From: Los Angeles, California
The David were a very talented group of teenagers based in the Los Angeles area, led by singer/songwriter Warren Hansen. The David were “Warren Hansen” (vocals, “Farfisa Compact Organ”, ‘plasmatar’), “Mark Bird” (lead guitar), “Mike Butte” (rhythm guitar), “Chuck Spieth” (bass guitar) and “Tim Harrison” (drums).
The David started life in 1965 as “The Reasons”, playing small gigs around the Los Angeles area. In 1966, the group met manager Steven Vail who renamed them “The David” and got them signed to a record contract with 20th Century Fox label. In the fall of 1966, The David went into the studio for the first time and recorded a debut 45 “40 Miles” b/w “Bus Token” (20th Century Fox catalog number 6663), which was released that December and reached #19 locally in Bakersfield, California. A second single “People Saying, People Seeing” b/w “40 Miles”(20th Century Fox catalog number 6675) was recorded at the tail end of 1966, but wasn’t released until June of 1967.
In mid 1967, Mike Butte left the band, The David parted ways with 20th Century Fox and Steve Vail formed his own label, the “Vance Music Company” (“VMC”), which not surprisingly signed The David as its first record deal. The David immediately began planning an LP around songs written by Warren Hansen, which eventually included an elaborate string arrangement by “Gene Page”. Warren Hansen also invented an instrument he coined the “Plasmatar”, which sounds a little like an electric cello and makes an appearance on the recordings.
The album, titled “Another Day, Another Lifetime”, was finally released at the tail end of 1967 and includes a slew of excellent tracks like “Sweet December”, “Now To You”, “So Much More” and “Time M”. The title track “Another Day, Another Lifetime” blends Eastern, chant like overtones with Western orchestration motifs. Other tracks are often characterized by driving rhythms played alongside oddly spaced melody lines. Much of the material – which was all written and composed by Warren Hansen – is heavily orchestrated with songs that included elaborate string arrangements and eastern style orchestration. By all accounts Another Day, Another Lifetime was a very costly affair with a big budget.
To capitalize on “Another Day, Another Lifetime”, The David was well promoted in the L.A. area, which included appearances at the 1968 “Miss Teen Screen Magazine” pageant at the “Hollywood Palladium” and in the local Rock and Roll TV documentary “Gramophone To Groovy”. Even though the record received radio airtime on both sides of the U.S., it only sold modestly and the band’s popularity began to wane.
In 2006 Mark Bird commented: “I was a member of the group The David throughout their existence. I had not heard the album myself for decades until I bought the re-issue. After the David broke up I went to music school at UCLA and became a college music teacher and recorded several classical guitar albums. After a great many changes in life I became a physician and practice in Southern California. Despite the fact that my entire rock recording and performing career took place from ages 13 to 16 it was a memorial time which I look back on fondly. The music is surprisingly resilient and listenable after all this time. My thanks to the many writers on various sites who have kindly reviewed the re-issue.” ~ Mark Bird
~ Much of the above information from psychedelic-rocknroll.blogspot.com
Tracks played on Psychedelicized…
From the 1967 album Another Day, Another Lifetime
- Now To You
- So Much More
- Sweet December
- Time M
From the compilation Electric Sitar Headswirlers, Vol. 11
- People Seeing, People Saying
