Origins

The group was formed in 1966 in San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...

 by Rod Prince and Roy Cox. Looking to form a "top gun rock band" based on the concept of dual lead guitar

Lead guitar

Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...

s, a staple of southern rock that was highly unusual on the psychedelic music scene, Prince and Cox recruited Todd Potter: a gymnast

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

, saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

 player and guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

ist. With the addition of Danny Segovia, the original line up of Bubble Puppy was complete. The name "Bubble Puppy" was taken from "Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy", a fictitious children's game in Aldous Huxley's

Aldous Huxley

Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...

 Brave New World

Brave New World

Brave New World is Aldous Huxley's fifth novel, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in London of AD 2540 , the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of...

. Bubble Puppy's live debut was as the opening act for The Who

The Who

The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

 in San Antonio.

After several line-up changes, the final roster for Bubble Puppy settled at Rod Prince and Todd Potter on lead guitars, Roy Cox on bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

, and David "Fuzzy" Fore on drum

Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

s. In 1967, Bubble Puppy moved to Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

 and signed a recording contract

Recording contract

A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...

 with Houston-based International Artists

International Artists

International Artists was an independent record label based in Houston, Texas that originally existed from 1965 to 1970.During its existence IA released 12 albums and 39 singles and was owned by a group of businessmen in Houston. Among its staff were producer Lelan Rogers, brother of country...

, home to the 13th Floor Elevators

13th Floor Elevators

The 13th Floor Elevators were an American rock band from Austin, Texas formed by guitarist and vocalist Roky Erickson, electric jug player Tommy Hall, and guitarist Stacy Sutherland, which existed from 1965 to 1969...

 and the Red Krayola

Red Krayola

Red Krayola was a psychedelic, avant-garde rock band from Houston, Texas, formed by art students at the University of St. Thomas in 1966. The band was led by singer/guitarist and visual artist Mayo Thompson, along with drummer Frederick Barthelme and Steve Cunningham...

.

Hot Smoke & Sassafras

Bubble Puppy scored a Top-20 U.S. hit in 1969 with their single, "Hot Smoke & Sassafras". The name was a misheard line lifted from an episode of "The Beverly Hillbillies

The Beverly Hillbillies

The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....

". The single peaked at number 14 on the Billboard 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 and number 15 (RPM

RPM (magazine)

RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...

) in Canada. The song was also covered internationally, by The Mooche in the UK.

In 1969, Bubble Puppy released their only full-length album, A Gathering of Promises. However, despite Bubble Puppy's early success with the "Hot Smoke & Sassafras" single, they experienced numerous conflicts with International Artists, and parted ways with the label in 1970.

Demian

Signing Nick St. Nicholas

Nick St. Nicholas

Nick St. Nicholas is a bassist, and is best known for his membership in Steppenwolf from 1968 to 1970, and then again from 1976 to 1980. After World War II, his family moved to Toronto and became Canadian citizens. Sister Maren joined the Canadian Ballet Company & Conservatory of Music as pianist...

 of Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf (band)

Steppenwolf are a Canadian-American rock group that was prominent in the late 1960s. The group was formed in 1967 in Los Angeles by vocalist John Kay, guitarist Michael Monarch, bassist Rushton Moreve, keyboardist Goldy McJohn and drummer Jerry Edmonton after the dissolution of Toronto group The...

 as a manager, Bubble Puppy moved to Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

. Their name was changed to Demian (after Herman Hesse's 1919 novel

Demian

Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth is a Bildungsroman by Hermann Hesse, first published in 1919; a prologue was added in 1960. Demian was first published under the pseudonym "Emil Sinclair", the name of the narrator of the story, but Hesse was later revealed to be the author.-Plot summary...

  at the suggestion of their manager's wife); this was to avoid contractual difficulties with their previous record company but also because the former name appeared to link them with Bubblegum music.

The group signed to ABC

ABC Records

ABC Records was an American record label, founded in New York City in 1955 as ABC-Paramount Records. It originated as the main popular music label operated the Am-Par Record Corporation, the music subsidiary of the American Broadcasting Company . ABC-Paramount Records' first president was Samuel H....

-Dunhill Records

Dunhill Records

Dunhill Records was started by Lou Adler, Al Bennett, Pierre Cossette and Bobby Roberts in 1964 as Dunhill Productions, originally for the purpose of releasing Johnny Rivers recordings on Imperial Records. It became a record label in 1965 and was distributed by ABC Records...

 and released one self-titled album in 1971, but its failure to perform on the charts led to financial difficulties with the label and, in 1972, the group split up.

Later years

The members of Bubble Puppy continued to be active in the music industry after the band's demise. Potter and Prince played with Sirius through the late 1970s, and Fore drummed with the Texas punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

band, D-Day, co-writing their cult hit, "Too Young to Date".

In 1984, the original Bubble Puppy lineup reunited for performances and recordings, released as the LP, Wheels Go Round.

Roy Cox founded The Blues Knights and issued a CD entitled Before I Go in 1999. He formed the NYC Outlaws in September 2007 in New York City, along with Tony Saracene on guitar, Dan Curley on guitar, Cody Willard on guitar, Evan Hammer on bass, and Billy Brooks on drums.

Reunion

On March 19, 2011, all the original members of Bubble Puppy reunited for the first time in 42 years for a performance at The Austin Music Awards. The band also added Mark Miller and Jimmy Umstattd to the line-up. David Fore met the two while playing in the band KopyKats. They will now also be performing at Threadgill's South in Austin, TX on June 4. Rod Prince has said that he is not yet sure if there are more shows being planned.

Original Members

• Rod Prince - Lead Guitar / Vocals
• Roy Cox - Bass Guitar / Vocals
• Todd Potter - Lead Guitar / Vocals
• David Fore - Drummer / Vocals

Current Members

• Rod Prince - Guitar / Vocals
• Jimi Umstattd - Bass Guitar / Vocals
• Todd Potter - Lead Guitar / Vocals
• Mark Miller - Guitar / Vocals
• David Fore - Drummer / Vocals

Singles

• "Hot Smoke & Sassafras" / "Lonely" (November/December 1968)
• "Beginning" / "If I Had a Reason" (1969)
• "Days of Our Time" / "Thinkin' About Thinkin'" (Fall 1969)
• "Hurry Down" / "What Do You See" (1969/1970)

Studio

• A Gathering of Promises (1969)
• Demian (1970) Released under the band name "Demian."