Biography
The Speer brothers—Gary and Paul on guitar along with Neal handling drums and piano—formed the nucleus of the eventual Stone Garden lineup. These Lewiston, Idaho siblings, raised in a musical household, first picked up instruments as preteens in the early 1960s. Their father converted discarded stereo gear into rudimentary amplifiers, enabling the trio to launch as the Three Dimensions. While still young adolescents securing paid performances, they enlisted fellow junior-high student Dan Merrell on bass and adopted ruffled shirts in the English style, prompting a name change to Knights of Sound. The group cut its debut studio tracks in 1965 and began appearing regularly throughout Lewiston, which caught the ear of would-be manager Don Tunnell. Amid the psychedelic era’s peak, Tunnell rechristened them Stone Garden in 1967 upon noticing the phrase on a poster. The members let their hair grow and swapped Carnaby Street attire for Nehru jackets while assembling a setlist heavy on material from the Doors, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones, interspersed with a handful of original compositions. In 1969 the band committed those originals to tape at a friend’s well-equipped basement facility, yielding the “Oceans Inside Me”/“Stop My Thinking” single pressed in an edition of 300 copies that garnered meaningful local airplay. Disc jockey Chris Adams became an outspoken advocate and arranged sessions at a professional studio in Vancouver, Washington, where the remaining original songs were captured; these recordings stayed vaulted until Rockadelic assembled them for a self-titled LP in 1998. That fall Gary Speer departed Lewiston to pursue college studies and was succeeded on organ and lead vocals by Russ Pratt. After three members received their high-school diplomas in 1970, further turnover ensued when Pratt and Merrell exited; the two Speer brothers who remained brought in Charles Weisgerber and vocalist Rand Harrison. Harrison’s tenure proved short-lived, paving the way for Gary Speer’s return in 1971. The refreshed configuration relocated to Seattle and added David Lee on electric piano and vocals. Weisgerber was later replaced by John Helton for the final edition, which performed under the Speer Brothers Band name before disbanding in the opening weeks of 1972.
Albums
