So after the unfortunate fiasco with the Moonsparks record, the band that we had worked up for the record had to be let go cause they were all really good players and we couldn’t pay ‘em. So we put a fusion/rock/ jazz band together and we figured we had to work our way back out to California. We booked ourselves anywhere we could play. Started making some pretty good money. We’d get these contracts for two weeks, a month, at some rock club attached to the Hilton or something. They’d put us up and we’d get like 2 or 3 grand between 4 or 5 people and that was pretty good. Took us close to a year to work ourselves all the way out from Ohio – took the southern route through Texas which was a great place cause they really supported us – to California. Went all the way up to Seattle and back and then we lost our drummer. So we shoaled up for a couple weeks. We were in Pismo Beach and Chris Sparks and I had heard of this great drummer up in the Monterey area name of Reese Perry. So we decided to go up and check him out. His parents own a chain of smorgasbords all across the state of California, so they lived in a nice house up in Carmel. And of course, he was a spoiled 17 year old, had a huge set of drums, a voice like an angel, long blond hair, a surfer, y’know. I was like "God, this is the guy." I mean he was playing Emerson, Lake and Palmer stuff, he was like Carl Palmer, all over the place. Had a lot of time to practice, this little rich kid. Asked him if wanted to join the band. After he heard our tape, he fell in love with us. He said, "This is what I’ve been waitin’ for!" Cause Moonsparks material was like storytelling. For instance, we had one song called "Performance" and it was all about this guy onstage in Broadway that went from the height to the depth of his career. So we told stories, and Reese loved that. It was theatrical rock and so much different than your basic three chord rock and roll.

So we moved up to Carmel and were there for like 6 or 7 years cause it was so beautiful up there. And we owned Carmel. We played Mission Ranch, which is now Clint Eastwood’s hotel. It was like a big barn back then and it was a great place to play rock and roll. We always tell everybody about our thank you note from Clint himself. They were trying to build a recreational area for all of Carmel and we donated our time for the fundraiser for the Mission Ranch and it was very successful. I still have that letter that Clint wrote me. Anyway, we decided that after playing everywhere you could play in Monterey, Santa Cruz, Carmel, San Jose, some San Francisco shows, we weren’t getting anywhere. You could go on forever playing those little clubs.

As a matter of fact, on a side note, to backtrack a little bit, before we lost our drummer and got Reese Perry. There was a place called C Street South in Pismo Beach, and it was a really good rock club. They’d bring in high-end entertainment, someone with a record out. Rubicon happened to be playing the same night that we were playing. We were opening up for Rubicon, cause they were just starting to take off, a top group in the Bay area. I thought they were great cause I loved all that horn stuff and we were playing fusion. Anyway, Brad’s amp broke down and he ended up borrowing my brother’s amp. So talk about crossing paths! (KR: Does Brad remember that? So many years later?) Well Brad, after many, many years and nights in hotel rooms and many bottles of whatever (laughs), it did dawn him, and he does remember my brother Scott, loaning him an amp. And isn’t that ironic that many years later – over ten years later – that Brad, Kelly and I get together.

Anyway, after we were up in Carmel, we decided we HAD to get down to LA. We had this friend in Los Angeles (we were all doing the vegetarian thing at the time) who owned a health food store. His brother, Eric Zoebler was a producer for people like The Yellowjackets. He had some time in this studio of his and as a favor, he’d bring us down and we’d do a live recording. We were thrilled to death, getting to go in a real studio and not some of these little podunk places we’d been used to. Went in and hooked up and played live. We overdubbed some vocals, but pretty much everyone played live, in the same room like a live gig, and we kicked butt. He was thrilled to death and he started to shop us down there. This was around 1979. So then our little drummer boy, Reese, got an offer from his parents -- cause they were afraid they were losing him. He was only in his early 20s and they didn’t want him in the rock and roll lifestyle. They wanted him to go to a culinary institute. They offered him a position going to a place in Australia – which is about as far away from us as you can get (laughs). All the surfing he’d want, y ‘know? – and he went. So we lost him right when we were starting to happen again. So, we were stuck. We didn’t know what to do. So we started starting auditioning drummers and I just got to the point where I thought we should just lay low for a time. It made sense for all of us financially, my brother had home and a family in Pebble Beach and Chris lived in Monterey. So I broke up Moonsparks.

