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North California Groups : F

The information on the North California Groups pages was compiled by Gray Newell based on research by: Alec Palao, Corry Arnold, Ben Chaput, Joey Dryfka, Mike Dugo, Ross Hannan, Vernon Joynson, Gray Newell, Stephane Rebeschini, Obert Sonsten, Jason Sweitzer Bruce Tahsler and Max Waller.

These pages were originally made available on the North California Groups website which, unfortunately, no longer exists. The pages are provided here as an archive of that site and are currently being updated at irregular intervals.

The information is presented alphabetically by group name:


Group name : A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | XYZ

FABULOUS FASCINATIONS

Played at 321 Divisadero 23rd Sept 1966 with Demon Lover.



FAMILY COW

No information is available for this group at the present time.



FAMILY TREE

Bob Segarini - Guitar, Vocals
Bill Whittington - Bass
Jimmy de Cocq - Guitar, Keyboards
Michael Dure - Guitar
Bill Trochim - Bass
Vann Slatter - Drums
Newman Davis - Drums
Mike Olson

1967 Prince Of Dreams/Live Your Own Life - Mira 228 45
1967 Do You Have The Time/Keeping A Secret - RCA 9184 45

1968 Miss Butters - RCA LSP3955 LP

Previously in The Chosen Few and Ratz, the L A based rock group he had started with Gary Duncan, Bob Segarini moved to San Francisco in 1966 when that group split. Bill Whittington had been bassist with The Brogues, Gary Duncan's post Ratz/pre Quicksilver group and when they broke up he helped Segarini form The Family Tree, along with Mike Olson and Newman Davis. Olson and Davis left and were replaced by Mike Dure and Van Slatter, who had previously been in the Chosen Few with Segarini (Olson enjoyed a solo career after changing his name to Lee Michaels). After signing to Mira they released the Prince Of Dreams 45 and recorded some material for a projected album that was never completed. On the strength of the 45 they were signed up by RCA and issued the Miss Butters LP in 1968, by which time Whittington had left and Jim de Cocq and Bill "Kootch" Trochim had joined the group. Family Tree split in 1969, Segarini and de Cocq later formed Roxy, Segarini and Trochim were in The Wackers and Segarini had a solo career in the 70's



FATHER GRUMBLE

No information is available for this group at the present time.



FAT HUMMINGBIRD & HIS BACK UP BAND

Played in 1966 at the Psychedelic Center in San Francisco.



FAUN

Don Banducci
Lynn Chatwin - vocals
Royal Martin
George Tickner - guitar
James Trumbo - vocals, keyboards
Ross Valory - bass

45s
I Asked My Mother/Better Dig What You Find, Gregar 7000, 1968
Son Of A Literate Man/Yes l'm Really Lonely, Gregar 7001, l968

LP
Faun, GreGar GG 70000, 1968

From San Francisco, Faun's main claim to fame is the inclusion of Ross Valory and George Tickner who had previously been members of Frumious Bandersnatch. Tickner and Valory would go on to form Journey, while Valory would subsequently join the Steve Miller Band.



FERGUSON TRACTOR

12 O'Clock High/Desperation Blues MTA 169 1968



FIFTY FOOT HOSE

Nancy Blossom - Vocals
David Blossom - Guitar, Piano , Thumb Piano
Larry Evans - Guitar, Vocals
Terry Hansley - Bass
Kim Kimsey - Percussion, Drums
Cork Marcheschi - Sound Effects

1968 Cauldron Limelight 86062 LP

Formed in late 1968 by experimental musicians Corky Marcheschi and David Blossom, Fifty Foot Hose were an avant garde outfit who utilised a variety of unique electronic instruments constructed by Marcheschi. Nancy Blossom, David's wife, was brought in on vocals and other like minded musicians were recruited. As a live group they experimented with subsonic tones and were a popular attraction on the club scene, eventually they were picked up by the Mercury label who released their sole album on the Limelight subsidiary. As happened all too often to innovative groups at the time the album was overlooked and the group dissolved in 1969 when all the members, with the exception of Marcheschi, joined the cast of the stage show Hair.
Corky Marcheschi had also been responsible for the Bad Trip 45 by The Ethix in 1966.



