Beast page 2

On October 8, 1969, all of the members of The Beast signed a contract stipulating Jimmy Gilmer (of the Fireballs fame) as the group's personal manager.

WE MET AND BECAME FRIENDS WITH JIMMY GILMER OF THE FIREBALLS FAME AND EVENTUALLY SIGNED A MANAGEMENT CONTRACT TOGETHER.

BEFORE OUR SECOND ALBUM WAS RECORDED AND RELEASED, KENNY PASSARELLI LEFT AND WAS REPLACED BY ROGER BRYANT ON BASS. KENNY WENT ON TO PLAY WITH JOE WALSH AND CO-WROTE THE CLASSIC "ROCKY MOUNTAIN WAY" WITH HIM. AFTER THIS HE BECAME A MEMBER OF ELTON JOHN'S BAND DURING HIS HEYDAY IN THE SEVENTIES.

Above is The (second) Beast LP from 1970 on Evolution. It is sometimes referred to as "Higher & Higher."

From July 1970, the only Beast single, "Move Mountain" b/w "Communication." Click on the title to hear a sound clip.

One day while recording at the new studio, we took a break for dinner. Norman was very straight laced and an elder in his local Baptist church. He left and we figured this might be a great chance to cop a buzz.

There was a ladder that led to the top of the theatre behind the recording area. We climbed up and huddled together on a small landing, then proceeded to fire up a joint. While still smoking, we heard Jimmy Gilmer yelling for us. We came down and he said, "What do you think you are doing?" Of course we said "Nothing". He then explained that we happened to be right by the ventilation system and you could smell pot all over the entire building! We ran through the theatre with Right Guard and insect repellant and anything else that might mask the smell. Thank God Norman took a long dinner break that day. He came back and never said a word about it.

Pictured above with the text is the stage of Norman's second studio where the second Beast LP was recorded.

The Beast for all intents and purposes kind of fell apart after I left. Our sax player, Michael Kerns, got the rights to the name and kept a version of the band going for a while, but it wasn't the same and they never recorded any music that I know of. I became disillusioned with The Beast primarily to broken promises from our record companies, and the frustration of hitting the wall after an initial surge of success. B.Y.

One of the songs that Bob co-wrote with Gerry Fike on the first Beast album was covered by a Canadian group called Gainsborough Gallery. The song was "Every Man Hears Different Music". This group was on the Evolution label at the same time as The Beast. They also recorded their album at Norman Petty Studios with Norman as their producer. The single was hitbound in Canada on March 27, 1970, on the REO label. They did an excellent cover of the song but it failed to have much impact on the charts. The 45 of this song on the Evolution label pictured below was probably released shortly after.