Bubble Puppy

Mention psychedelic music and those that have a recollection or opinion generally think Summer of Love (1967) in San Francisco or Jimi Hendrix or Cream or something similar. Believe it or not Texas, long a hot bed of Country and Blues music also had a somewhat limited but vibrant psychedelic music scene in the late ‘60’s.

This month’s column will focus on one band that stood out in the “herd”. Ladies and gentleman, may I re-introduce Bubble Puppy. This formidable band from Austin consisted of Rod Prince and Todd Potter, two fantastic guitarists/vocalists. Puppy’s rhythm section was made up of David Fore on drums/vocals and Roy Cox on bass/vocals. Obviously these boys spent days on end rehearsing. Their vocal and instrumental arrangements were far more polished than a lot of the contemporary free form jamming that was coming out of ‘Frisco.

Bubble Puppy released an album on the now defunct International Artists label from Houston. The title song “Hot Smoke and Sassafras” reached number 1 internationally but only made it to number 14 in the U.S, which happened on April 14, 1969 (for the full story on this check out the band’s web site).

The Texas boys were on a roll, touring all over the U.S. with acts such as Steppinwolf, Spirit, Canned Heat, Jefferson Airplane, Grass Roots, Grand Funk Railroad, and Janis Joplin. Hey, The Nice (featuring Keith Emerson soon go be of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer) opened for Bubble Puppy.

Eventually Puppy played the Holy Grail of rock music shows at that time, The Dick Clark Show, (American Bandstand). Flower Power had gone mainstream and Mr. Clark had incorporated the mind-bending music into his Pop/Pap music mix.

So, things were going very well for the boys when I first saw them play here at the wrestling arena on the Tri-State Fairgrounds. Ronnie Barnes, Nicky Tyson and I were in a high school band that was a psychedelic wannabee and we were doing a cover of “Hot Smoke”. I bought the album (wish my Mom hadn’t thrown it away, oh well) and played it over and over. So when Puppy came out to play here in big A I listened to every note they played.

Puppy was dressed to the nines in cool outfits that reminded me of a combination of Middle Ages gentry in England and Goodwill Gear. The drummer had a huge white-boy Afro that drew a lot of attention, very rare in those days. Anyway, they sounded just like the record! I couldn’t believe it. Most bands I’d seen were a little disappointing live since they couldn’t reproduce the studio performance and sound but these guys were right on the money! (As an aside, many years later I ended up playing in a band with the drummer, we played in Europe together and had a blast.)

Well, it looked like Bubble Puppy was destined for greatness. By now they were hanging out in L.A. and had changed their name to Demian (They did this to try and disentangle themselves from the weasels that ran International Artists records). When the band was living in Austin they were all in a cool house a little way out of town, a communal thing where they rehearsed day in and out whenever the muse hit them. However, in Lost Angels they eventually spread out into separate households, tension mounting, bitching increasing, frustration ballooning.

With the encouragement of Nick St. Nicholas (bassist for Steppinwolf, a band that Puppy often opened for and just as often pulled their famous “headline killer” set) the boys recorded “Face the Crowd” and it was a hit in L.A. ABC-Dunhill Records was waiting in the wings to record a new album.

Meanwhile the boys were getting more stressed and their old label was pulling tricks like telling its other bands to go the Puppy’s Texas house and take whatever music gear they wanted. Life was starting to suck at the top. Enter and promptly exit Bill Szymczyk (later to produce The Eagles). Yes, things were getting a little touchy here folks!

One fateful day they had a band meeting at The Tropicana Hotel Restaurant. The purpose of the meeting was to show off the check for the production of the next album. Well, something went astray at the meeting. I can’t imagine what went down and my source for this material (he was in the band—can you guess who?) won’t give me any more details except to say that the boys didn’t go for the deal and broke up!

Wow, what a crummy deal. Was it testosterone? Was it ego? Was it youth? Who knows? The only thing I can say is that the Puppy did get back together years later but the wave they had ridden had subsided and about all they could muster was cool gigs here and there, certainly no chart busters.

Too bad, these guys were really good, played really well, wrote meaningful songs, and looked really cool. Let this be a lesson to young musicians seeking fame and fortune—if you get it don’t take it lightly, it won’t last long and can easily disappear never to be seen again.

The good news is that the Bubble Puppy “Hot Smoke and Sassafras” record was re-released on Actual Artists records a few years back and is selling enough for my friends to actually be getting some royalty checks. There is still a bastion of fans out there, including me.

For more info on Bubble Puppy check out their cool web site at http://www.bubblepuppy.com. Other cool Texas psychedelic bands of the same era include The Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Conqueroo, and Shivas Head Band.