Like somany other US musicians that began playing in themid-60s,
PAUL SPEER started as a Merseybeat imitator in a garage band.
Itwasn’t long before hewas following an altogether
heavier path... one that led to the STONE GARDEN.
AUSTIN MATTHEWS speaks with the legendary singer and guitarist.
THE HEAVIEST OF THE HEADS
I 28
N THAT ALL TOO BRIEF ERA IN the late ’60s/early ’70s when kids were trying to marry the mind-expanding sounds of their forebears with proto-
heavy metal riffs and chops, few acts of any redeeming talent struck it big on the national stage. Those that did were almost all musical abominations. But there were exceptions... as always.
One such band were Stone Garden. Formed by Paul Speer and his brothers, they merged intense heavy riffing with dense psych effects and thrilling guitar pyrotechnics. They only released one single during their all too brief lifetime but a copy eventually made it into the hands of Rich Haupt who contacted the band
to put together a compilation of the band’s best tracks onto a Rockadelic album in 1999. From the basement teener-pysch of ‘The World Is Coming To An End’; to the full-on hard-rock of ‘Oceans Inside Me’, by way of an eight-minute heavy psych monolith, ‘Woodstick’, widely lauded as one of Rockadelic’s best releases, the recordings are constantly inventive and, crucially, rock like absolute bastards.
Encouraged into music by his dad at a young age, Paul Speer’s father went beyond the call of duty and built his son home made amplifiers. “He created them from old hi-fi components and they sounded quite awful. However, they were pretty big and did look
cool. After a few performances, it was obvious music was not a passing fancy so my parents loaned us the money to acquire commercially made amplifiers.”
Paul’s first band were a three piece called The Three Dimensions. Having started to gig locally their friend convinced the local radio station to let them play a Swim and Dance party. “At the event, the station would spin some records, we would play a few songs, and so on while the kids either swam or danced on the pool deck. Mostly high school kids attended and yeah, it was exceptionally groovy and a huge success. It was my first ‘professional’ gig as I made $22. Undoubtedly a pivotal moment for me.”
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