Earth Quake is an American
power pop
Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a subgenre of rock music and form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, ...
band, formed in the
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
area in 1966, who released several
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
s in the 1970s, mostly on
Beserkley Records, a company which they were involved in setting up.
Career
Originally Purple Earthquake, the band drew its influences from rock and
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
bands of the 1950s and 1960s, such as
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British ...
,
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...
and
the Yardbirds
The Yardbirds are an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1963. The band started the careers of three of rock's most famous guitarists: Eric Clapton (1963–1965), Jeff Beck (1965–1966) and Jimmy Page (1966–1968), all of whom ...
, and played clubs and ballrooms in California in the late 1960s. They were managed by
Matthew King Kaufman, who got a
recording contract
A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...
for them with
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...
, where they released two albums, ''Earth Quake'' (1971) and ''Why Don't You Try Me?'' (1972), but with little commercial success.
After experiencing frustration at what he saw as A&M's incompetence in handling the band, and winning some compensation for the unauthorized use of their music in the movie ''
The Getaway'', Kaufman set up
Beserkley Records in 1973. Earth Quake released four albums on Beserkley between 1975 and 1979, as well as working with other musicians including
Jonathan Richman (who they backed on his 1974 recording of "
Roadrunner"),
Greg Kihn (who sang
backing vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...
on some of their records), and guitarist Gary Phillips (a.k.a.
Gary Phillips, previously of
John Cipollina's
Copperhead). The band split up in the early 1980s, although a
compilation album
A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...
, ''Sittin in the Middle of Madness'', was issued in 2000.
The first two albums, ''Earth Quake'' (1971) and ''Why Don't You Try Me?'' (1972), were remastered and re-released December 27, 2004 on Acadia Records.
Gary Phillips died in 2007, at the age of 59. John Doukas, musician and historical documentary director and producer, died on March 19, 2011, in South Africa, at the age of 62.
Band members
*John Doukas - lead vocals
*Robbie Dunbar - guitar, piano, vocals
*Stan Miller - bass, vocals
*Steve Nelson - percussion, vocals
*
Gary Phillips (1975–1977) - guitar, vocals, lead vocals
Albums
*''Earth Quake'' (A&M, 1971)
*''Why Don't You Try Me?'' (A&M, 1972)
*''Rocking The World'' (Beserkley, 1975)
*''8.5'' (Beserkley, 1976)
*''Leveled'' (Beserkley, 1977)
*''Spitballs'' (Beserkley, 1978; multi-artist compilation)
*''Two Years In A Padded Cell'' (Beserkley, 1979)
*''Sittin in the Middle of Madness'' (compilation, Castle Music, 2000, reissued 2003)
References
External links
Robbie Dunbar bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Earth Quake
1966 establishments in California
American power pop groups
Musical groups established in 1966
Musical groups from the San Francisco Bay Area