Love is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965. Led by frontman and primary songwriter Arthur Lee, they were one of the first racially diverse American rock bands. Their sound incorporated an eclectic range of styles including garage, folk-rock, and psychedelia. While finding only modest success on the music charts, peaking in 1966 with their US Top 40 hit "7 and 7 Is", Love would come to be praised by critics as their third album, Forever Changes (1967), became generally regarded as one of the best albums of the 1960s.
Garage rock is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The style is characterized by basic chord structures played on electric guitars and other instruments, sometimes distorted through a fuzzbox, as well as often unsophisticated and occasionally aggressive lyrics and delivery. Its name derives from the perception that groups were often made up of young amateurs who rehearsed in the family garage, although many were professional.
Paisley Underground is a musical genre that originated in California. It was particularly popular in Los Angeles, reaching a peak in the mid-1980s. Paisley Underground bands incorporated psychedelia, rich vocal harmonies and guitar interplay, owing a particular debt to 1960s groups such as Love and the Byrds, but more generally referencing a wide range of pop and garage rock revival.
Rain Joan of Arc Phoenix is an American actress, musician, and singer. She is the older sister of Joaquin, Liberty and Summer Phoenix and younger sister of River Phoenix.
The Music Machine was an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1966. Fronted by chief songwriter and lead vocalist Sean Bonniwell, the band cultivated a characteristically dark and rebellious image reflected in an untamed musical approach. Sometimes it made use of distorted guitar lines and hallucinogenic organ parts, punctuated by Bonniwell's distinctively throaty vocals. Although they managed to attain national chart success only briefly with two singles, the Music Machine is today considered by many critics to be one of the groundbreaking acts of the 1960s. Their style is now recognized as a pioneering force in proto-punk; yet within a relatively short period of time, they began to employ more complex lyrical and instrumental arrangements that went beyond the typical garage band format.
"Hey Joe" is an American song from the 1960s that has become a rock standard and has been performed in many musical styles by hundreds of different artists. The lyrics tell of a man who is on the run and planning to head to Mexico after shooting his unfaithful wife. In 1962, Billy Roberts registered "Hey Joe" for copyright in the United States.
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (WCPAEB) was an American psychedelic rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965. The group created music that possessed an eerie, and at times sinister atmosphere, and contained material that was bluntly political, childlike, and bizarre. Representing different musical backgrounds among band members, the group, at times, resembled a traditional Byrds-esque folk rock ensemble, but the WCPAEB also, within the same body of work, recorded avant-garde music marked by multi-layered vocal harmonies.
Andrew Paul Sandoval is an American, best known as a Grammy Award nominated reissuer and compiler and engineer of historical albums, containing popular music from the rock era. Additionally, Sandoval has ongoing careers as author, DJ, journalist, songwriter and professional musician. Born in Santa Monica, California, his career in music began in 1986 as the editor and publisher of a fanzine called New Breed, a project that blossomed into work as a reissue director for such labels as Rhino and PolyGram. His writing has appeared in the form of liner notes to record and CD releases, as well as in articles featured in The Hollywood Reporter and Shindig!
H. P. Lovecraft was an American psychedelic rock band, formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1967 and named after the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. Much of the band's music was possessed of a haunting, eerie ambience, and consisted of material that was inspired by the macabre writings of the author whose name they had adopted. Combining elements of psychedelia and folk rock, the band's sound was marked by the striking vocal harmonies of ex-folk singer George Edwards and the classically trained Dave Michaels. In addition, Michaels' multi-instrumentalist abilities on organ, piano, harpsichord, clarinet and recorder provided the band with a richer sonic palette than many of their contemporaries.
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy was an American, Los Angeles-based, psychedelic pop/rock group from the 1960s. The band is known for lead singer Barbara Robison and for briefly having Spencer Dryden of Jefferson Airplane as a band member.
Sublime was an American rock band from Long Beach, California, formed in 1988. The band's line-up, consistent throughout its duration, consisted of Bradley Nowell, Eric Wilson (bass), and Bud Gaugh (drums). Lou Dog, Nowell's dalmatian, was the mascot of the band. Nowell died of a heroin overdose in 1996, resulting in the band's breakup. In 1997, songs such as "What I Got", "Santeria", "Wrong Way", "Doin' Time", and "April 29, 1992 (Miami)" were released to U.S. radio.
Where the Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets: 1965–1968 is the fifth box set in Rhino Records' Nuggets series, released September 22, 2009. The set's four discs each focus on a different aspect of the underground rock music scene in and around Los Angeles at the end of the 1960s. The first disc, "On the Strip", features bands that rose out of the Sunset Strip scene; disc two, "Beyond the City", focuses on bands from the surrounding areas outside the city's borders; disc three, "The Studio Scene" covers bands' attempts to exploit the Los Angeles sound for a commercial audience; while disc four presents the movement away from psychedelic and garage rock towards the country rock sound which became popular in the city late in the decade. The boxed set was compiled and curated by Los Angeles native, Andrew Sandoval. On December 1, 2010, this project was nominated for a Grammy Award in the best Historical album category.
Edward Hoh was an American rock drummer who was active in the 1960s. Although primarily a studio session and touring drummer, Hoh exhibited a degree of originality and showmanship that set him apart and several of his contributions have been singled out for acknowledgment by music critics.
Michael William Deasy is an American rock and jazz guitarist. As a session musician, he played on numerous hit singles and albums recorded in Los Angeles in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He is sometimes credited as Mike Deasy Sr.
Michael Jeffrey Lloyd is an American record producer, arranger, songwriter and musician. After working with Mike Curb, Kim Fowley and others in the mid-to-late 1960s on musical projects including the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, and Steven Spielberg's first short film, Amblin', he became a producer of such teen idol pop stars as the Osmonds, Shaun Cassidy and Leif Garrett in the 1970s.
St. John Green was an American psychedelic rock band who released one self-titled LP, produced by Kim Fowley and Michael Lloyd, in 1968. The album has been described as "by turns frightening, dark, funny and stupid as it reeks of bad trip freak outs in matte black painted rooms with no furniture lit only by a single red bulb and burning cigarette ends.... weirdly dark and epic."
The Palace Guard was an American garage rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. Though the band never obtained national success, they made a huge splash in Southern California with their song "Falling Sugar". The group is also notable for featuring the first commercial appearance of Emitt Rhodes, later a member of the Merry-Go-Round.
The Fire Escape was an American psychedelic rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1967. Existing mainly as a studio group composed of unknown session musicians, the band was masterminded by record producer Kim Fowley and Michael Lloyd. The project produced one album called Psychotic Reaction, which contained mainly cover versions of popular songs from the era. It is reported that Sky Saxon of the garage rock band, the Seeds and Mars Bonfire of Steppenwolf, played on some of the tracks.
Shaun Harris is an American musician best-remembered as the bassist of the psychedelic rock band the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (WCPAEB). Throughout his music career, Harris worked closely with Michael Lloyd on projects outside the WCPAEB including the Rogues, California Spectrum, and Brigadune. In 1973, he recorded a self-titled solo album on Capitol Records.
The Holy Mackerel was an American psychedelic pop band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1968. Created mainly as a studio venture to capitalize on Paul Williams' early success as a songwriter, the group recorded one self-titled studio album in the same year. Development for the album included several bandmates and top session musicians, but audiences were mostly unreceptive to it until The Holy Mackerel was reissued years later.
