Earth Quake (band)

Earth Quake is an American power pop band,[1] formed in the San Francisco area in 1966, who released several albums in the 1970s, mostly on Beserkley Records, a company which they were involved in setting up.

Earth Quake
OriginBerkeley, California, United States
GenresPower pop
LabelsBeserkley Records
Acadia Records

Band members
  • John Doukas (lead vocals)
  • Robbie Dunbar (guitar, piano, vocals)
  • Stan Miller (bass, vocals)
  • Steve Nelson (percussion, vocals)
  • Gary Phillips (guitar, vocals, lead vocals)

Career

Originally Purple Earthquake, the band drew its influences from rock and blues bands of the 1950s and 1960s, such as The Kinks, Muddy Waters and the Yardbirds, and played clubs and ballrooms in California in the late 1960s.[2] They were managed by Matthew King Kaufman, who got a recording contract for them with A&M Records, where they released two albums, Earth Quake (1971) and Why Don't You Try Me? (1972) but with little commercial success.[3]

After experiencing frustration at what he saw as A&M's incompetence in handling the band, and winning some compensation for the unauthorized use of their music in the movie The Getaway,[4] Kaufman set up Beserkley Records in 1973. Earth Quake released four albums on Beserkley between 1975 and 1979, as well as working with other musicians including Jonathan Richman (who they backed on his 1974 recording of "Roadrunner"), Greg Kihn (who sang backing vocals on some of their records), and guitarist Gary Phillipet (aka Gary Phillips - previously of John Cipollina's Copperhead).[5] The band split up in the early 1980s, although a compilation album, Sittin in the Middle of Madness, was issued in 2000.[6]

The first two albums, Earth Quake (1971) and Why Don't You Try Me (1972), were remastered and rereleased December 27, 2004 on Acadia Records.

Gary Phillips died in 2007 at the age of 59. John Doukas died of complications from liver failure on March 18, 2011, in South Africa, at the age of 62.[7][8][9]

Albums
  • Earth Quake (A&M, 1971)
  • Why Don't You Try Me? (A&M, 1972)
  • Rocking The World (Beserkley, 1975)
  • 8.5 (Beserkley, 1976)
  • Leveled (Beserkley, 1977)
  • Spitballs (Beserkley, 1978; multi-artist compilation)[10]
  • Two Years In A Padded Cell (Beserkley, 1979)
  • Sittin in the Middle of Madness (compilation, Castle Music, 2000, reissued 2003)

References
  1. Wood, Alan (17 October 2010). "Quake forces music store move". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  2. CD Review: Earth Quake "Purple (The A&M Recordings)" (Acadia)
  3. A&M Corner :: View topic - Bajamarimba.com
  4. The Beserkley Story Archived March 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Rateyourmusic.com
  6. Amazon.com
  7. "Rock Star Remembered". Vogue. March 25, 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  8. "Earth Quake Vocalist John Doukas, Little Known Great, Dies In South Africa". joelselvin.com. March 24, 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  9. Thedeadrockstarsclub.com - accessed April 2011
  10. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: S". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 13, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
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