Band Members 

Larry Nelson – Guitar, vocals

Roger Nelson - Guitar, vocals

Dennis Hageman – Bass, vocals

Chris Nesmith - Drums

Mike Bartlett- Drums       

A few of the early songs we wrote

- I Believe

- Overlooking the sea

- Something in the night air

- When

- Run Willie run

- I'll remember you

- Please, oh please

- Never knew I needed you

- Speaking words of life

- Overlooking the sea

- Hold On

- I'll remember you

- Man about town

- The work song

- On a winter's day

- Ellen

- Down to the sea

- Beautiful day

Larry and I never really played any music together until around 1970-71. I was 18 and Larry was 21. Kathy and Larry just separated and Larry did not know what to do with himself. He asked me if I wanted to go to Melody Music on Hawthorne Blvd. to check out the guitars they had in stock. I said OK and wondered what was going on for him to now want to make music with me.

We ended up buying two, Japanese, Ventura acoustic guitars. That began the next phase. The more pain Larry was in because of Kathy, the more he sank back into music. I have a feeling all of us can relate to that some. 

So there we were, night after night of jamming, writing, and getting used to playing music together. There was no Kathy or anyone to tell us what to do so we played until our fingers hurt late into the night, exploring our own unique sound. At least I thought it was unique. We were told it was unique so I guess it was. 

We would sit in the den with lights out, a candle between us for writing light, and then we would smoke a little weed to get us in the mood. Then we would let whatever happened happen. 

I was not good at playing lead guitar so that forced Larry to do it. He always complained that he wasn't a lead guitarist, but I think it helped him a lot to be forced into it. 

Then I remember we played some of Larry's songs that were sort of written but not finished. The thing that Larry and I had that we discovered during this period was our ability to make two acoustic guitars sound pretty good. I learned to feed off of Larry's rhythm to create counter rhythms and he did the same with me. There were times I wished we had recorded some of that stuff because there was some good stuff coming out of us. 

Larry and Kathy eventually got back together but now Dennis had come along again with his bass guitar and began playing with us.


Roger Nelson 



When I came along to just Kinda jam with Larry and Roger, I was impressed by their tightness and how they made their 2 guitars blend so well. They had a technique of playing chords on different parts of the neck with capos that just added a fuller, pleasant sound. And when “fingerpicking” was introduced to the songs, it just made it more interesting!

My bass just added to the fullness. I really liked the way their playing together inspired my bass parts to the songs they, and eventually all of us, came up with. 

We all contributed to the lyrics of the songs by sitting down with basic thoughts of a story to tell, and then expanding on it by having a discussion, saying things like “Then the guy felt like telling her where to go!“  Or in one case, after a few drinks, making a song out of a comment one of us said “I’m not exactly, totally sober!” and stuff like that.

There was a lot of creativity going on at that time!


Dennis Hageman

I saw an ad in the paper “band seeking drummer” and answered it. 

I met Larry and Roger Nelson. They played me some original tunes they recorded on their Teac 3340, 
4 – track RTR and I liked the tunes, reminded me of early Birds, Badfinger, and a little CSN&Y, Moody Blues, etc…We jammed a little and Larry asked me if I’d record a few tunes with them. 

At that time I had not met their bass player, so when we, Larry, Roger, and I got together to rehearse, I met this guy name Paul, (not Mc Cartney) who was playing bass. We started playing a couple of tunes and I noticed his playing was nothing like the bass player I had heard on the tapes. I asked Larry and he told me that the other bass player had quit. 

We rehearsed for about a week or so, and truthfully, the bass player was just not working. I asked Larry again about their old bass player and he told me he didn’t think he’d play with them again. I asked if I could talk to him. 

I met Dennis Hageman a day or so later at Denny’s on Hawthorne Blvd and we had dinner, a couple of chile patty melts (not sure why I remember that, but I do). I asked Dennis if he’d consider playing bass with Larry, Roger, and me and he said he’d give it a try. I remember the 1st song we recorded, “I Believe” and will always remember the chorus… and do believe it is 100% true and correct. The chorus is “I believe that we could easily make it, if we just had a little luck and the time to take it easy”!!! I can’t tell you how many times I repeated that line in everyday living.

Nelson/Hageman