The Elastik Band

Background

The Elastik Band emerged in 1967 in Belmont, California, when nightclub operator Hank Donig renamed This Side Up, a quintet led by multi-instrumentalist David Cortopassi.

Cortopassi took up marimba at five and performed with older siblings in the Cortopassi Trio, a USO variety act. He later studied composition and orchestration and played double bass in his high-school orchestra. As a teenager, he formed the Soul Survivors with drummer Vince Silvera. Producer George Dipaola introduced Cortopassi to guitarist Scott Williams and engineer Brian Gardner, who taped the 1966 Century single “Lose Yourself” (b/w “Turn Your Head”) on a home two-track machine. Century pressed 100 copies.

Bassist Rusty Kierig joined after answering a notice at a college student union. With pianist-saxophonist Russell Kerger, a cousin of Cortopassi, the quintet rehearsed in the family garage and gigged at Bay Area clubs, including the Matrix and Fillmore. Donig enlisted Action Records owner Fred Cohn for the 1967 DCA single “Got a Better Reason Now” (b/w “Mixed Emotions”). The band also taped an unreleased album of Cortopassi originals.

“Spazz”

Cohn took an acetate of “Spazz” to New York and secured an Atco distribution agreement from Atlantic executive Jerry Wexler during an elevator encounter. Atco issued the November 1967 single “Spazz” (b/w “Paper Mache”). Cortopassi conceived the A-side as a protest against peer pressure to take hallucinogens, but listeners interpreted its lyrics and vocal delivery as ridicule of people with disabilities. EMI withdrew a planned British Stateside issue amid complaints. An Australian disc jockey halted the song mid-broadcast and apologized to listeners. Donig consequently canceled a proposed European promotional tour.

In 1968, Cortopassi relocated the band to Los Angeles and pursued record-company auditions with Williams. UNI president Russ Regan signed the group to a seven-year contract, with Joey Fischer as manager and Norman Ratner as producer. Engineer Donn Landee supervised sessions at Sunset Sound for the December 1968 Kapp single “I Would Still Love You” (b/w “In a Family Tree”). Arizona radio stations aired the A-side, prompting concert bookings.

Kapp curtailed promotion to rush a competing version of “Tunesmith,” a Jimmy Webb song also cut by the Oregon group The Bards. Cortopassi arranged the song with female backing singers at Sunset Sound. Kapp issued the result on K-968, backed with “In a Family Tree.”

In 1969, the musicians adopted the name Dangerfield at UNI and added singer Gary Duckworth, who fronted “Rockpile,” the flip of the Kapp single “Zig Zag Man.” They expanded their repertoire with instrumental breaks and improvisation, but UNI withheld a completed album. Cortopassi disputed unpaid studio fees and sought release from the contract. UNI terminated the agreement in 1970, prompting Dangerfield’s disbandment.

Postlude

Cortopassi and Williams subsequently formed MAX, a Los Angeles brass-rock septet whose recordings surfaced in 1974 under the unauthorized album title Rodan. Meanwhile, “Spazz” appeared on the 1979 compilation Pebbles, Vol. 1 and the 1998 Rhino box Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968. Cortopassi issued the 2007 Digital Cellars collection The Elastik Band with the early singles, unreleased studio tracks, and an excerpt from the Australian radio broadcast.