FINAL SOLUTION

Ernie Fosselius - guitar
Bob Knickerbocker - bass
John Yager - guitar
John Chance - drums
Jerry Slick - drums

Founded by Ernie Fosselius and Bob Knickerbocker and playing minor key folk music in 1965, the group was bolstered by John Yager and John Chance. Having considered the names The Magic Christians and Precious Fluids the group somehow decided to call themselves The Final Solution without being aware of the wider implications of that were associated with it. Nevertheless they gigged frequently in and around San Francisco, sometimes under the name of Earth Mother and The Final Solution, when the line up was augmented by Bob Knickerbocker's girlfriend Jane Dornacker (AKA Earth Mother) on keyboards and backing vocals. After landing a grueling month long residency at The Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City in the summer of 1966, they returned to SF where John Chance left, to be replaced on drums by Jerry Slick from the recently disbanded Great! Society, and former husband of Grace Slick. He influenced the arrangements of the groups material and around this time they even auditioned some female vocalists, although they didn't actually recruit any to join the group. They broke up in 1967 having issued no recordings, although alive set from The Matrix 1966 and some rehearsal tapes have been in circulation, and show them to have been a very underrated outfit



FINGER OF SCORN

No information is available for this group at the present time.



FIRE AND ICE

The Music Man / For The Money (S45-72566/7) Pro 1969 Capitol P-2587
Mirrors / You Don't Know - (S45-73142/0) Pro 1969 Capitol P-2673



FLAMIN' GROOVIES

Roy Loney - vocals, guitar
Cyril Jordan - guitar, vocals
George Alexander - bass
Tim Lynch - guitar
Danny Mihm - drums

1968 10 " EP Sneakers Snazz B2371
1969 LP Supersnazz Epic 26487
1970 LP Flamingo Kama Sutra KSBASS-2021

Starting out in 1965 as The Chosen Few then becoming The Lost And Found in 1966 and playing "good-time" music along the lines of The Charlatans and The Lovin' Spoonful, they changed their name to The Flamin' Groovies in late 66. The 10" EP from '68 was their first recording issued on their own Snazz label and on the back of this they were signed by Epic, releasing SuperSnazz in 1969 and adopting a more rock n roll approach. They continued recording through the seventies and eighties and are still performing at the present time.



FLOOR TRADERS

Live A Little / Don't Call Me No More WLP 1967 MTA 136



THE FLOWER

No information is available for this group at present time.



FLOWERS OF EVIL

No information is available for this group at the present time.



FLOWERS OF PURPLE

Luv's So Free/Luv's So Free (instrumental), R.C. Enterprise, 1967

A Sacramento pop psych recording, possibly studio group concoction. Luv's So Free has lent it's name to a collection of North Valley psychedelia released by Frantic Records in 2009.



FLYING CIRCUS

Bill Berry - Vocals
Kevin Haapala - Guitar
Jim Grandjean - Guitar
John Haapala - Bass
Don Perkins - Drums

45 I'm Going/Midnight Highway - MTA 117 1966
45 Green Eyes World/Got To Learn To Love - MTA 130 1967
45 Pony Rider/ Betty June PS - Rock Bottom 1970

Formed in June 1966 in Marin County, the Flying Circus won a Battle of the Bands at Mount Tamalpais and a recording contract with Golden State Recorders. They recorded the debut single in November, the A side is a Stones garage style tune, the B side has garage/folk sound. The second 45 came out in late 67 and a third, "Pony Rider", in 1970.



FOUR SINNERS

Roger Sheppard - Guitar
Rick Martinez - Drums
Bob Lewis - Guitar
Ron DeVault - Bass

From Richmond.



FOURTH WAY

Appeared at the Family Dog At The Beach 07/07/1969 with Ace Of Cups, It's A Beautiful Day, Joan Baez and Jefferson Airplane.



THE FOX

Circa 1969, a re-branded version of the Immediate Family.



FRANTICS AKA LUMINOUS MARSHGAS

Charles "Chuck" Schoening - keyboards
Don Stevenson - drums
Jerry Miller - guitar
Bob Mosley - bass
Denise Kauffman - guitar

45 Human Monkey / Someday - Action 113 196?

Another group with Merry Prankster connections. Chuck Schoening was also in AAA. Denise Kaufman went on to The Ace of Cups, Mosley Stevenson and Miller were later in Moby Grape.

Denise Kaufman recalled:
There was no bass player. Charlie played the bass with his feet on the Hammond. Martha Wenner was my good friend and lived with the band but didn't play.
Kesey didn't give us the name. We took it from some happenings at that time: There had been a large number of "sightings" of UFO's being reported - not so much in California but in the middle of the US. NASA supposedly investigated these sightings and the news reported that NASA wanted people to know that there were not UFO's but people were seeing luminous marshgas and mistaking it for alien vehicles. Kesey's comment was that it wasn't luminous marshgas. There were, he said, UFO's. But the UFO's were not arriving (as people feared) but were, in fact, leaving!



