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North California Groups : T

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These pages were originally made available on the North California Groups website which, unfortunately, no longer exists.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

T & A BLUES BAND

Bob Jones from The We Five formed the T & A Blues Band in 1967, prior to going on to join Southern Comfort.

Other members of this group were John Kahn on bass and Ron Stallings on tenor sax. I believe the 'name' of this group comes from a John Kahn interview, and I don't believe they ever played a gig under the name, or any name. I think it was just a joke name for a band that mainly rehearsed.



TALON WEDGE

Played Cabrillo College stadium 9-2-67.



TEARS

Jim Brackett
Eddie Gilherme
Bob Salazar
Rick Salazar

Weatherman / Read All About I - Scorpio 409 1966
Rat Race / People Through My Glasses - Onyx 2201 1968
unreleased 45 - Rat Race / Taxi Driver - Scorpio 411

Gilherme previously in the Liberty Lads. Formed at Travis AFB in 1966,
won Battle of Bands at the State Fair in Sacramento, leading to Scorpio
contract. later based in Alameda in the East bay. Onyx single is from early
1968 (it actually never came out on Scorpio), the group split not long
after. Salazar's son is the bass player in Third Eye Blind



TEDDY & HIS PATCHES

Suzy Creamcheese / From Day To Day - Chance 668 March 1967
Haight Ashbury / I Ain't Nothin' - Chance 669 July 1967

From San Jose.



THIRD HALF

From Berkeley circa 1965/66, one member was Fuzzy John Oxendine, later of the Sons.



39 HOMER STREET

No information is available for this group at the present time



THORSTEIN VEBLEN BLUES BAND

John Johnstone - lead guitar
Bill Lukeroth - lead singer and harmonica
Bob Bagsley - bass guitar

Formed in 1966 and based in Concord, the Thorstein Veblen Blues Band took inspiration for their name from the celebrated American economist. Consisting of students from College Park High, Mt Diablo High, Ygnacio Valley High and Diablo Valley College, the group leader was guitarist John Johnstone. In addition to the personnel listed above the group also included a rhythm guitarist and a drummer who's names are now forgotten. Bassist Bob Bagsley was later replaced by Frank Povitch, who had previously played with Queen Lily Soap. Starting off as a blues band they later turned psychedelic before adopting an avant garde approach to their music, "a little too avant garde for the times, as it turned out" as vocalist Bill Lukeroth recalls. They performed at various local venues, among them the Lafayette Veteran's Hall, the Fairfield Roller-Skating Rink and in the open air at Pleasant Hill. Their only known recording was a poor quality reel to reel tape. Their original songs included "White Garage Blues" (named after a rehearsal location) and "What Ya Gonna Do?" They also did a rock version of "Hall Of The Mountain King." They broke up in late 1967.

Thanks to Bill Lukeroth..



THE THRESHOLD

The Bottle / Which Direction? (Knight KN-102-70/71) 19??

May be by a different group.



THROCKMORTON

From San Jose circa 1969 - 1971. Chris Mosher was the vocalist.



TIME

From Redford High School circa 1967.



THE TIME BEING

No information is available for this group at the present time



TINGLE GUILD aka Yajhala Tingle Guild

Mark Loomis
Dan Phay
Gary Andrajasivich
Chris Ramey
Pete Curry

An off shoot from The Chocolate Watchband, formed in mid 1967.



TINY HEARING AID COMPANY

Became Clover.

Tiny Hearing Aid Company featured Alex Call (guitar, vocals) and Mitch Howie (drums) from Mill Valley, and John McFee (lead guitar) and his brother Bob (bass). Bob McFee left the group to become lead guitarist for Flying Circus, and John Ciambotti of the now defunct group The Outfit replaced him, and the group became Clover. Tiny Hearing Aid played at least one gig in San Francisco on 4.30.67 at California Hall (with Flying Circus/The Weeds). Otherwise they were largely a North Bay band (Marin, Petaluma, etc).



