The Elastik Band

As they say…you either love The Elastik Band’s “Spazz” or you hate it. It’s a safe bet that mostly everybody visiting this website and reading this interview falls into the former category. Although David Cortopassi’s group recorded other songs that fell more in line with the expectations of the era, it is “Spazz” that they are best remembered for – so much so that their other recordings have for the most part remained unheard. Thankfully, Cortopassi is about to rectify that situation by releasing a 21-track CD featuring much of the Elastik Band’s recorded output. You can order it now only via his website, http://www.Digital-Cellars.com.

An Interview With David Cortopassi

60sgaragebands.com (60s): How did you first get interested in music?

David Cortopassi: My brother and sister played professionally and also performed on USO tours (United Service Organizations entertained the armed services). I wanted to be in the act, and they included me when I was about five-years old. We performed as The Cortopassi Trio playing instruments, dancing, and doing pantomime in a variety show called Braiden’s Follies. We were one of about ten acts that included anything from a magician to comedians, to acrobats, and an all-girl chorus line.

Some of the performances were in top-secret government camps. I can remember getting in a bus with the entire entourage; an MP would pull down shades so we couldn’t see where we were going. When we arrived, we’d get out inside an airplane hanger or walk through a canvas tunnel and there would be hundreds of soldiers waiting - literally hanging from rafters cheering. We’d get on stage, do the show, eat at the commissary with the soldiers, and then get back on the bus without ever knowing where we performed. The best acts usually opened or closed the show. We closed…mostly because my sister was gorgeous and all the servicemen went crazy over her. We played together like that until I started high school.

60s: Was The Elastik Band your first band?

DC: My first band was called The Soul Survivors. I was a sophomore or junior in high school. That band played together for a couple of years doing gigs for YMCA dances and small private parties. We also did a couple battle of the bands with other Bay area high-school copy bands like The Night Riders and The Druids - doing stuff by The Turtles, Herman’s Hermits, Paul Revere and The Raiders, or The Stones. We mostly just played in the garage.

60s: Where and when was The Elastik Band formed?

DC: I formed The Elastik Band in1965 right after graduating high school. I was studying music in college and was introduced to Scott Williams by a mutual acquaintance that thought we’d be good together. Originally we called ourselves This Side Up and actually released a 45 under that name.

The band was: David Cortopassi – four and seven-string guitar, vibraphone, and vocals; Scott Williams – six and twelve-string lead guitar, bass, and vocals; Russell Kerger – piano, saxophone, and backup vocals; Rusty Kierig – bass guitar, saxophone, and backup vocals; Vince Silvera – drums, percussion, and vocals; and Rebecca Tieson – flute and backup vocals.

Rebecca played very few live gigs with us. She mostly performed on the first album we recorded prior to signing with Universal.

60s: Sometimes the band’s name is listed as “Elastick Band”…

DC: The U.K. Stateside release of “Spazz” misspelled the band name shown on the label as The Elastick Band and it was incorrect.

60s: Where did the band typically play?

DC: We didn’t play high schools much. Mostly we played at concerts or nightclubs and colleges in the San Francisco Bay area. Later, when we signed with Universal, we played in the Los Angeles area and cities between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

60s: How far was the band's "touring" territory?

DC: About the farthest tour was to Arizona when “Would Still Love You”became number 15 on the charts there. We gigged for a couple of weeks in that state. But, primarily we stayed in California.

60s: Did The Elastik Band have a manager?

DC: There was always someone interested in promoting The Elastik Band. We usually had a different representative for each record company with which we became associated. They not only helped us get gigs, but also were instrumental in arranging studio interest and getting A&R people to attend gigs.

60s: How would you describe the band's sound? What bands influenced you?

DC: Although we had our own style and everything was original, The Elastik Band prided itself in being able to play many styles of music. A couple of songs were in the vein of The Mamas and The Papas (“All I Need”), others were like The Beau Brummels or The Byrds (“Mixed Emotions”), another had a feel like Paul Revere and The Raiders (“Back On My Feet”), and so on. We thought diversity was a good thing, but in reality, record companies didn’t quite know what to do with us.

60s: How popular locally did The Elastik Band become?

DC: We played many times at large concerts in Golden Gate Park and throughout California with bands like Steppenwolf, Jefferson Airplane, Bo Diddley, Syndicate of Sound, Grateful Dead, Santana, Country Joe & The Fish, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Animals, The Youngbloods, and Bill Medley. We also played Bill Graham’s Fillmore West as opening act to bands. The Elastik Band had a strong following and was well received whenever we played.

60s: Where did The Elastik Band record?

DC: Brian Gardner engineered the very first recordings in his living room way before he became a pro. Century Records released a 45 of two songs (“Lose Yourself” / “Turn Your Head” as This Side Up) in 1965. “Lose Yourself” is probably the closest song in comparison to “Spazz”. Brian also recorded another song called “Mixed Emotions” that was never released. We went on to record an album at a more professional studio, which included our re-recording “Turn Your Head” and “Mixed Emotions”. When we moved to Los Angeles for Univeral/Kapp we recorded at Sunset Sound, which was all engineered by Don Landee.

60s: Why wasn't the LP you recorded prior to signing with Universal ever released?

DC: I think that after the backlash of bad publicity over the release of “Spazz” on ATCO and EMI, it was quite a blemish to our reputation and our management at the time questioned whether we were still saleable. Things were quite different then. Companies didn’t capitalize on bad publicity then as they do now. Today, any publicity is good publicity. If a celebrity is controversial - does something unacceptable by society like being arrested for drugs or drunk driving, sings about abusing women or killing cops - it’s big news and unfortunately seems to just draw more interest.

