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Leigh Stephens | |
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| Genres | Heavy metal, acid rock, garage rock, hard rock, blues rock, psychedelic rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, guitarist |
| Instrument | Guitar |
| Years active | 1967–present |
Leigh Stephens is an American guitarist and songwriter best known for being former lead guitarist of the San Francisco psychedelic rock group Blue Cheer.
Leigh Stephens recorded two albums with the band, Vincebus Eruptum and Outsideinside . He has claimed to have been the only member of the band who did not use drugs. [1] His replacement as Blue Cheer's lead guitarist was Randy Holden.
Red Weather, Stephens' debut solo album, was recorded in February 1969, [2] [3] [4] the artwork was based on a Sutro Baths photo. [5]
"Silver Metre formed in Venice Beach and Santa Monica, California after my first trip to the United States at age 21...We recorded our first of a two-album deal with National General Records at Trident Studios, Wardour St, London. Our managers were Charlie Osborne, and later Tom Donahue who got us the deal...The money for our second album mysteriously disappeared...but I won’t go into that, other than to say it wasn’t the record companies fault."
—Pete Sears [6]
Silver Metre, named after Ben Dixon's "The Silver Meter" from Along Came John, formed in 1969, [7] evolving out of the Red Weather recording sessions, [8] with Micky Waller (drummer), just fired from the Jeff Beck Group, Stephens, Pete Sears, and Jack Reynolds (singer). They recorded one album at Trident Studios in London, England, [9] released on National General Records, [10] [11] produced by their manager, FM rock radio pioneer Tom Donahue. [12] [ non-primary source needed ] [13] [14] Contributing music and lyrics included Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Leigh Stephens, Pete Sears, and Tom Coman. [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [12] [21] [22] [23]
Pilot was formed in 1971, with Mick Waller (drums), Leigh Stephens (electric guitar), Bruce Stephens (vocals, keyboards and guitar), Martin Quittenton (acoustic guitar), and Neville Whitehead (bass). Pilot only produced one, self-titled, album in 1972. [4]
Stephens' 1971 album, And a Cast of Thousands [24] featured his fellow band members from Pilot, the power trio Ashton, Gardner and Dyke, the two sax players from If, Dave Quincey, Dick Morrissey, and Jethro Tull bassist, Glenn Cornick. [24]
Foxtrot, Stephens' next band, in 1974, with George Michalski (keyboards), Gary Richwine (bass, vocals), and David Beebe (drummer), signed and recorded an album for Motown Records, but was never released. [4]
Chronic with a "K", Stephens' next band, in 1998, with Melissa Olsen (keyboards, vocals), Ron Stone (bass), and Ryan Goodpastor (drummer), released Ride the Thunder on ChroniCorp Records. [4]
In 2004, High Strung/Low Key, Stephens' third solo album was self-released. [4]
While still involved in the music scene in the early 1990s, Stephens also worked as a graphic artist and studio photographer. He designed automotive illustrations for the advertising and production of a mail order catalog company, ASAP, in Carson City, Nevada.
He was ranked number 98 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the Top 100 Guitarists. [25]
Albums
Live
Singles
Albums
Singles
Albums
Singles
Albums
Singles
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to achieve international commercial success. They headlined the Monterey Pop Festival (1967), Woodstock (1969), Altamont Free Concert (1969), and the first Isle of Wight Festival (1968) in England. Their 1967 breakout album Surrealistic Pillow was one of the most significant recordings of the Summer of Love. Two songs from that album, "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", are among Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
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. They 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.
Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. The band achieved wide popularity in the San Francisco Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe, and several of their albums ranked in the Top 30 of the Billboard Pop charts. They were part of the new wave of album-oriented bands, achieving renown and popularity despite a lack of success with their singles. Though not as commercially successful as contemporaries Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver was integral to the beginnings of their genre. With their jazz and classical influences and a strong folk background, the band attempted to create an individual, innovative sound. Music historian Colin Larkin wrote: "Of all the bands that came out of the San Francisco area during the late '60s, Quicksilver typified most of the style, attitude and sound of that era."
Hot Tuna is an American blues rock band formed in 1969 by former Jefferson Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen (guitarist/vocals) and Jack Casady (bassist). Although it has always been a fluid aggregation, with musicians coming and going over the years, the band's center has always been Kaukonen and Casady's ongoing collaboration.
