KAT EPPLE

A Sense of Place

 

Events in our lives, and the people and places that surrounded us at the time, inspired and influenced our music and gives it a sense of place. This can be heard on each of our albums. For example, our first album was written when we were living in a haunted mansion.

 

In 1978, our friend and Executive Producer, Paul Leka, asked us to house-sit “The Colgate Mansion” in Sharon, Connecticut, which he had recently purchased. Built in 1906, the Colgate Estate included 100 acres of land, horse stables, a library, billiards room, and a massive reflecting pool. In the early 1900s, it was known for its notoriously Gatsby-esque opulent parties and famous visitors. Since the deaths of the ill-fated Colgates, it was reportedly haunted. In addition to being far away from another human being, the countryside mansion was also far from television broadcast towers. This was long before the internet. So when not composing, we read books as we sat facing the giant antique mirror’s reflected images and warped glass, distorted with age. The books we read those months were The Earthsea Trilogy and The Tolkien Trilogy. We lived in the mansion over the summer of 1978, just the two of us, on that huge estate with the ornate Corinthian pillars, massive wrought iron gates, ghosts, macabre mirror, and bats flying through the grand halls, as we composed music for our first album, “Dragon Wings and Wizard Tales.” The dragons and wizards, who lived in the books we read, and the fantastical setting where we lived, certainly changed the music by adding dark colors and twilit landscapes.

 

When the major record company we were in negotiation with pulled out to sign Disco artists instead, we released “Dragon Wings and Wizard Tales” on vinyl in 1979.  The album sold in record stores such as Tower Records, under the category of Progressive Rock, Fantasy Rock, or Psychedelic, although none of those categories quite fit the music. 

 

Our amazing time in the mansion came to an end when Ace Frehley from KISS arrived to record his album there. 

 

We soon found our next home, a log cabin on a beautiful lake in upstate Connecticut. It was there, in our 4-track home studio, surrounded by nature, that we recorded our second album, “Whispered Visions.” Reflecting our surroundings, the music was dark, serene, and ethereal. We recorded late at night when the cabin had cooled from the summer heat, and the sounds of night nature whispered through the window screens.  

 

The album was released in 1980 on cassette and began selling in a new music genre, New Age! 

 

This new music distribution channel sold primarily through New Age book stores, spiritual centers, and New Age Festivals, and not generally carried in record stores. We were delighted our “Electronic Space Music” could be included in this new music category.

 

Because cassettes were the preferred format for the New Age market, it was easy for independent artists to introduce their music to distributors and retail outlets. For those of us not yet selling large quantities, we could duplicate our own cassette albums, 10 or 20 at a time, and ship them more easily and cheaply than vinyl.  

 

In our log cabin, we duplicated cassettes in “real time,” then packed boxes to ship to distributors and stores in New York City, and Los Angeles, with the bulk of them going to San Francisco. One day, as we packed up another order for 50 cassettes to ship to a San Francisco distributor, I laughed and commented that we should just move to the place where most of our fans live—San Francisco.

 

We decided to make that move, gathered our very limited financial resources, loaded the van with as much music, recording, and camping equipment as would fit, and drove from Connecticut to the San Francisco Bay Area, playing concerts scheduled along the way. Someday, I would like to write a screen play about this trip, with its elements of undaunted optimism. The story centers on the adventures of a cross-country road trip in a faltering old van, the concerts and people we met along the way, the scenic beauty of the countryside, and a young couple in love. I can already hear the film’s music score!

 

Shortly after we arrived in California, Bob and I were invited to stay temporarily at the White Crane Silat Indonesian martial arts ashram, located on several wooded acres in the Berkeley Hills. Overlooking San Francisco Bay, the ashram was owned by Grandmaster Suhu Subur Rahardja, and his wife, Louise, who both lived in Indonesia. Although I was expecting our accommodations to be a bed in a bunkhouse setting, instead, we were shown to a beautiful garage apartment, built into the hillside, where we could stay for a few days while searching for an apartment to rent. Within days, Max, a teacher from the school, knocked on our door to tell us that Suhu had called from Indonesia to say that he wanted us to stay on in the apartment, and we didn’t need to look for another place to live…. and Suhu and Louise hadn’t even met us yet. It was then that Bob and I began our years of training in Silat, the remarkable Martial Art form that was taught at the ashram.

 

That is the story of how we ended up living in the “Valley of the Birds,” which is what they called the wooded acres nestled on the hillside between freeways and city streets. A small stream with fresh water for the birds to bathe in and drink, trickled down the hillside, and trees provided shade and comfort. The area came to be known as the Valley of the Birds, because birds of all types visited there to escape either the stress of the city or to rest due to the arduous work of migration. It was said that the birds also flew to this tranquil place to die. The energy there was extraordinary and inspiring.

 

A few years after we moved into The Valley of the Birds, the property was sold, and Bob and I prepared to move away from our beloved home. On the day the new owner took possession of the property, we heard a knock on the door, and expected an eviction notice. Upon answering it, we met the new owner of the property, Adam Osborne, inventor of the personal computer. We were delighted when he asked us to continue to live there in the apartment in the Valley of the Birds (but that is another chapter).

 

The first album Emerald Web produced after moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, was “Sound Trek.” In fact, the album cover by Karl Cohen shows a UFO flying over the Bay Bridge. In the background of the photo you see the Berkeley/Oakland hills where our apartment, recording studio, and the Valley of the Birds were located.

 

At that time, the Bay Area was the epicenter of the New Age and Space Music movement. The radio show, “Music from the Hearts of Space" broadcast late-night from KPFA-FM Berkeley, California, and played the music of Emerald Web regularly. The program quickly gained popularity and became widely syndicated.

 

The rapid growth of the technology and film industries made it an exciting time to live in the San Francisco Bay area. Bob and I perpetually researched the cutting edge of music technology and collaborated with visual artists, engineers, animators, scientists, electronic music instrument designers, authors, video artists, film directors, musicians, spiritual leaders, and martial artists.

 

The title of this album, ”Sound Trek”, was partly inspired by our excitement about the work we were doing with audio, and interfacing it with the other disciplines. These collaborations were an excursion into unknown territory with audio—a sound trek.

 

Well, the title was also inspired by our love of the original Science Fiction TV show, “Star Trek.” We often performed our “space music” for Star Trek and Star Wars conventions.  At that time (1980-1983), there was a lot of exuberance about Star Wars, and the conventions were fantastic fun! 

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