60s: Apparently "Tunesmith" was also recorded and released at the same time by The Bards. Do you know if your version performed better on the charts?

DC: We had recorded “Would Still Love You” which got to number 15 in Arizona. We were gigging there for a couple of weeks when a band in Oregon called The Bards released a Jimmy Webb song entitled “Tunesmith” on a different, small label that looked to be a hit. KAPP, trying to seize the opportunity, immediately cancelled our gigs and flew us back to record a cover on it in an attempt to beat them to the market. Universal booked us into Sunset Sound Studios with girl backup singers, hired Don Landee (Captain Beefheart, Doobie Brothers) to engineer, and we didn’t come out for three days. They pressed the 45s that same day, bought a full-page promo in Billboard Magazine, and rushed copies out to every station on their roster. Both releases hit the market at the exact same time. Not knowing which band was the original, most all DJs across the country refused to play either record. I really wasn’t aware of what was happening at the time, but after understanding it, I’ve always felt somewhat bad about impacting another band’s good fortune. KAPP and we also lost momentum with our own release of “I Would Still Love You”.

60s: Who was the band's primary songwriter?

DC: Pretty much everything we played was original. I was the primary writer, and many songs were written together with Scott Williams, the lead guitarist. He was a terrific co-writer. We worked together until about 1980 and remain close friends.

60s: What was the original inspiration behind "Spazz"?

DC: I was straight when it came to marijuana or psychedelics even though drugs were prevalent at the time. It was difficult to avoid drugs and most everyone was trying to get me high which made me feel kind of like an outsider and even more rebellious about it. While everyone seemed to be dropping acid and eating magic mushrooms during the San Francisco music explosion, I wrote “Spazz” as an anti-drug statement, never thinking it would ever be interpreted as anything else. In retrospect, I doubt anyone other than me knew what it was really about.

60s: Did the band ever perform "Spazz" live? If so, what type of reaction did it generate?

DC: Yes, we played everything we recorded, including “Spazz”. But we really didn’t have an opportunity to play “Spazz” much. When it was released on ATCO, things looked pretty good. About the same time, our manager was setting up a trip to Europe to help promote the release on EMI. A few days later, our manager told us he’d been advised not to send us to Europe because it would be dangerous for us. People thought that “Spazz” was making fun of the mentally retarded, and threatened to throw rocks at us when we got off the plane. This was a total surprise to the group. Following that, we got signed by Universal and things changed.

60s: What Elastik Band songs that will be on new CD?

DC: Altogether, there’ll be 21 tracks on the CD. All but eight have never been released. This includes recordings we made under the names This Side Up and The Elastik Band. All are originals and include a recording of an Australian DJ on Sydney’s 2UW Station who stopped playing “Spazz” mid-stream, saying he found it “offensive”, was sure everyone else did, and refused to continue playing it.

60s: Did the band make any local TV appearances?

DC: Yes. We did a couple of local shows from San Francisco, which were listed in TV Guide at the time. On one TV show we performed along with Steppenwolf. It was possibly captured, but other than still photos, there’s nothing I know of on film.

60s: What year and why did the band break up?

DC: Eventually, Universal changed our name to Dangerfield and we recorded another album worth of material - most of which was never published except for one 45 entitled “Zig Zag Man”b/w “Rockpile” on their subsidiary label, Kapp. Dangerfield was essentially the same players as The Elastik Band, but the music changed quite a bit. We departed from Top-40 pop-type stuff, (and did) more underground music and harder rock. It’s an entirely different sound than The Elastik Band. We asked to be released from our contract when they failed to release the album. Uni refused, but finally released us about a year later in 1970. Eventually, we’ll probably try to release a CD on Dangerfield if there’s interest. Dangerfield did one particularly fun song entitled “At Your Best” that might give “Spazz” a heart attack.

60s: What were the personnel differences between The Elastik Band and Dangerfield?

DC: Everyone was the same except that we parted ways with Rebecca Tieson.

60s: What about today? What keeps you busy?

DC: Currently, I have my own independent label called Digital Cellars, which has released three CDs: Pharaoh of Mars, The Silicon Jungle, and Embrace Destiny. All are currently in syndication getting airplay nationwide and in 13 countries. Airplay for DMX alone reaches 80 million daily listeners, six million homes, and 180,000 businesses. They’re also available from major stores or online from The Orchard, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, CDNow, CDBaby, and our own website. The Elastik Band CD is only available directly from www.Digital-Cellars.com.

60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with The Elastik Band?

DC: The Elastik Band happened during a time when the music scene was exploding in San Francisco. Having a band in there then was as if you were at Woodstock but not just for four days. It went on for years with tons of places to play, huge concerts everywhere, audiences that actually listened, and innovative bands that to this day are still remembered for whatever measure of success they achieved. Aside from the opportunities and excitement, I think the thing most bands had going for them then was that they possessed a feeling of unity and of belonging to something bigger than their own band. Like other bands of that age, The Elastik Band was an extended family that thought of themselves as a group rather than individuals who just happened to be in a band. We not only were musicians, we were close friends that had a purpose, were part of a music movement, and shared a strong sense of camaraderie and devotion to each other. It really doesn’t get much better than that. What a rush! There are tons of groups that hit #1 on the charts and never were lucky enough to experience that kind of adventure.

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