Vincebus Eruptum is the debut album of American rock band Blue Cheer. Released on January 16, 1968, the album features a heavy-thunderous blues sound, which would later be known as heavy metal.
Live/Dead is the first official live album released by the rock band Grateful Dead. Recorded over a series of concerts in early 1969 and released later the same year, it was the first live rock album to use 16-track recording.
John Cipollina was a guitarist best known for his role as a founder and the lead guitarist of the prominent San Francisco rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service. After leaving Quicksilver he formed the band Copperhead, was a member of the San Francisco All Stars and later played with numerous other bands.
Fillmore West 1969: The Complete Recordings is a 10-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains four complete concerts recorded on February 27, February 28, March 1, and March 2, 1969, at the Fillmore West in San Francisco. The album was remixed from the original 16-track concert soundboard tapes. It was released as a box set in November 2005, in a limited edition of 10,000 copies.
Michael Waller was an English drummer, who played with many of the biggest names on the UK rock and blues scene, after he became a professional musician in 1960. In addition to being a member, albeit sometimes briefly, of some of the seminal bands of the 1960s, Waller played as a session musician with a host of UK and US artists.
Outsideinside is the second album by American rock trio Blue Cheer. Philips Records released the album in August 1968, only seven months after their debut LP, Vincebus Eruptum.
New! Improved! is the third album by American rock group Blue Cheer. Released in March 1969 by Philips Records, it is their first without original guitarist Leigh Stephens. The album features songs recorded by two different group lineups: in addition to bassist and vocalist Dickie Peterson and drummer Paul Whaley, side one includes Bruce Stephens on guitar and Burns Kellogg on keyboards; while side two includes Randy Holden on guitar and vocals.
Eric Albronda is an American musician. Albronda was the first drummer for Blue Cheer, briefly, prior to being replaced by Paul Whaley. He also co-produced Red Weather, the first solo album by former Blue Cheer guitarist Leigh Stephens, as well as the eponymous solo album by one of Stephens' post Blue Cheer bands, Pilot.
Paul Gene Whaley was an American drummer best known as the drummer for rock band Blue Cheer. He was the son of country music singer Paul Edward Whaley. He grew up in the towns of Vallejo and Winters, California. He played drums with a Davis, California band called the Oxford Circle. Whaley is credited on the Oxford Circle album Live at the Avalon 1966. When he left the Oxford Circle to join Blue Cheer in 1967, the former band dissolved. He was the longest-standing member in Blue Cheer following Peterson's death at age 63. Whaley died of heart failure on January 28, 2019, two weeks after his 72nd birthday.
Stoneground was an American rock band formed in 1970 in Concord, California. Originally a trio, Stoneground expanded to a 10-piece band by the time of their eponymous 1971 debut album. The group appeared in two films, Medicine Ball Caravan (1971) and Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), and released three albums before singer Sal Valentino quit in 1973. Three other band members—Cory Lerios, Steve Price and David Jenkins—left to form pop group Pablo Cruise. Stoneground continued as an act through 1982, with only Tim Barnes and Annie Sampson remaining from the early incarnation of the band. Barnes and Price led a re-formed Stoneground in 2003 and released a studio album the following year.
"The Hunter" is a blues song first recorded by Albert King in 1967 for his landmark album Born Under a Bad Sign. It was written by Stax Records' house band, Booker T. and the MGs, and Carl Wells. Along with "Born Under a Bad Sign" and "Crosscut Saw", "The Hunter" is one of King's best-known and most-recorded songs. In 1969, Ike & Tina Turner's version reached the singles charts in the U.S.
Peter Roy Sears is an English rock musician. In a career spanning more than six decades, he has been a member of many bands and has moved through a variety of musical genres, from early R&B, psychedelic improvisational rock of the 1960s, folk, country music, arena rock in the 1970s, and blues. He usually plays bass, keyboards, or both in bands.
Trader Horne was a British duo, consisting of multi-instrumentalist and former Them keyboard player and vocalist Jackie McAuley, and former Fairport Convention lead vocalist Judy Dyble. The short-lived musical partnership broke up after releasing only one LP, Morning Way, in 1970. The band was named after DJ John Peel's nanny, Florence Horne, nicknamed "Trader" in reference to explorer Trader Horn.
