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The Paul Fauerso Interview….
As previously stated on this program the San Francisco Bay Area sound was as distinctive as any regional sound in our countries history.
When you look back at the roots of this sound it's clear manifestation started with the Trips festivals that were spear headed by local pols, promoters and musicians. There was a fascination with fusing pure psychedelics with masses of humanity in dance halls saturated with wood brass and steel.
My guest today was the leader of the Loading Zone. One of these bay area incarnations whose sound crossed over several musical idioms.
My guest had jazz leanings but knew as a pianist that he needed to expand sound with the blues and rock drenched make-up of the region. He also wanted to grab some of the east bay grease that combined soul and funk/punk lyrics and rhythms.
This desire led to a serendipitous connection with Linda Tillery whose gut bucket style and swagger helped catapult the Band to commercial relevance.
The Loading Zone was one of the original test cases of the Bay Area Psychedelic Movement. They were often times on the same bills as many of the more recognizable acts such as Big Brother, Country Joe, GD, Sly and the Family Stone and the Airplane. They played winterland and the Fillmore West the Family Dogg and the Louisiana House.
After the original group disbanded my guest put the Zone back together with legendary drummer George marsh for a second album entitled one for all. This new amalgamation at times fronted two drummers and increased their polyrhythmic qualities all the while staying true to the regional appetite for improvisational jamming.
Fauerso so good... Paul Fauerso welcome to the JFS.....
I have fond memories of seeing the Loading Zone many times at various Bay Area venues, first with Paul Fauerso handling all the vocals and keyboards, then later with Linda Tillery adding her unique voice and swagger. What a heady time that was for all of us.
What a great time! Lot of fun. Fun was had by all. Paul was always the wild guy in kind of a subtle but at the same time wacky way. Check out the back of the first album. That was taken across the street from the big old Victorian style house we lived in on 14th St in West Oakland. Everybody trying to look stoned, some actually were. There’s another picture of us where Paul, channeling the location, is lying in the gutter with the rest of us lounging against a fence just next to that same Victorian house. It was a great house, where the can of pork brains on a shelf in the kitchen stayed there all the time we lived there. It was kind of our line in the sand against hunger, across which we would never step. Dream again of that time. Wherever you were when you felt that fun feeling, go there again once in awhile. Just for fun.
Ta, Steve Dowler
My dad bought my brother and I an album called Groupquake with The Loading Zone on it. Always wondered about that band as I was in Canada and only really heard of the Airplane. Have discovered the Zone almost 50 years later. Very cool stuff. Rod