Paul Speer-Stone Garden Interview
Speer began playing guitar at just the age of 9 and by the time he started high school, little to his knowledge, he would put together a legendary band. Even though Stone Garden never went on to play the bigger gigs, or move outside of their home town, they still made an impact on their community and the rest of the world some decades later. Paul went on to be a successful record producer, but he never stopped releasing his own music and developing his craft. Today Paul resides in AZ where he has his own studio and still continues to release music and submerge himself in the arts. And with the release of his new record, ‘Sonoran Odyssey’ in January of 2020, we can expect great things from Speer as life becomes familiar again. Enjoy!
Originally from Lewiston, Idaho. When were you born?
October 1952.
Three Dimensions circa Dec. of 1965
Can you tell me what it was like growing up with both parents being musicians?
They both just played for fun. A huge benefit was that as musicians, they were very supportive of me and my brothers taking lessons and eventually forming a band. My Mom bought me a 3/4 size acoustic guitar when I was nine and it piqued interest in music for my brothers. It wasn't long before we had electric guitars and a set of drums. Mom and Dad bought those instruments and told us if we wanted more gear, they would loan us the money but we had to pay them back. As we progressed, we did need more and always paid them back.
Knights of Sound - Clarkston High circa Oct. of 1966
What drew you to pick up the guitar at the age of nine? Who were listening to around this time that inspired you to play? What kind of music was played in your household during your youth? Can you tell me about starting a band with your brothers at the age of 11? What was your local music scene like? Did you see anyone perform that till this day remains impactful on your creative pursuit? What was a typical weekend in Lewiston like for you guys back in those days?
A neighbor kid knew we had a band and convinced the local AM radio station, KRLC, to host a party at the city pool and include us. They played records for people to dance to and we did a couple of sets of Ventures covers and surf music like Wipe Out and Pipeline. The station gave us a cut of the door income and I came away from this experience knowing music was my calling in life.
KRLC Chart
The station gave us a cut of the door income and I came away from this experience knowing music was my calling in life
Tell me about the first gig you guys played that following year when you were just 12 years old at the 'Swim N' Dance' party. What was the name of the radio station that sponsored the gig? What was that night like performing in front of your friends? What did the setlist consist of? How much of an impact did this make on your life at this point?
Growing up in a town like Lewiston during the 1960s was wonderful. Nobody locked their doors, you could walk or ride a bike anywhere, and you spent a lot of time outdoors. Once our band had enough tunes, there was a great supply of potential gigs. That scene no longer exists for teens. Both high schools had separate facilities for dances, the YWCA hosted dances. There was Casey's, which was a teen nightclub, and just about every smaller town within 100 miles had dance halls. We were gigging so much we had to frequently turn down offers.
KRLC Chart Top 30 circa Aug. 1969
By the time you entered high school you guys had already landed on the title of Stone Garden.
Where did this originate from? Who else joined the lineup at this point? What was your high school experience like? You guys played an array of gigs that included, frat parties, teen dances, proms etc. Can you tell me about some of these experiences? Are there any specific performances, or nights that stand out to you the most? When did you guys begin writing your own material?
My two brothers, Neal and Gary (both deceased), and I started out as the Three Dimensions but when we added our friend Dan Merrell (died in 1972) on bass, we became the Knights of Sound. An older fellow from our neighborhood, Don Tunnell, came on board as our manager soon after and felt we needed a cooler name. He saw a psychedelic poster titled Stone Garden, suggested the name change and we went with it. I even wrote to the company that printed the poster and asked permission to use it. They said "Great Idea!"
We were writing songs almost from the beginning and Gary, as lead singer, wrote the best material. I tried, but I am not a good singer or songwriter so my contributions were music oriented. Our manager moved to Seattle while we were high school and went to work at a talent agency. They agency signed us and they booked gigs all over the Pacific Northwest.
1st Promo photo of the group
When did you begin recording the legendary single, 'Oceans Inside Me'? What inspired this tune, and what was the process of writing, as well as recording it? When and where did this take place?
In 1969 there was a guy (Doug Smith) who lived in Clarkston, Washington (across the Snake River from Lewiston) who had set up professional recording gear in his house. He offered to record two songs and press 300 45 RPM records for $300. We recorded live to mono and I don't recall doing more than one take of each song. Gary wrote both "Oceans Inside Me" and the B-side "Stop My Thinking."
