Soon after came a name change to The Knights Of Sound; “It was absolutely a nod to the British Invasion but the main reason for the name change was that we added a full time bass player and The Three Dimensions just didn't work since we were now a quartet. We got our hands on some Beatles jackets with black velvet collars and had a seamstress make some really cool ruffled shirts.”


The final name change to Stone Garden was inspired by the flower power movement, though in Idaho this may have been a little later than their West Coast counterparts, “Lewiston was and is a relatively small town some distance from large cities. There was no ‘hippie district’ and only a handful of what I would call enlightened individuals around. However, there was a teen nightclub called Casey's which we played numerous times which would bring in major acts. The most memorable performances were visits from Moby Grape and The Yardbirds [with Jimmy Page, weeks before he formed Led Zeppelin].”


Stone Garden’s only release during the short life was the ‘Oceans Inside Me’ 45, recorded in ’69 with a pressing of 300. It received some radio play around this time from a local station. However, expectations were not high, “Of course, we self released the single and let's face it, we lived in Idaho. It wasn't like a big record label was going to knock on our door and hand us a contract. I travelled around the Northwest to radio stations and consigned copies at mom and pop record stores. I was recently made aware by a record collector that copies of ‘Oceans Inside Me’ are going for as much as $300 each. Blows my mind...”


Now to Shindig!’s highly-attuned ear the material the band went on to record at Ripcord Studios is ferocious, incredibly fluid and showcases consistently strong song- writing. The phasing and choppy drum parts on ‘It’s A Beautiful Day’ even illustrate flourishes of studio trickery.


“There wasn't a designated producer so, as is


often the case, the staff engineer became the default producer. That was Rick Keefer who went on to own studios in Seattle and Hawaii. When we were mixing down the eight-track tapes, he said he thought our sound was reminiscent of Iron Butterfly so he moved the mix in that direction.” Also around this time material was recorded at home rather than the studio, including ‘Woodstick’ an incredible epic heavy psych exploration.


“The studio was our living room. Whenever my parents would go out, I would turn it into a makeshift studio. I used our Bogen PA mixer to mike the band and then run it into a Sony ¼” consumer tape recorder. Not very pro but my philosophy has always been to make the most of the gear that was available.


“Our organ player at the time, Russ Pratt, wrote the lyrics [to ‘Woodstick’] and I don't know where his inspiration came from and I think the whole band participated in creating the music via jamming. So, in a way, a lot of it did come from improvisation.”


A personal favourite track on the Stone Garden album is ‘Assembly Line’. The lyrics are fairly nihilistic, matched by the evil fuzz tone guitar work. What was the state of mind that bought out this monster? “My brother Gary wrote the lyrics and I would ask him but sadly, he passed in ’94. Basically, I think the song's message is similar to Pink Floyd's later ‘Another Brick In The Wall’.”


‘S F Policeman’ is about being busted for pot and being put on probation. Was this a true story? “It is indeed a true story based on an experience of Gary's. As I understand, it is a rather literal interpretation of what happened when he went to San Francisco to hang with the hippies and consequently, got busted for possession of marijuana.”


Unfortunately, after a couple more years gigging into the early ’70s, it’s here that the Stone Garden story comes to a premature end with the band going their separate ways.


Fast forward 25 years and ‘Oceans Inside Me’ ends up in the hands of Rich Haupt (owner of Rockadelic). “When Rich Haupt phoned to say he heard ‘Oceans…’ and wanted to do a Stone Garden album, I was floored. At that moment, I knew there was a good reason I had kept all those old tapes.


“I did label everything we’d recorded, threw them in a box, and kept them with me all these years. This included numerous living room recordings, live recordings at Casey's, and the masters from Ripcord and Doug Smith's home studio where we recorded the original version of ‘Oceans...’.”


The recordings comprise this writer’s personal favourite of Rockadelic’s many excellent releases, and proof that great music almost always eventually gets heard. “I always felt we were a pretty good band and it is extremely gratifying that, after so many years, collectors and aficionados of garage rock from the ’60s are appreciating the music we did.”


Since the days of Stone Garden Paul has gone on to great success as a recording artist and a producer, but can this match up to the teenage thrill of being in your first rock ‘n’ roll band? “They are both extraordinary and unique experiences that are difficult to compare. I have to say that I love making records but do miss live performance, which I haven't done in several years. I would give anything to be 16 years old again and play the kind of teen dances that were so common.”


And the past has come to life again as UK label Shadow Kingdom Records (www.shadowkingdomrecords.com) re- released the Stone Garden recordings on CD in November 2008 with a double LP version scheduled for this Spring. This release will contain five Stone Garden tracks not available on the Rockadelic or Gear Fab versions.


For more information about Paul’s new DVD/CD set Oculus and his other work please visit www.rainstormrecords.com


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