The Peanut Butter Conspiracy

Los Angeles psychedelic outfit the Peanut Butter Conspiracy took shape in 1966 from the remnants of the Ashes, a group assembled the year before by vocalist Pat Taylor, guitarist John Merrill, bassist Alan Brackett, and drummer Spencer Dryden. Dryden soon departed to fill Skip Spence’s chair in the Jefferson Airplane. With Jim Voigt installed on drums, the Ashes cut a self-titled album for Vault and then dissolved; Merrill, Brackett, and Voigt brought in vocalist Sandi Robison together with harpist and guitarist Lance Fent to launch the Peanut Butter Conspiracy. Their Vault debut single “Time Is After You” led to a contract with Columbia, where the 1967 track “It’s a Happening Thing” preceded the spring arrival of the Gary Usher–produced debut album The Peanut Butter Conspiracy Is Spreading. Ex-Sound Machine guitarist Bill Wolff stepped in for Fent on the follow-up, The Great Conspiracy, which, like its predecessor, made little commercial headway. Only Robison, Merrill, and Brackett carried on into 1969’s For Children of All Ages, now joined by keyboardist Ralph Shuckett and drummer Michael Stevens. The Peanut Butter Conspiracy folded shortly afterward; Brackett moved into session work, Fent later worked with Randy Meisner, and Wolff became a member of Fusion.