Once upon a rhyme... late 1975... a broken-hearted northern California guitar slinger moved to a rock in the Pacific Ocean, called 'OH WAH WHO', to mend his broken soul. His spirit was quickly mended... mostly due to the nearby Pacific 'OHSHUN' [1 block from his apartment].
Surfing became his new love and passion... swallowing much sea water in the process... shortly thereafter, he and a friend... [a very musical being called Pancho] dropped by a skyscraper in HonoLULU and were bewitched by 3 beautiful maidens with glorious harmonies... we jammed with them... and rainbows and unicorns appeared right on stage!!
Pancho and I decided... why not add a guitar and bass to go along with their beautifulness?
Shortly thereafter, in a garage in Kailua, there appeared... on a flaming surfboard... a mad English type person [who had a more than passing resemblance to a certain drummer from Liverpool]... playing his drums just like a drummer!!
Suddenly, 3 girls and 3 guys had a rockin' band named Sweet Fire... and had so much fun, we forgot how great it was...
Like all beautiful things, it came to an end... sadness ensued... but memories are forever...
"I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger...
I wish that I knew what I know now when I was stronger ... ooh la la" ... thank you Faces...
Thank you... Cherie, Sue, Linda, Pancho and Martin... I will always look back with love and aloha and all the good times we had... I love you all....
God Bless you guys... that's my story and I'm stickin' with it!!
Steve [the guitar] Darr
Self-unemployed at the time, a refugee from Bright Eye Band, a booking agent asked me to accompany him to Ward Village, 1240 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu, HI 96814 and take a look / give a listen to a trio of young ladies, playing in what may then have been The Cheesecake Factory (or, was it The Old Spaghetti Factory) and give him my humble opinion. He wished to book and call the girls collectively, 'Cherries Jubilee' ... having done as asked, told him, "Great on all counts, eminently bookable but... forget the name!"
Sometime soon after, took my drums [in my trusty / rusty VW van with surfboard strapped on top] to a jam session held in the garage at Pancho Graham's house in Kailua where, lo and behold, I met and played with, not only Pancho [the talented multi-instrumentalist] and his pal Steve [a tie-dyed-in-the-wool hippie], but also the 3 ladies ~ Sue [from Los Angeles], Cherie [from La Jolla] and Linda [from Canada].
Whatever it was we did, it felt really good to us and we discussed joining forces to form a band with a solid bottom end and high-flying harmonies on top. A 6-piece band is not often financially viable but, as everyone agreed, in addition to playing covers, performing our own original songs was a must and, as it all sounded so good, such sentiment I could not resist. Hooked I was.
When not surfing with Steve and Pancho or taking care of band business and acquiring gigs, I attended rehearsals held at the home of Cherie and Sue on Oneawa Street, Kailua, where the all-important new group name was bandied about and Sweet Fire, an abbreviated Joni Mitchell song title, was decided upon.
How naïve we were, completely clueless as to what the song was about, especially the meaning of 'sweet fire'.
From our very first gig, and without help of manager or agent, Sweet Fire worked consistently 6 nights a week and sometimes more ~ including night clubs, military bases, beach concerts and a 'live' radio broadcast. At the peak of our career, we played to an estmated audience of 20,000 [plus the radio listeners] at 5 gigs over the course of April 29th and 30th 1978.
It all happened so fast, meteoric comes to mind ~ and how little we knew of our band-mates but, it was all worthwhile and, collectively, took us to heights not a one of us could have reached individually.
My perspective ...
Martin [the drummer] Samuel
Repercussion by Martin ~ 31st December 2012
Favourite sites ...
Bright Eye Band
Bright Eye Band @ Bandcamp
Chord Board
Chord Board iPhone / iPod Touch App.
Eclipse
Eclipse @ Bandcamp
Eclipse @ YouTube
