Album Notes

In 1969, I went to a sidewalk sale. That was a big event in Temple City, a small suburban community near Pasadena, California. The streets were blocked off and it was something of a festival. I was eight years old. The local merchants had their wares in front of their stores and promised discounts, but the coolest thing to me was the rock and roll trio playing in front of the local music store. They wore Beatle boots and velvet bell-bottoms. I remember the bass player doing a little dip on the downbeat of a three-chord progression and they were all electric! I had a Peter Max notebook and an Andy Warhol lunch bucket.
The images of Woodstock reported on our color TV seemed bigger than life. Though I was really young, The Summer of Love had made a huge impression on me. By the time I was in high school, The Beatles had long since broken up but I remember taking a copy of The White Album into the art lab and playing “Revolution #9” on the turntable. The teacher, Mrs. Morris yelled, “Take that off! That’s weird!” --I loved it.
In 1982, I bought a beat up Rickenbacker 12-string for $325 dollars from a guy whose wife was going to have a baby. I formed a band named The Wail. The Wail was the predecessor to The Electric Marmalade. We played sixties style original songs. We were a quartet with a left-handed bass player. We wore mop tops and Nehru jackets, burned incense on stage. We started out playing parties and school dances and eventually began playing to sold out crowds at Pasadena’s own club, The Ice House as the main bill.
The problem we had was that our fans were rowdy, often riotous, ending with manager, Duane Thorin, being forced to lock us all in the club after gigs while the cops broke things up. I used to talk with the ticket clerk who was a young woman. One night she complained that there was going to be chaos in the streets that night because of us. I placed a bet with her --a drink that it wouldn’t happen. The Cowsills were opening for us that night. We waited back stage as they started their set. We heard a lot of yelling and 15 minutes later, The Cowsills came back into the dressing room with stickers reading, “The Wail” all over themselves and their guitars. The Cowsills said, “You better get out there, guys. It’s your crowd.” When the gig was over, and we were all locked in the club, I of course bought that ticket clerk a drink.
In 1983, The Wail released a single “45 Degrees (I Love You).” b/w “Midnight Eyes.” The record was produced by Earle Mankey. The A side was picked up by KROQ D.J. Rodney Bingenhiemer, who played our song alongside other “Paisley Underground” acts like The Bangles and Dream Syndicate. By the end of the year, our tune“45 Degrees,” had reached the number eight most requested song of 1983 on The Rodney on the ROQ show. That was a blast. We played all the Hollywood clubs like Gazzarri’s and Madame Wong’s.
We continued playing colleges and clubs for some twelve years after that under the monikers, The Electric Marmalade and Dr. Moonglow. But This incarnation of The Electric Marmalade makes the coolest and most psychedelic band I’ve had to date. This line-up of The Electric Marmalade was formed in the year 2001. I play the 12-string Rickenbacker and sing. Devin Thomas, who has also toured and recorded with Oingo Boingo and was the original keyboardist for Wild Child, plays the Vox organ. Dave Beyer who is also the drummer for Melissa Etheridge and former drummer for Christopher Cross, plays drums. We have played most of the clubs on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood since 2001. Our favorite gigs are at some of the coffee houses in Glendale and Pasadena, California. I feel we get to a new stratosphere of the psychedelic. I hope you will enjoy our newly supersized web site. You will find a link on this page. Also, I hope you will enjoy our new album, Voyage Through the Lava Lamp on the Zebra Valance label. It is a concept album in the truest sense. It really takes you through your lava lamp. We had a fabcool time recording it.

Robin Reda


About, Voyage Through The Lava Lamp


Voyage Through the Lava Lamp, is more than an album. It is the soundtrack to your lava lamp. That’s right, put it in your changer and gaze into the lava. Some incense might help but that music is sure to transform your room into a multi-sensory experience. The backwards guitars are positively going to move your mind as well as the sitars and voices chanting and trumpets singing. You might be taken off the planet by the sound of NASA engineers putting someone on the moon. You might watch the seasons change as a Ferris wheel rolls through the streets. You might decide to paint the room round and be reflective in it. But in the end you’ll hear, “Sweet Dreams Moonbeam,” and you’ll have to agree with yourself —all in all, it was a pretty good trip.

Kate, Zebra Valance Records