So I stayed in LA and I hooked up with a band called Catch around 1981. We were unsigned but we had Steven H. Weiss as a business manager – he was Led Zeppelin’s business manager and attorney -- so this guy really had some clout. After about 6 months of working with these guys, we were opening up for The Motels, Rick Springfield – did tours without even having a record. We couldn’t get anyone to sign us, but we were out on tour! So I stayed with them for a little while. We played everywhere on the West Coast. Since we didn’t get signed, the guys in Catch starting getting a little weird and so again, we had to take a break. That’s when I got an idea to put another Moonsparks project together.

Chris and I got this group together and we had some great players: the bass player from Cheap Trick, Pete Cemeta. Matt Sorum played with us for a couple gigs but wasn’t available all the time, so he turned us onto Curly Smith. And so we did some gigs around town. Eventually what happened 

was, that I got this opportunity. Jeff Paris came in and saw us playing at a club called Sash in Studio City, CA and he was doing a record. During one of our breaks, he came up to me and asked me if I wanted to do a record with him. I knew this guy could really write and sing. So he still had his band from the previous record at the time, but he wanted to change bass players. He also wanted to find a new drummer cause Jeff wanted a more laid back blues kinda guy. The guy he had previously was pretty stiff. So I joined and up and then one day at a drumming audition, Matt Sorum shows up. He was like the last guy to show up and as soon as he walked in I said "This is gonna be the guy, you’ll see!" And he was. So Matt and I got to play together and we were on the road for a couple years with Jeff Paris.

Jeff Paris (Gary right)

Meanwhile, my band was on hold the entire time. Cause I knew we needed money to go into the studio and record – and that was always the case. Freebie studio time is always a drag cause they own you. It’s a spec deal and they own what you record, and when the time comes, they rip you off. So I took some time off with Jeff’s project and made a little bit of a name for 

myself. I mean, the record didn’t do that well - did better in Europe than over here -- and this is partially due to the fact that this was the same time that Bon Jovi came out. We were both on Polygram and as soon as Bon Jovi came out with their release, the record company jumped on it and we got left in the smoke. So I’m sitting on my ass – had a little money and was able to keep my house – but not enough to go back into the studio with the Moonsparks project.

Then, in the midst of all this, I got an opportunity to go out on the road with Three Dog Night. The drummer was someone who’d auditioned with me prior and he knew that I could take Chuck Negron’s part. Chuck was one of the three "dogs." So they need a singer for Chuck Negron (cause he was hooked on heroin at the time) and a bass player. So I went and auditioned. I just HAD to do it. I had to sing the third part because back in the late 60’s in some of my earlier bands, I’d done a lot of Three Dog Night songs so I knew ‘em. So I said to my Moonsparks band that I didn’t want to break up the band or put the guys on hold, but I have to go down and at least try out for these guys. I had to go down to the studio and be the third dog at least one time.

So I did. And I just nailed it. Three Dog Night called me the next day and said I had the gig. In the back of my mind, I never figured I would get so it was a big surprise. So then, I had to make a decision and I said, "No, I’m not gonna do it." So they called again the next day and doubled the offer and I couldn't refuse it. So I ended up doing it and went out on tour with them for a little over a year. Played a lot of shows. Played an incredible show in Virginia Beach to 125, 000 people. Had a last great gig in Maui and that was it for me.

So I came back to Los Angeles and put the Pack together. Brought Matt Sorum back, but Chris Sparks wasn’t in the Pack cause he was still mad at me for breaking Moonsparks up again. We’re friends now by the way, and we currently have some plans to do some recording, so there might be a little bit of Moonsparks revisited. But we definitely had a chemistry together. Anyway, the Pack…. we got turned down 5 times from Atlantic records. We had a conflict with Jason Flom, who had just gotten his position of A&R in NYC from Ahmet Ertegen. Atlantic Records became interested in us through my friend Steven Weiss who was still working with me. He and Ahmet were like best friends and a tape of ours dropped out of Steven’s briefcase when they were having coffee in Ahmet’s office one day. So Ahmet says, "What’s that?"

The Pack (Gary center)

Steven says, "It’s some band that I’ve been working with for awhile that I think has some potential."

"Stick it on!"

And he had this killer system and he liked it immediately. "Can I possibly get these guys to sign on Atlantic?" he says. 

Anyway, so Ahmet sent Jason Flom out and we did a showcase, and he liked us, and then came back and wanted another showcase with a few other people. And Jason brought his girlfriend and after the show he accused us of trying to take her away from him and all this crap. It was on and off and off and on again. But in retrospect, we were kinda glad we didn’t get signed cause, at the time, they had signed a whole lot of bands all at once and they weren’t getting any tour support. Then they’d just drop the band. It didn’t make sense. So we were glad we didn’t get signed by them really.