Dave's Picks Volume 6 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains two complete concerts: one from December 20, 1969, at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco and the second from February 2, 1970, at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis. It was produced as a limited edition of 13,000 numbered copies, and was released on May 1, 2013.
Abe Keshishian, known professionally as Abe "Voco" Kesh was an American disc jockey and record producer. He is best-known for discovering the seminal hard rock band Blue Cheer, and for producing their first two albums, Vincebus Eruptum and Outsideinside. He also produced the band's 1968 Top 10 cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues."
Pacific Recorders was an independent recording studio in San Mateo, California. Founded in 1968, the studio was the location for recordings by such notable artists as Santana, the Grateful Dead, The Doobie Brothers, Moby Grape, and Taj Majal.
In late 1968, Stephens, who later described himself as the only member of Blue Cheer not to be "chemically challenged" (i.e., using drugs), was asked to leave the group after criticizing the behavior of his bandmates. He signed a solo deal with Philips and moved to Great Britain, where he recorded his debut solo album, Red Weather (February 1969).
Rovi: His next band was called Foxtrot and featured keyboard player George Michalski, bassist/vocalist Gary Richwine, and drummer David Beebe. They signed to Motown Records and recorded an album in 1974, but it was never released.
2 degrees of separation for Silver Metre comprise 138 bands:
Silver Metre evolved out of the recording sessions for Leigh Stephens ' solo debut Red Weather. ex-Jeff Beck ...
CD release of the 1969–70 vinyl album release featuring the band that I formed with Leigh Stephens (Blue Cheer), Micky Waller (Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart), and Harry Reynolds (Hair Band).
1970 Heavy Duty Gatefold Original. Small Cut Out Hole. Inner Gatefold Has A Small Tear In The Spine. Record Appears Glossy.
"Silver Metre" was the third pro band I was a member of. In the summer of 1969 I showed up in Venice Beach, Los Angeles after flying from London to take Leigh (I had met him there) up on his offer to put me up if I ever made it to the USA. We then got a band together called "Silver Metre". We were managed by Tom Donahue of KSAN FM radio fame, and released an album on National General Records. The record was recorded at Trident Studios in London.
NG-2000
While the album did not make much impact upon its original release on the small National General label in the U.S., it is of interest to collectors because of the early Waller-Stevens connection. Stephens and Waller would later move on to the British-based band Pilot, a short-lived early-'70s outfit, while Pete Sears was later in Stoneground and Jefferson Starship.
17 July 1970 Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL
Copyright © 2004–2010 Ross Hannan and Corry Arnold. All Rights Reserved. Thanks to: Jeff Goldstein for his comment.
(Me playing a Gibson EBO bass at Fillmore West, San Francisco, with Silver Metre) I was introduced to Janice Joplin by a mutual friend Super Groupie Zany Dani while Silver Metre and Janices band were sitting in adjacent booths at the famous Trident restaurant in Sausalito, California. We hit it off and ended up spending the night together at her house in Larkspur after consuming a bottle of Mathews Southern Comfort. Earlier in the evening we jammed together in her studio...just the two of us. I was later sitting on her sofa when she pulled up a chair and an acoustic guitar and sang me a soulful rendition of Bobby McGhee. I sensed a vulnerability in her I hadn't expected. We had a great time that night. Poor Charlie...Silver Metres manager at the time, was the only other person in the house and had to crash somewhere and make himself invisible till morning listening to us going on. Actually, I think he may have spent the night in the bathtub with a girl…so he was just fine. We left her house for the road the next day...it was rock n roll.
Copyright © 2004–2010 Ross Hannan and Corry Arnold. All Rights Reserved. Thanks to: Jeff Goldstein for his comment.
Cast of Thousands is the second solo album release from Blue Cheer frontman Leigh Stephens. Originally recorded and released in the U.K. in 1971 on the Charisma label, this album is dramatically different from his debut, Red Weather. Cast of Thousands journeys into more of a jazz, AOR style on most of its tracks. The overabundance of horns and female backup vocals makes it rather annoying at times, but Stephens' superb guitar work does manage to shine through in places.
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