FREDDIE AND THE STONE SOULS

Sly Stewart formed the group Sly & the Stoners in 1966, while his younger brother Freddie had his own band, Freddie & the Stone Souls, when they merged the two acts Sly & the Family Stone was born.



FREE & EASY

Séance/Have You Been There, Purney ES 208/209, 1968

From Marin, no further information is available for this group at the present time. Both sides of their 45 can be heard on the 2009 Frantic Records collection, Luv's So Free.



FREEDOM HIGHWAY

Andy Blake - guitar
Geoff Evans - tambourine
Gene Garcia - guitar, vocals
Dave Harris - bass
Richard "Richi Ray" Harris - guitar, vocals
Charles "Chuck" Hodge - drums

CD Made In '68 - RD Records CD4 2002

Starting out as The City Lights, as Freedom Highway they were a major attraction on the SF Ballroom scene. No recordings were issued during the lifetime of the band, but a posthumous collection, "Made In '68", was issued in 2001 and later expanded for CD in 2002.



FREUDIAN SLIPS

Wendy Haas - keyboards
Gayle Hayden - ?
Teda Bracci - ?
Mimi Bluford - ?
Linda Walnum - ?

An all girl band from Atherton and Woodside College students, they featured in a Life magazine article on garage bands in 1966. Played at The Ark in Sausalito on 7/8 October 1966. Wendy Haas went on to play keyboards on some early 70's Santana albums. Gayle Hayden appeared in Playboy, and was in one of the casts of Hair. She now fronts a band in Oregon called Gayle Force and the Windbreakers.



FRIENDLY PERSUASION

From Woodside High School, appeared at the KFRC Big 610 Battle Of The Bands in June 1967.



FRIENDLY STRANGERS

Roy Skinner
Ed Garro
Bob Koch
Robert Jerome Williams - drums

A psychedelic blues band, appeared at the Battle of the Bands at the Cow Palace 1966.



FRONT LINE

Bill Bowen
Dennis Lanigan - drums
Gary Philippet - bass
Jim Brewer - rhythm guitar
Rex Larsen - lead guitar

I Don't Care/Got Love (York 9000) 1966

From Marin County, and originally known as the Turtles. Veterans of the Marin scene, Phillipet and Bowen had both previously been members of the Electric Train, Phillipet had also been a member of the Pullice and would later go on to Freedom Highway and subsequently Copperhead. Bowen would eventually join the Sons of Champlin.



FROSTED SUEDE

No information is available for this group at the present time.



FRUMIOUS BANDERSNATCH

David Denny - lead guitar, vocals
Brian Hough - bass
Jimmy Warner - lead guitar, vocals
Bob Winkelman - guitar, bass, vocals
Jack King - drums
Ross Valory - bass, vocals
George Tickner - guitar
Jack Notestein - bass, vocals
Kaja Doria - vocals
Bret Wilmot - lead guitar

E. P. 45 Frumious Bandersnatch Muggles Gramophone Works 1968

CD A Young Man's Song Big Beat CDWIKD 169 1996

LP Golden Songs Of Libra (The Studio Outtakes) GET 624 2003

Emerging from Contra Costa County on the East Bay and taking their name from a Lewis Carroll nonsense verse, Frumious Bandersnatch are yet another group that looked like hitting the big time but didn't quite make it. Having recorded some demo tracks and splitting, up the group eventually reformed and issued the eponymous EP in 1968, one of the best SF guitar recordings of the era. Unfortunately that was the last release they made despite substantial interest from the record companies, due to inept management. The group split in 1969 with, members going off to join other bands, Ross Valory and George Tickner to Faun and later Journey, other members later worked with The Steve Miller Band. Fortunately a whole lot of previously unissued live and studio recordings have since been released on the Big Beat CD A Young Man's Song, and on the groups own Golden Songs Of Libra. Frumious Bandersnatch have reformed and are working on new material.

www.frumiousbandersnatch.net



FUGITIVES

Jim Phillips - saxophone
Al Purdy - bass
Jack May - guitar
Paul Houston - guitar
Tom Fabian - drums
Frank Galindo - vocals
Laramy Smith - rhythm guitar
Tony Powell - lead guitar

A Sacramento outfit managed by Dick Leventon, they have one track "Blowin' My Mind" on Big Beat's the Sound Of Young Sacramento CD and "Blowin' My Mind" along with "Come on Now" are on Frantic CD, So Cold . After relocating to L A they became the Grimfacqles. Jack May later joined Group B. They underwent several line up changes and the above listed personnel includes members from various different incarnations of the group.


Last updated February 2010