Days of Our Time
A bit about our day to day lives, and the making of BPs fourth single
A Typical Day
When we lived in Austin, before Hot Smoke and Sassafras was a hit, life as Bubble Puppy settled into a comfortable, satisfying, and fun routine. We weren't yet drawing big crowds, but we always had gigs. We'd play at the Vulcan Gas Company on Congress Avenue and gig at a popular outdoor venue called Moon on the Hill. We didn't make much money, but fortunately, the band had a "backer." She paid our rent, bought us a van, and our equipment. We were lucky we didn't have to worry about finances.
Our days in Austin followed a pattern. We'd wake up late and have breakfast together. If we were not recording that day, we'd head to Campbell's Hole, a private little swimming hole behind Barton Springs. We were usually the only ones there. Being competitive, Todd and I would try to outclimb each other on the cliffs around the swimming hole. After a swim, we went out for lunch to a diner at the intersection of Riverside and Barton Springs. We would all order a "Tuna Frenchie," a fried tuna fish sandwich concoction. Later, we'd have dinner at the house around 7:00, usually beans and rice, and after dinner, we'd all play cards. Then, around 11, someone would say, "Let's jam," which meant rehearsal was on. We ended our practice when the sun came up. No worries!
After we moved to Houston, we lived in a four-bedroom, three-bath house on Roseneath Avenue. The house had a garage apartment where our roadie lived. By this time, Hot Smoke had become a hit, so our days were more intense than when we lived in Austin. The band was gigging much more often; there was always business to discuss, and we had much more at stake.
At the house in Houston, we shared meals because eating together made it easy for us to discuss the day's activities. I remember Roy or Lynn, our roadie, cooking breakfast, which we ate in a little breakfast nook. After breakfast, we'd practice in the living room, where the roadies had set up our gear. Bubble Puppy structured our living situation in Houston to make it easy for us to survive, practice, and discuss business. The arrangement was fun because we enjoyed each other's company.
We'd head to the International Artists' (I.A.) recording studio, Gold Star Studios, in Todd's Dodge Charger if scheduled to record. Sometimes we used the studio as a rehearsal room. If we had a new song ready, we'd cut a track for our upcoming second LP. Recording sessions could last for an hour or several hours, depending on the complexity of the music. We would sometimes complete a song in a "take" or two. Often, it would take longer. I remember Ray, our producer, saying, "Ok, here goes take twenty-two." These recordings were part of our never-ending quest for a follow-up to Hot Smoke and Sassafras.
The I.A. offices were in the same building as the studio complex, meaning we were around I.A. management every time we recorded. On each visit to the studio, we had to keep Roy, our fiery Italian bass player, from going upstairs to the office of the I.A. president, Bill Dillard, to pick a fight. But Roy was always one step ahead of us and usually managed to sneak up there and piss off Dillard. Bill had emphysema, so he was not the healthiest man, and arguing with Roy would start Bill coughing. Bill would even pass out sometimes! But, after a bit, Bill would wake up and continue the discussion!
Roy and the rest of the band had legitimate issues with I.A. We were frustrated by their management of Bubble Puppy and our recordings. They mishandled the mob and the mob's demand for payola. Also, after we had Todd's accountant father audit I.A.'s books, he discovered a discrepancy. I.A. had charged us for making our records, then charged us again when the records came back unsold. In addition, they took money from our gigs and applied it to the cost of our studio recording time, which was wrong and possibly illegal.
Despite these transgressions, the band never hired a lawyer. We were young and naive and did not realize that music lawyers could help us. We felt our only options were to either stay and take the abuse or say goodbye to I.A.
I.A.'s booking strategy was exhausting. We fantasized that I.A. put a map of the United States on the wall, threw darts at it, and booked us where the darts landed. For example, we would play in Chicago, then play in Brownsville the next week, and then go back to Chicago. After one of these crazy tours, I was hospitalized for exhaustion.
I.A.'s incompetence was too much for our producer, Ray Rush, and he threatened to quit. If Ray had left, it would have been a disaster for the band because he was the company's most significant supporter and the only person who thoroughly understood the record business.
By the way, I.A. mismanaged other groups as well. For example, it made a mess handling The Thirteenth Floor Elevators, the first musical group to create a new "Psychedelic" sound. The Elevators' You're Gonna Miss Me was a hit record, charting at #55 in Billboard magazine, but I.A. could not capitalize on this success. I.A. was an unknown record label, and its poor record distribution kept the Elevators from charting higher. As a result, The Elevators never became the worldwide superstars they could have been. As an aside: I.A. added applause tracks to Elevator songs and passed them off as "live" recordings, which were not live.
I was lucky to see the Elevators perform several times. I saw them at the Dunes in Port Aransas, Texas, and my teen cover band opened for them at the Stardust Roller Rink in Corpus when I was still in high school. The Stardust kept the lights on while the bands performed, and the Elevators were still psychedelic! I remember seeing the Elevators on Dick Clark's "Where the Action Is" TV show and thinking, "That's the most original sound I've ever heard!"
The Elevators were our label mates on I.A., but we rarely saw them. Once, they visited the Puppy House, and I remember talking to Roky Erikson, the legendary lead singer for The Elevators. Our conversation was strange because Roky would say something and then turn around two times. Was this behavior because he was that far gone from drug use, or was he just acting? I could not tell.
I.A. knew of the band's drug problems and did nothing to help them "clean up." Also, I.A. had the Elevators live in a house it owned, which was well known to the Houston police for housing drug users.
In 1969, Roky got busted in Austin for possessing one joint. The judge threatened to give Roky a twenty-year sentence unless he agreed to confinement in Texas's Rusk Mental Hospital. There, he received multiple electroshock therapies and drug treatments that worsened his mental state, which LSD and other drugs had already damaged.
Days of Our Time
Days of Our Time was Bubble Puppy's fourth single, released by I.A. in 1969. It followed our previous 45 releases: Hot Smoke and Sassafras, If I Had a Reason, and Beginning.
The lyrics to Days of Our Time were an inside joke for the band because they were a rejection of and an insult to I.A. Of course, they were open to interpretation by listeners, but the lyrics had hidden meanings for us.
Here are a few interpretations of Days of Our Time lyrics:
"Lies from the tower." The president of I.A. had his office upstairs in the record studio.
"People that hassle our kind." These lyrics referred to the owners of I.A.
"The man and his claim". The claim was against our recording contract, which paid us pennies for each LP.
"The things that he's told, not to mention." The management at I.A. intentionally kept us in the dark. When an issue came up, their policy was "Don't tell the band."
Days of Our Time was one of the most fun songs to play on the drums because Rod and I always worked closely on a song's rhythms, especially Days of Our Time. As a result, the song had numerous stops and starts, which the band executed flawlessly.
We loved our lives in Houston. Unfortunately, I.A. kept disappointing us. Soon, we would have to decide whether to stay or leave the company.
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Was so glad to have your new read today! Always fun & entertaining stories to think about happening back then. Keep them coming !
Every one of your Substack posts is pure gold, Dave. This one is no exception.