TOGETHER

Ron Davis - Lead Vocals and Percussion
Gary Mc Cred - Lead Vocals and Percussion (deceased)
Cory Lerios - Organ/Piano, band leader and originator of the group.
Chuck ? - Drums (67'-68')
Steve Price - Drums (68'-70')
Jim English - Guitar (67'-69')
Gary Culbertson - Guitar (69'-70')
Sam Roye - Bass (67'-68')
Brian Godula - Bass (68'-70')

I meet Cory through a musician friend in my hometown of Santa Clara, CA. He was looking for a couple of guy's to run a light show for a new club he was opening in So. Lake Tahoe, CA (summer of 68'), his band Together was the house band. Running the light show was just a hobby for me, a fascination that grew out of all the early Fillmore shows I attended during the late 60's. Sam Roye the bassist had a few absentees so I filled in for him whenever he couldn't make the gig. To make a long story short I ended up replacing him in the winter of 68'. Anyway the band continued on, made some demos and came very close to a record deal with Capitol Records. I continued to spend a lot of time attending Fillmore West shows and would attend the Thursday night jam session on occasion. One night I brought my Cello and jammed with a bunch of people I didn't know. Anyway Sal Valentino, originally from the Beau Brummels and at the time leader of the band Stoneground was in the audience. He approached me after the jam and said he was in the market to a new rhythm section for his band. He ended up coming to Together's band house in Sunnyvale, CA and listen to one of our rehearsals. He ended up convincing Cory, Steve and I to leave Together and join his group Stoneground, the year was 70' or 71'. We went on to perform, tour and record with the band. The three of us appeared on two albums "The Family Album" and "The Last Days of The Fillmore" album. I quit the group late in 72' to join up with a guitar player friend of mine, Dave Jenkins and his buddy Ron Nagel in SF. It's a long story but Dave ended up joining Stonground as the replacement guitarist for John Blakley. Shortly afterwards Dave, Cory and Steve ended up quitting Stoneground, they teamed up with Bud Cockrell to form Pablo Cruise 73'. (I actually just talked to Dave and the band has reformed and will be performing gigs' this year, with the exception of Bud who apparently is in bad health and now living in the mid-west). I went on to play in a Latin fusion band called Mingo, with the percussionist Mingo Lewis and guitarist Pat Thrall in the year 73'. I'll leave the history here for the time being.

Brian Godula



TONGUE & GROOVE

Mike Ferguson - keyboards, vocals
Lynne Hughes - vocals
Randy Lewis - guitar
Therutius Deeps - vocals
Richard Olsen - bass

Cherry Ball/Devil - Fontana 1640 1968
Come On In My Kitchen/Mailman's Sack - Fontana 1653 1968

Tongue And Groove - Fontana SRF 67593 1968
Tongue And Groove Presents Lynne Hughes, Freeway Gypsy Fontana SRF 67611 1969

Formed by ex Charlatan Mike Ferguson, Tongue & Groove also featured Lynne Hughes, one time barmaid at the Red Dog Saloon and sometime vocalist with The Charlatans on their early demo recordings, and the first Tongue and Groove album features some reworking of Charlatans tunes. To further compound the Charlatans connection, Richard Olsen plays bass on the album too. By the time of the second album only Lynn Hughes and Therutius Deeps remained from the original line up, and they are backed by the cream of West Coast session musicians such as Hal Blaine, Jerry Scheff and Mike Deasy. Lynn Hughes later was a member of Stoneground.



TOWAWAY ZONE

Searchin' / Shab'd - Epic 10369 Aug 1968

From San Leandro, circa 1967/68.



TRANSATLANTIC WINKHAM CHIKEN #5

Jim Stanley - guitar, vocals
Carl Lampley - rhythm guitar
Reed Stubbs - bass
Gary Kuhnle - drums

The Crystal Mountain/You'll Never Find Her - Silverado SR101 1967

From the Napa Valley, just outside of San Francisco, the Transatlantic Winkham Chicken No. 5 were a popular attraction on the local teen scene who played music in the folk/psych style. Their sole recording was made at Silverado studios in Napa and just 500 copies were pressed. Due to a typographical error their name was misspelled as Chiken on the record label. They performed at various venues throughout Northern California and Nevada, supporting the likes of Country Joe and the Fish, the Quicksilver Messenger Service and Moby Grape, before splitting up when Jim Stanley was drafted into the army. Reed Stubbs went on to join Fort Bragg's Living Children just before they evolved into Truman Coyote.Both sides of their incredibly rare 45 appear on the Frantic Records compilation CD Luv's So Free.



