Sky Saxon

After the breakup of the seminal psychedelic garage punk band the Seeds in 1969, frontman Sky Saxon (born Richard Marsh) embarked on an erratic solo career in between stints as a mystical guru in Hawaii. Much of his post-Seeds work fit the mold of a curious 1960s relic, a hippie acid casualty with a strong cult following, in the mold of Roky Erickson. Saxon began his career under the name Little Richie Marsh, performing sugary, doo wop-influenced teenage pop in 1962. Changing his name to Sky Saxon, he joined two L.A. garage bands, the Soul Rockers and the Electra Fires, before forming the Seeds in 1965. Saxon continued to record under the Seeds' name following the group's official dissolution in 1969, releasing a series of singles that increasingly reflected a drug-induced separation from reality. Beginning in 1976, the late '70s saw the release of several albums credited to variously named outfits: Sky Sunlight, Sunstar, Sky "Sunlight" Saxon, the Universal Stars Band, Star's New Seeds Band, Sunlight and the New Seeds, and so on. 1983 saw the release of a rarities collection, New Fruit From Old Seeds: The Rare Sky Saxon, Vol. 1 (there never was a planned Vol. 2), which contained material dating back to Saxon's pre-Seeds days. Saxon, who had not produced any new albums since 1978, returned on the U.K. Psycho label in 1984 with Starry Ride, which featured support from Steppenwolf's Mars Bonfire (composer of "Born to Be Wild"), as well as former members of Iron Butterfly and Fraternity of Man. The Saxon/Bonfire collaboration reached full fruition in the group Firewall, who debuted with the album A Groovy Thing in 1986 (Destiny's Children features the same songs in a different order). Firewall featured guest appearances from members of such California neo-psychedelic bands as the Dream Syndicate, the Plimsouls, the Droogs, and Yard Trauma, demonstrating Saxon's enduring influence and appeal, particularly among that set of musicians. That same year, Saxon recorded a largely unrehearsed live album with Purple Electricity, a one-off project featuring members of Redd Kross and the Primates, entitled Private Party. Firewall returned in 1988 with In Search of Brighter Colors, which was released in the U.S. as World Fantastic, with several rare '80s cuts replacing the former version's weaker tracks. Saxon has since returned to Hawaii.