When we received the shipment of 45s, I drove to most of the record stores and radio stations within one hundred miles and it became a regional hit. The night DJ at KRLC felt the audio quality was lacking (it was) and encouraged us to re-record Oceans in a better studio so we traveled to Vancouver, Washington and did that along with two other tracks that are on the album. It was called Ripcord Recording at the time and the studio is still there under a different owner and name. https://boccerecording.co/
Gary graduated high school in 1969 (me in 1970) and moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington. We heard his replacement, Russ Pratt, perform in another group and asked him to join Stone Garden. Our band was well established and gigging all the time so he accepted. It turned out that not only was he a terrific singer and organist, he had fantastic ideas for songs. Russ was vital to the next creative wave of the band. Incidentally, Russ and I stay in touch and he is an acclaimed musician in Rio de Janeiro, where he has lived for many years.
I am a little fuzzy on the details, but when Russ departed, Neal and I moved to Seattle to connect with Gary and briefly become the Speer Brothers Band. We added a bass player and keyboardist to the line up but we didn't do any recording during that time. I was getting frustrated and felt a need to advance my abilities by attending music school. The University of Idaho had a good department, was inexpensive, and located in Moscow, Idaho only thirty miles from Lewiston. As leader of the group, owner of the PA system and the van, me going to school meant the band's demise. It is a decision I don't regret.
SG circa Jan. of 1968
As leader of the group, owner of the PA system and the van, me going to school meant the band's demise. It is a decision I don't regret
When did you graduate from high school? With this being the unfortunate demise of the group, what paths had the other members of the group taken after graduation? Did you guys try and play a last show at all that summer? Can you tell me about attending music school at the University of Idaho? What was this experience like for you? Did you have to move away from home?
I really enjoyed music school, but left before graduating because I felt like I got the foundation I was seeking. And for me, a degree didn't mean anything since I wasn't going to become a teacher. Of course, with all kinds of great musicians at the school, the choice to start a new group was an easy one. The Paul Speer Band consisted of drums, bass guitar, four horn players, and me on guitar. I played professionally through most of the 1970s in a variety of situations but a key revelation was living and working in Los Angeles for a couple of years. Besides gigging in clubs, I was an assistant to a record producer and learning production and engineering. Those experiences led to becoming a producer, engineer, and recording artist myself after returning to Seattle around 1980.
Early shot of Paul sporting a sweet Gibson in front of some Kustom/Sunn amps
From Seattle you moved to LA. When was this and what was it like for you to move to a place where the pulse was really being pushed? How did you initially get in with the studios where you began to learn production and engineering? Tell me about the moment you landed in LA. What was that like to touch ground in a pretty legendary area of the country? Did you immediately try and network with people? How did you initially settle in? Did you see any bands during your time there?
In Seattle, I was getting my feet wet as an engineer/producer and one of the studios I did sessions at introduced David Lanz to me. They were recording mostly bands and wanted to increase their profile by doing higher paying sessions for commercials. David had a reputation as a jingle composer and they liked my style of mixing. We did some demos for them but nothing ever materialized. However, that same studio a few years later was where my friend Jack Endino recorded Nirvana's first record "Bleach."
Dan Merrell on bass
We did some demos for them but nothing ever materialized. However, that same studio a few years later was where my friend Jack Endino recorded Nirvana's first record "Bleach"
Throughout the 80's and 90's you worked with Lanz on numerous projects including, 'Heartsounds', 'Collection 983: Spectral Voyages', 'Natural States', 'Desert Vision', 'Third Stone From The Sun' and 'Bridge Of Dreams'. Can you tell me about these particular releases?
David and I immediately had great chemistry and after I acquired some pro gear housed in my basement apartment in Seattle, we kept busy creating original music for corporate videos. Around that time, we both began work on our first albums as recording artists. His being "Heartsounds" and mine "Collection 983: Spectral Voyages."
I met Jan Nickman in 1982 and helped him to produce a music show pilot for KING TV, the NBC affiliate in Seattle. They gave the green light for a series and I was gainfully employed for the first time in my life having always been a freelancer prior to that. Long story short, David, Jan, and I created the music and video for "Natural States" in our spare time over eighteen months. Miramar Productions was born as a result and the music album and VHS video were wildly successful. We followed with "Desert Vision" which also had huge sales and both albums got heavy radio play. At its peak, Miramar had thirty five employees and was doing millions of dollars of business yearly. Unfortunately, mismanagement destroyed the company and the catalog was sold off to cover the debt load in 1998. By then, David and I were well established recording artists and the demise of Miramar didn't affect us very much.
