A Gathering of Promises

International Artists gets it wrong again.

Until our move to California in 1970, The Bubble Puppy always lived together. We also did everything together. On a typical day, Rod, Todd, Roy, Gene, and I would fix breakfast at the band house.  If anybody were hungry for lunch or dinner, we’d all pile in Todd’s Dodge Charger and find a place to eat. Time to go to the studio? We’d get in the band van and make the 30-minute trip from our East Mount Houston house to International Artists (I.A.). Did we have a gig in another city? We’d pile in the Charger and drive. I had a car, so that I could have left the house solo, but I never did. I don’t remember going anywhere alone the entire time we lived in the East Mount Houston house. 

The band house was fun! For the first time, I could do whatever I wanted. There was no one to tell me what to do. The Puppy House was Todd and my first experience living away from family.

We were all great friends and shared a common purpose: to make it in the music industry. Living together also made band activities hassle-free. Time for practice? Go to the living room and get to work. Time for a band meeting? Assemble at the dining table. Time to leave for a gig? Get in the van and go!

I often heard Roy and Rod working on new songs late at night. They would develop the chords for songs like “Beginning” or “Elizabeth.” Then, after breakfast, we would assemble in the practice room and turn their new ideas into a finished product. For my part, I would develop drum parts to support their songs and contribute to the arrangements. Once somebody completed a song, we would head to the studio to record it. There was no sense of urgency to our recording schedule. We finished a few songs, but the L.P. we were working on, “A Gathering of Promises,” was far from complete.  I.A. never put any pressure on us. 

One day, while we were jamming in the studio and having fun, the music to “Hot Smoke and Sassafras” suddenly appeared out of thin air. We instantly realized the song was magic. Roy and Rod quickly finished the words, and Todd added his signature guitar lead.  We just needed a title for the tune.  One night, we were watching the Beverly Hillbillies. Granny was scolding Jetho for something stupid he had done, saying, “Hot Smoke and Sassafras Jethro! Can’t you do anything right?” And just like that, we had the title. Oddly, the song doesn’t contain the words ”Hot Smoke and Sassafras.” It’s just the title of the song. Go figure.

In early 1969, I.A. decided to release a Bubble Puppy Single. This move was a surprise to the band. Why release a single before we had finished our album? To our disappointment, the single I.A. released was “Lonely.” “Hot Smoke” was the “B” side. I.A. didn’t recognize the genius of “Hot Smoke.” The only reason I can think of for this decision is that I.A. had a string of psychedelic hits with the Elevators, so they decided to focus on “Lonely,” our more psychedelic song.“

Ray Rush, our producer, knew Houston’s KILT radio staff. KILT was an influential radio station in 1969.  Ray sent KILT’s program director our single, promoting “Lonely” as the ‘A’ side. The program director listened to “Lonely” and then flipped it over and listened to “Hot Smoke.” The song blew his mind, and he recognized it would be a hit record. Immediately, KILT started playing “Hot Smoke” nonstop, and following KILT’s lead, other stations in Texas began to spin “Hot Smoke” too. Then, within a few weeks, “Hot Smoke” broke nationally, steadily climbing the Billboard charts.   

We didn’t have a radio at the band house, so we would take turns sitting in Todd’s car and listening to his AM radio. When “Hot Smoke” came on, whoever was on radio duty would honk the horn, and everyone in the house would come running to listen to themselves on the radio. Very exciting!       

Our booking agency, Artists Management, was owned by I.A. Our agent, Mason Romans, was getting offers to book Bubble Puppy nationwide. But the L.P. still needed to be finished! No one had expected a hit record right out of the gate. So we had to choose between capitalizing on “Hot Smoke's” popularity by touring or staying in Houston and finishing the L.P. We decided to travel and complete the record simultaneously.

When we toured, it was depressing to be in a city like Chicago, selling out concerts, yet not having an L.P. in the record stores. Meanwhile, when the band was recording in the studio back in Houston, it was equally depressing knowing we were missing out on gigs and money. 

Eventually, we finished recording all the songs for our debut L.P., “A Gathering of Promises.” The tapes sounded terrific in the studio – clean and full of life. Ray and Hank did an outstanding job recording the band and capturing our sound. Ray mixed the album, and we were happy with his mix. We left Houston on a five-week tour, confident our L.P. would be amazing when mastered and pressed.

While we were gone without our approval or knowledge, I.A. remixed the entire L.P. They used a new technology called “pan pots,” which enables an instrument to be “panned” from the left speaker to the right or vice versa. I.A. overused the effect by panning ALL the instruments from one speaker to another. As a result, all the music would be in your left ear, then stagger over to the right. It sounded horrible! Panning negatively affected “Hot Smoke.” The song had been mixed in mono for A.M. radio, meaning both ears had an equal sound distribution. But after the studio’s stereo remix of the L.P., “Hot Smoke’s” sound lurched from left to right like a drunken sailor. The glorious “punch” of the mono version of “Hot Smoke” disappeared from the L.P. version. 

Following the remix, I.A. started mastering our L.P.  They chose “Tanner N Texas Mastering.” As you may remember from my previous Substack, “Hot Smoke and Sassafras,” Tanner N Texas was the same company that botched the test pressing of “Hot Smoke.” Despite the history with Tanner N Texas, I.A. approved the mastering. We were out on the road and had no say in the matter. 

Next came the photo shoot for “A Gathering of Promises.” A Houston-based costume designer, Evelyn Norton Anderson, was chosen to make our outfits. Because she wanted our personalities reflected in our clothes, Evelyn interviewed each of us and created our unique outfits based on the interview results. After she finished our outfits, we shot the cover for our L.P. at Royale Studios in Houston. The studio had makeup and hairstylists on hand for the shoot. The hairstylist gave me that ringlet on my forehead that you can see in the photo below. 

Photo credit: Royale Studios Houston, Texas

The band had mixed feelings about the outfits. When we tried wearing them at gigs, they made playing difficult. For instance, my fancy shoes would slip off the bass drum pedal, and my jacket was too tight to play comfortably. We called them “the clown suits.” However, the cover of “A Gathering of Promises” has appeared in “Best Album Covers” compilations, proving its popularity. The photo also made my hair famous. In Texas, I was the first white guy with a big Afro, and my hair was so recognizable it got me into movies and concerts for free. 

In my next Substack, we move again. And all our furniture gets stolen! 

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