TRANSATLANTIC TRAIN

Bob Buccelli

The Train/You're Bringing Me Down - Tower 321 1967

From Monterey, evolved out of The Dutch Masters, a folk rock group.



TRANSATLANTIC RAILROAD

Steve Myers - guitar
Kent Housman - guitar
Jamie Kindt - bass
Geoff Meyer - organ
Ron Van Bianchi - drums

Why Me/Irahs - Phoenix PH2 1968

Express To Oblivion - R D Records RD8 2001

Formed in San Rafael High School in Marin County in 1965, they recorded two tracks at Golden State Recorders in 1966 for inclusion on an compilation album that was not released . Eventually they released their 45 in 1968, after which they recorded some tracks for a proposed album which, unfortunately, was never completed. These tracks later saw a release on the RD label in 2001.

**the compilation was due to feature the winners of a talent show in
Kentfield - TR were the only rock group. Both songs - Good Times and Now
You're Gone - appear on the What A Way To Come Down compilation.



TRANSATLANTIC RR

Recorded two tracks at Golden State Recorders in 1967, Let's Be Friends Again and Mirrors which were included on the What A Way To Come Down CD in 1997.



THE TRAIN HOME

From Berkeley High School, appeared at the KFRC Battle Of The Bands at Berkeley High on Feb 17th 1967.



THE TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE

Steve Wright
John Cuniberti
JimThorsen



THE TRAVEL AGENCY

Time/Made For You (Tanqueray 20102) 1967
Time/Time (Kookaburra 502) 1968?
What's A Man/She Understands (Viva 637) 1969

The Travel Agency - Viva 36017



TRIPPING WEST TO EAST

Appeared at the Avalon Ballroom 08/03/67 with West Coast Natural Gas and The Charles Lloyd Quartet.



TRIPSICHORD MUSIC BOX AKA TRIPSICHORD

Randy Gordon - drums
Oliver McKinney - keyboards
Frank Straight - lead guitar
Dave Zandonatti - bass
B. Carr - guitar, vocals

Times And Seasons/Sunday The Third - San Francisco Sound 115 1970
We Have Passed Away/Fly Baby - San Francisco Sound 127 1971

Tripsichord - Janus JLS 3016 1971

Originating in Lompoc circa 1965, they started out as The Ban before relocating to L A and becoming Now. They then became part of the Matthew Katz empire and he changed their name to Tripsichord Music Box and contributed three tracks to the Fifth Pipe Dream compilation album, It's Not Good, You're The Woman and Family Song. They also appeared as the notorious "Fake Grape", a bogus Moby Grape impersonation that Katz put together to perform as a replacement for the real thing. After some personnel changes and paring down the name to Tripsichord, an album was recorded in 1969 but not released until 1970.



THE TROLLS

Jim McPherson - bass, vocals
Bob Rominger - guitar
Dennis Carrasco - drums
Roger Hedge - guitar

Walkin' Shoes/How Do You Expect Me To Trust You EU 23267 1966

From San Jose, became The Stained Glass.



TRUE BLUE FACTS

Tommy Faia

Who's Got The Right?/I'm Back - A&M 900 1968
Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain/The Boy I Left Behind - A&M 945 1968
You've Got My Soul/An Exception To The Rule - A&M 983 1968

A S F pop psych group.



TRUMAN COYOTE

Formed from the ashes of Fort Bragg's Living Children and featuring David Green on guitar, Reed Stubbs on bass (formerly of Napa's Transatlantic Winkham Chicken #5) and Armondo Queverdo on drums.


Last updated June 2011