This is the earliest photo we could find of what was then "Johnny Socko!" with original bassist Tim Frisbie. Dex is wearing the height of fashion: the waiter's jacket. And he still has that Tele!
A closer shot of original bassist, Tim Frisbie.
Very, very early performance at The Central. Lauren on stage and Gig has his Roto-Toms out.
Another very early gig - at a pool party
Another pool party shot. That's Amanda in the background.
Another very early shot of Phil and Lauren working on...something?
A very young Gig at (his?) drums. (We used to switch around on instruments a bit.) (Although Gig played everything!)
Early shot of Dex - he loved those cut out t-shirts. (Also it's HOT on stage - Dex)
Everybody gets an early shot! Jon at the drums!!!
Early rehearsal - we spent an awful lot of time trying to talk through stuff...Jon, Gig, Dex with guitar and Jeb with white pants...
More early Phil (and Jon in deep focus) at The Central.
Heydays at The Central. Given the Christmas tinsel and Tim in the background this might have been the infamous Dex Birthday Paty that got us the ongoing invitation to play regularly at The Central!
Our first photo shoot done by Jeb's pal, Joe. The car is the '68 Mustang owned by Dex and immortalized in "Mustang Thang."
The lovely Lauren. She did NOT play guitar, LOL.
We performed a set at at a benefit for Para Los Ninos on the beach, organized by Jon's GF at the time.
I believe this is the only time I ever performed in a rock band in shorts. I can't speak for Gig...
We did A LOT of outdoor benefits over the years and had a great time providing music for great causes! Here's us at Universal Studios for Earth Walk. Circa early '90's.
A few more shots from the day...
Easter Seals Telethon. Dave Koz warming up as Dex and Gig look on.
Dex is sporting a mustache for a stage show he'd been doing. He has no recollection of this gig as he'd been up all night rehearsing the play. Evidently it was at the Pasadena Civic. He can not confirm that.
MORE DAVE KOZ!!!!
More shots from the Easter Seals Telethon at the Pasadena Civic.
Santa Cruz Bluegrass Fair, Dex sporting a full pompadour...?!
Santa Cruz Bluegrass Fair
This was the workboard that we'd cross off as we completed work/tracks on the album. You can see we were still considering "No Matter What" as a possible cover.
And here's Phil marking off another track completed.
We started the album with Jon laying down all the drum parts. Except I think "Pauline," which we all played live to.
Dex laying down guitar track for ...no idea. And have no idea what guitar that was?!?
Jeb was trying to lay down the hoodoo as we rolled through the album.
We had a really nice mix of acoustic and electric parts to our music. Gig with his Ovation.
Jon rehearsing at The Alley for the album.
Phil playing the beautiful grand they had in the studio...
Gig & Dex. Serving up music since 1976. That hat I'm wearing was a gift from him by the way. No idea what it means.
We were so lucky to have standout pro percussionist Burleigh Drummond come in and provide amazing sounds to our tracks. He's still rocking in Ambrosia to this day!
Speaking of guest artists, Val Bisharat came by the studio to say hi and I strong- armed her to come sing the outro on "Good Book" - no warm up, no direction other than "go for it" and she killed it! Incredible voice and so grateful for her!
This is Steve Plunkett, who produced "Feel Free To Do So" with Tom Weir (whom we can't seem to find a single pic of!). He was great with an inexperienced band and also gave us a really good song ("Good Book") from his catalogue to record on the album.
You lay down some initial tracks, and then depending how successful those first passes are, punch in and correct/fix/enhance the original recording sitting at the console with Plunkett making sure it's spot on...It's a crazy process - and everyone did it...
Gig in the same chair, same process...
Behind him you can see the Tascam-88s (digital tape machines that were slaved together to give us 24 tracks of digital - this was before straight to computer disc recording. The Stone Age. Tom even had an old upright analog two-inch tape machine... ).
Like I said - everyone had to do it...LOL
Something no one mentions is there's a LOT of down time in the process...
Jon relaxing with our wardrobe impressario!
Jeb was the king of down time. And of course it was Jeb who gave us our down time game: BaKaZaa!
We were so lucky to have excellent vocalists in the band. We had a great "blend." This was a moment when Dex stepped in to add a ridiculous high background vocal... (He can't hit that note anymore, by the way.)
Steve even threw in some backing vocals. And he was great!
Even more vocals...
We'd be remiss not to acknowledge the reason we got to do the album at all was from the indefatigable efforts of Spark Records. This is Carol Magbojos - 1/2 of the two women who founded the label after having worked together at Interscope. Still looking for a pic of Julie from back in the day.
Here Gig is laying down some harp. He played congas, harmonica, acoustic & electric guitar, roto-toms, and anything else the band needed. Just an all around great musician.
We had a full service studio with lots and lots of choices...Phil choosing his toy squeeze box is brilliant.
So. Many. Choices.
So very many choices.
Jeb with many choices as well...
With the album done, it's time to grab promo shots and what will eventually be our album cover...
Stumbled onto this gas station outside of town and what a gift! Photographer in headband...
(Please notice iconic We Have PROPANE sign.)
We were always helpful as a band. Dex pumping gas and Jeb collecting our fee.
We owed a lot to "The Sparkles" - smart, driven women who did everything they could to break this bunch of knuckleheads. Thank you, Julie & Carol.
Photo shoot shenanigans...
We really had a great time together...
(more photo shoot fun)