Biography
During the psychedelic years, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band emerged as one of the era’s more eccentric outfits, displaying sufficient range and drive to justify their unwieldy name. Abrupt shifts between delicate folk-rock, piercing guitar outbursts, and dense atonal constructions helped them cultivate a devoted following via 1967’s Vol. 2 and 1968’s Vol. 3: A Child’s Guide to Good & Evil. Their catalog also bore the imprint of a sharp internal divide, with lyricist and nominal leader Bob Markley positioned against the remaining musicians. The bulk of their recordings later appeared in upgraded form on the 2023 box set A Door Inside Your Mind: The Complete Reprise Recordings 1966-1968.
Danny Harris and brother Shaun were raised in a musically rich household; father Roy Harris composed with distinction while mother Joanna Harris taught piano at Juilliard. After the family settled in Los Angeles in 1962, the brothers entered the local circuit with the Snowmen, Danny on guitar and Shaun on bass. They had attended high school alongside Michael Lloyd, whose Rogues enjoyed greater local success; Shaun soon joined that group on bass, and the three began writing and recording together. A makeshift studio installed at Lloyd’s residence yielded several polished singles issued as the Laughing Wind, with John Ware handling drums.
Noted Los Angeles producer and scenester Kim Fowley introduced the musicians to Bob Markley, an Oklahoma native whose oil-tycoon father had financed his legal studies yet who aspired to a music career after an unsuccessful Reprise single. Markley hosted the Yardbirds at his expansive Hollywood mansion when work-permit complications blocked a public engagement. The enthusiastic response from music-industry guests and teenage girls prompted him to abandon solo ambitions in favor of forming a band. The Laughing Wind members were present at the same performance, and Markley offered them a bargain: in exchange for joining as vocalist and lyricist, he would underwrite touring costs, new equipment, and a full light show. The musicians accepted, adopted the name West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, and signed contracts granting Markley ownership of both the group name and its publishing.
Markley secured a 1966 release for their debut, Part One, on the small Fifo label; the album consisted largely of covers previously tracked by the Rogues and Laughing Wind, augmented by his own “Insanity” and “Don’t Break My Balloon.” Modest sales did not prevent the band from attracting an adventurous Los Angeles audience drawn to their elaborate light shows, leading to a Reprise contract. The label debut, also titled Part One, marked the first full expression of the group’s experimental leanings, although Markley’s lyrics polarized listeners; tensions between Markley and Lloyd, who held little regard for the frontman’s abilities, prompted the addition of ex-Rogues guitarist Ron Morgan and expanded the lineup to a sextet. Lloyd’s departure preceded Vol. 2, issued later in 1967 and featuring all but two songs credited to Markley and Shaun Harris.
Recording of the next album coincided with further fractures: Danny Harris exited because of health issues, leaving Morgan to cover all guitar parts, while session drummer Jim Gordon replaced John Ware. The resulting A Child’s Guide to Good and Evil is frequently regarded as the band’s most daring statement, yet Markley’s increasingly ornate and eccentric lyrics failed to attract buyers, and Reprise dropped the group.
The Harris Brothers and Lloyd briefly operated as California Spectrum, but producer Jimmy Bowen’s new Amos imprint revived the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. Credited to Markley and the Harris Brothers, 1969’s Where’s Daddy? nevertheless included playing from Lloyd and Morgan; several tracks presented unsettling depictions of young women and again found little commercial traction. Even by the band’s unconventional standards, their finale was singular: Markley rebranded the project as Markley and issued A Group, though the full original lineup performed. The album drew scant attention, after which the ensemble disbanded under either name.
Lloyd subsequently enjoyed a prominent career as producer and A&R executive; Shaun Harris pursued a short solo stint before entering film; Ron Morgan played with Three Dog Night; Danny Harris divided his time between acting and folk music; and Markley produced other artists until legal difficulties curtailed his work—he died in 2003. In 2023, Grapefruit Records released the four-disc A Door Inside Your Mind: The Complete Reprise Recordings 1966-1968, comprising stereo and mono editions of the three Reprise albums plus previously unreleased alternate mixes drawn from A Child’s Guide to Good and Evil.
Danny Harris and brother Shaun were raised in a musically rich household; father Roy Harris composed with distinction while mother Joanna Harris taught piano at Juilliard. After the family settled in Los Angeles in 1962, the brothers entered the local circuit with the Snowmen, Danny on guitar and Shaun on bass. They had attended high school alongside Michael Lloyd, whose Rogues enjoyed greater local success; Shaun soon joined that group on bass, and the three began writing and recording together. A makeshift studio installed at Lloyd’s residence yielded several polished singles issued as the Laughing Wind, with John Ware handling drums.
Noted Los Angeles producer and scenester Kim Fowley introduced the musicians to Bob Markley, an Oklahoma native whose oil-tycoon father had financed his legal studies yet who aspired to a music career after an unsuccessful Reprise single. Markley hosted the Yardbirds at his expansive Hollywood mansion when work-permit complications blocked a public engagement. The enthusiastic response from music-industry guests and teenage girls prompted him to abandon solo ambitions in favor of forming a band. The Laughing Wind members were present at the same performance, and Markley offered them a bargain: in exchange for joining as vocalist and lyricist, he would underwrite touring costs, new equipment, and a full light show. The musicians accepted, adopted the name West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, and signed contracts granting Markley ownership of both the group name and its publishing.
Markley secured a 1966 release for their debut, Part One, on the small Fifo label; the album consisted largely of covers previously tracked by the Rogues and Laughing Wind, augmented by his own “Insanity” and “Don’t Break My Balloon.” Modest sales did not prevent the band from attracting an adventurous Los Angeles audience drawn to their elaborate light shows, leading to a Reprise contract. The label debut, also titled Part One, marked the first full expression of the group’s experimental leanings, although Markley’s lyrics polarized listeners; tensions between Markley and Lloyd, who held little regard for the frontman’s abilities, prompted the addition of ex-Rogues guitarist Ron Morgan and expanded the lineup to a sextet. Lloyd’s departure preceded Vol. 2, issued later in 1967 and featuring all but two songs credited to Markley and Shaun Harris.
Recording of the next album coincided with further fractures: Danny Harris exited because of health issues, leaving Morgan to cover all guitar parts, while session drummer Jim Gordon replaced John Ware. The resulting A Child’s Guide to Good and Evil is frequently regarded as the band’s most daring statement, yet Markley’s increasingly ornate and eccentric lyrics failed to attract buyers, and Reprise dropped the group.
The Harris Brothers and Lloyd briefly operated as California Spectrum, but producer Jimmy Bowen’s new Amos imprint revived the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. Credited to Markley and the Harris Brothers, 1969’s Where’s Daddy? nevertheless included playing from Lloyd and Morgan; several tracks presented unsettling depictions of young women and again found little commercial traction. Even by the band’s unconventional standards, their finale was singular: Markley rebranded the project as Markley and issued A Group, though the full original lineup performed. The album drew scant attention, after which the ensemble disbanded under either name.
Lloyd subsequently enjoyed a prominent career as producer and A&R executive; Shaun Harris pursued a short solo stint before entering film; Ron Morgan played with Three Dog Night; Danny Harris divided his time between acting and folk music; and Markley produced other artists until legal difficulties curtailed his work—he died in 2003. In 2023, Grapefruit Records released the four-disc A Door Inside Your Mind: The Complete Reprise Recordings 1966-1968, comprising stereo and mono editions of the three Reprise albums plus previously unreleased alternate mixes drawn from A Child’s Guide to Good and Evil.
Albums
