Shaun Harris

Last updated

Shaun Harris
Born (1946-03-02) March 2, 1946 (age 78)
Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States
Genres
Occupation(s)Musician
Instruments
  • Bass guitar
  • vocals
Years active1963–2004
Labels

Shaun Harris (born March 2, 1946) 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.

Biography

Born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Harris is the eldest son of symphonic composer Roy Harris. In 1962, the family moved to Los Angeles, where a year later Shaun Harris, along with his younger brother Danny, began performing in the Kim Fowley-produced surf rock band the Snowmen. [1] In 1964, the group released the "Ski Storm" single on Challenge Records. [2] While attending the Hollywood Professional School, the Harris brothers befriended Michael Lloyd, the leader of the rival band the Rouges. Shortly afterwards, Shaun Harris assumed the role of bass guitarist with the Rouges, and recorded the single "Wanted: Dead or Alive" for Fowley's own Living Legend record label in 1965. [3] [4] Another project, known as the Laughing Wind, recorded the single, "Good to Be Around" in the same year. [2]

With Roy Harris's financial backing, the Harris brothers and Lloyd recorded demos, which would later appear on the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band's debut album Volume One in 1966. Released on the small FiFo label, Volume One was made possible thanks to Bob Markley, a former scholar of law attempting to gain fame on the Sunset Strip with the group under his command. [5] Shaun Harris is the only band member, other than Markley, to appear on every album recorded by the WCPAEB, including the final effort credited to "Markley A Group" in 1970. [1] Between 1967 and 1968, while the group was on hiatus, Harris and Lloyd formed the side-project, California Spectrum, which performed live and released two singles "Sassafras" and "She May Call You Up Tonight" in early 1968. Following the distribution of Markley A Group, the WCPAEB disbanded. [6]

A year after the band's demise, Harris recorded the solo single "I'll Cry Out from My Grave (God I'm Sorry)", a rare sunshine pop record produced by Lloyd and released under the alias Brigadune. [7] In 1973, Harris signed with Capitol Records issuing a self-titled album which boasted a country rock sound unheard of in any of his earlier work. Recorded with top session musicians from the Wrecking Crew, Beach Boy Bruce Johnston, and Lloyd, Shaun Harris was nonetheless hindered by sharing the same release date as Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon . [8] [9] In the 1990s, the album acquired a cult following, particular among WCPAEB fans, and was reissued on Rev-Ola Records in 2005 with the mono version of "I'll Cry Out from My Grave (God I'm Sorry)". [7] Music critic Jason Ankeny described Shaun Harris as mainstream pop far departing from Harris's stint with the WCPAEB, but also noted its "melodies and arrangements are atypically complex and its lyrics are profoundly introspective, exploring themes of melancholy, self-doubt, and even suicide with uncommon candor". [8]

The poor sales of the album prompted Capitol Records to cut Harris from their roster. He reunited with Lloyd and his brother for smaller projects including Grand Concourse and Rockit, and also served as president of Barry Manilow's publishing company before retiring from music in 2004. Harris has since been living in Oregon to write a play about his life. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Harris</span> American composer (1898–1979)

Roy Ellsworth Harris was an American composer. He wrote music on American subjects, and is best known for his Symphony No. 3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Fowley</span> American record producer and songwriter (1939–2015)

Kim Vincent Fowley was an American record producer, songwriter and musician who was behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and managed the Runaways in the 1970s. He has been described as "one of the most colorful characters in the annals of rock & roll", as well as "a shadowy cult figure well outside the margins of the mainstream".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band</span> American psychedelic rock band

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.

<i>Volume 3: A Childs Guide to Good and Evil</i> 1968 studio album by The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band

Volume 3: A Child's Guide to Good and Evil is the fourth album by the American psychedelic rock band The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (WCPAEB), and was released on Reprise Records in May 1968. By the time the group commenced recording Volume 3, guitarist Danny Harris had excused himself from the WCPAEB, reducing their numbers to a trio. As with the WCPAEB's earlier work, the album saw the band continue to blend psychedelic influences and complex studio techniques, and was marked by a bizarre fusion of innocence and malice in the band's lyrics. Volume 3 featured the WCPAEB's most ambitious music to date, and the striking cover art of John Van Hamersveld, yet it failed to sell in sufficient copies to chart nationally. In more recent times, the album has been considered the band's most accomplished work and a masterpiece of the psychedelic genre.

<i>Volume One</i> (The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band album) 1966 studio album by The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band

Volume One is the first album recorded by the psychedelic rock band the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. It was first released in 1966 on the small FiFo Records label. It was reissued in both compact disc and vinyl in 1997 by Sundazed. The album features covers of pop classics such as Richard Berry's "Louie, Louie" and the Kinks' "You Really Got Me". The songs mellow out into a blues/folk style with covers of Bob Dylan songs.

