Allmusic. Retrieved 1 September 2021
  2. "Gary Lee Yoder Obituary", Ace Records, 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2021
  3. 1 2 "Kak-ola", Ace Records. Retrieved 1 September 2021
  4. 1 2 "Kak", Bands of San Francisco. Retrieved 1 September 2021