Tell me about selling your studio and Moving to Memphis, TN. Around this time you put your focus more so on your work than others. What was going on with your music career at this point? Where were you at both creatively and personally at this point in your life? What made you decide to eventually settle in Arizona in 2018?
From 1985 on, I had a professional 24 track analog studio in my home in Bellevue, Washington and got very busy producing other artists. Hundreds of albums over time. In 1992, I met Janice, the woman who would in 2008 become my wife. In 2006, she was given word from her employer that she was needed at their world headquarters in Memphis. We took stock of the situation, decided to get engaged, and headed for the Bluff City.
I sold my Bellevue house to an artist I was producing and he wanted to buy as much of the studio gear that I would part with. I kept some choice items and downsized to where from that point on, I was recording and mixing "in the box" which means once the audio is in the computer, it stays in the digital domain from then on. I was in my early 50s and didn't want to start a new business in Memphis so I also decided to stop producing other artists. The internet was my ticket to still make money mixing and mastering and I retained some Seattle clients along with new clients from Europe, Australia, Russia, and South America. Janice and I knew we wanted to move back West after Memphis. Upon her retirement, we chose the Tucson, Arizona area and love living here in the Sonoran Desert.
There is a page on my website documenting my studios over the years: paulspeer.com/studio-history
Paul’s studio circa 1982
When you reflect on your life, what memories and times are you most fond of? Do you ever reflect on your brief time with Stone Garden and ever wonder what would have been if you guys would have stayed together? Out of all your work, and prolific at that, what are you most proud of?
In spite of the acclaim Stone Garden has received since the first album release in 1998 on Rockadelic, I doubt the group would have garnered a record deal later on in the 1970s. Seattle wasn't taken seriously as a music town until grunge blew up in the 1990s, so it would have likely meant we had to move to LA and slug it out there. Frankly, the main reason I wanted to go to music school was the other members were not as serious about moving forward as I was. My time in LA was a game changer because everyone I met was as serious as me about their craft. It also demystified the big time music business and I knew I could make this work.
Rich Haupt, owner of Rockadelic, liked to release obscure rock and psychedelic music from the 1960s and 1970s. He got his hands on a copy of the Oceans 45 and contacted me in 1997 not knowing I was still making records. He said he wanted to do an album of Stone Garden music and asked if I had enough material. Keeping a lot of the tapes we made at home, live gigs, and studio recordings, we had plenty to work with. Rich deserves the credit for bringing our music to the world decades after breaking up. I am very grateful to him.
I don't have children so my records and videos are my legacy. Natural States and Desert Vision are standouts in my career especially since they continue to have fans to this day. I am fortunate that many of those fans have supported the music I have done from that time forward.
Speer in his studio circa 1992
Tell me about some of your 'Brushes With Greatness'. You met JimI Hendrix and his father (on a separate occasion.) What was that like? Did you know Michael Shrieve around the time he played Woodstock? What was Wolfman Jack like?
I've met a lot of famous people over the years and there is a page on my website describing some: paulspeer.com/brushes-with-greatness briefly meeting Jimi Hendrix (Noel and Mitch were in the back seat with Jimi riding shotgun) as they were leaving the parking lot of the Spokane Coliseum after a concert was amazing and definitely a high point. Stone Garden played a lot of their music and we were big fans. His death two years later was a major shock. Michael Shrieve and I became friends in the mid 1990s when we were tapped by the Recording Academy (Grammys) to create a chapter in Seattle covering the Pacific Northwest. I think I met Wolfman Jack in 1977 when he and his entourage came to a Vancouver Canada nightclub where a band I was in was performing. We were well known for a set of 1950s music and he was in town appearing at an event. He was cool and a mellow guy.
What have you been up to during the pandemic? Are you working on any new projects?
I finished my 13th album, Sonoran Odyssey, in January 2020 and had a release date of April 10th cast in stone. With the pandemic lock down in March, there wasn't anything I could do except proceed. Fortunately, the pandemic didn't affect releasing the album to radio and the streaming services. Sales were brisk initially and the record landed in many top ten radio charts.
Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
I am very grateful to do what I love and make a living at it my entire life. I don't take that for granted and appreciate the music lovers who continue to support my work.