<i>Vol. 2</i> (Breaking Through) 1967 studio album by The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band

Volume 2 (Breaking Through) is the third album by the American psychedelic rock group, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, and was released in October 1967 on Reprise Records (R 6270 mono, RS 6270 stereo). At the time of recording, Michael Lloyd was not present so the group was reduced to Bob Markley and the Harris brothers, with additional uncredited contributions from Ron Morgan. On the back of original LP release appears 'Breaking Through' and the declaration: "Every song in this album has been written, arranged, sung and played by the group. No one censored us. We got to say everything we wanted to say, in the way we wanted to say it".

The Aluminum Group is an American pop band from Chicago, Illinois centered on brothers John and Frank Navin. The band has released eight albums, on various record labels including Minty Fresh, Hefty, Wishing Tree, and P-Vine.

<i>Part One</i> 1967 studio album by The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band

Part One is the second album by the American psychedelic rock group The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and was released in February 1967 on Reprise Records. It features compositions by Bob Johnston, Frank Zappa, Baker Knight, P.F. Sloan and Van Dyke Parks with input from studio drummer Hal Blaine. It has a song most well known as "Morning Dew" composed by the Bonnie Dobson with arrangement by Danny Harris. This is the first album with input from guitarist Ron Morgan.

<i>Wheres My Daddy?</i> 1969 studio album by The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band

Where's My Daddy? is the fifth album by the American psychedelic rock group, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, and was released in 1969 on Amos Records, which was owned by Jimmy Bowen. Amos Records signed them after Reprise Records dropped the band from their label following the commercial failure of their first three albums. It features compositions by Danny Harris, Michael Lloyd and Shaun Harris with lyrics by Bob Markley. On the original pressing, Lloyd's contributions were not noted on the back cover as a type of punishment by Markley for recent disagreements with each other. However, promotional copies do show Michael Lloyd's contributions noted on the back cover.

<i>Markley, A Group</i> 1970 studio album by The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band

Markley, A Group is the sixth and final album by the American psychedelic rock group, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, and was released in 1970 on Forward Records, owned by Mike Curb. In this case, the album was released under another group name, Markley A Group, as decided by the group owner, Bob Markley. It features compositions by Danny Harris, Michael Lloyd and Shaun Harris with lyrics by Bob Markley. The content is simple and soft, reminiscent of the band's earlier work. Lyrically, however, the band was continuing the trend set by Where's My Daddy?, in which they describe class resentment, paranoid psychedelia, and an unsettling interest in young girls. Although Shaun Harris creates compositions for the album, he only appears on "Outside/Inside". After this album, like those before it, failed to achieve success, the band ceased to exist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Markley</span> American singer-songwriter

Robert H. Markley was an American singer-songwriter and record producer who co-founded the psychedelic rock band The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, in the late 1960s, and became one of the most controversial figures that emerged from the era.

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."

Cotton, Lloyd and Christian were a soft rock trio comprising singer-songwriters Darryl Cotton from Australia, and Michael Lloyd and Chris Christian from the United States. They achieved some success in the mid-1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smell of Incense</span> 1968 single by The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band

"Smell of Incense" is a song by the American psychedelic rock band the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, written by Ron Morgan and Bob Markley, and was released as a single on Reprise Records in 1968.

<i>The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band Companion</i> 2011 compilation album by The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band

The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band Companion is a compilation album by the American psychedelic rock band the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (WCPAEB), and was released on Sunbeam Records on June 7, 2011. The album is a collection of demos, tracks that appear on early singles, and rare material that derive mostly from the group members' side-projects before, during, and after the WCPAEB's recording career.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">October Country</span> Folk rock band

October Country was an American folk rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1967. For musician Michael Lloyd, the group was one of his earliest projects with him assuming the role of record producer. It also was another side-project, along with the Smoke, California Spectrum, and the Fire Escape, during a period in which Lloyd was absent from the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. October Country recorded one self-titled album in 1968 and is best-remembered for the track "My Girlfriend Is a Witch". They are credited as the musicians for the Steven Spielberg short-film, Amblin'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FiFo Records</span>

FiFo Records was an American record label established by singer-songwriters Bob Markley and Baker Knight in Los Angeles, California, in 1961. Following Markley's unsuccessful stint with Warner Bros. Records as a solo artist, he teamed up with Knight, a co-writer on both of Markley's two singles, to found the label, which recorded a variety of pop, R&B, and folk musical acts. FiFo is best-known, however, as the label that released the debut album by the psychedelic rock group the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band in 1966.

John A. Ware is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session and live performance work.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ankeny, Jason. "Shaun Harris – Biography". allmusic.com. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Singles and Other Stuff". members.chello.nl. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  3. ↑ Forster, Tim. "The Legend of the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band". members.chello.nl. Archived from the original on March 20, 2015. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  4. ↑ Bishop, Chris. "The Rogues". garagehangover.com. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  5. ↑ Deming, Mark. "The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band – Biography". allmusic.com. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Acid Archives". members.tripod.com. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  7. 1 2 "Harris, Shaun". badcatrecords.com. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  8. 1 2 Ankeny, Jason. "Shaun Harris – Review". allmusic.com. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  9. ↑ "After the WCPAEB". members.chello.nl. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.