For those unaware, Earth Quake was among the musical figureheads of the successful US label Beserkley Records (1973-1986) from Berkeley, California, alongside Greg Kihn, The Tyla Gang, Rubinoos, and Jonathan Richman. Former A&M Records in-house producer and A&R scout Matthews King Kaufmann founded the label with the intention of having fun and producing great records.

Starting in 1975, the label’s bands conquered the charts worldwide with their power pop rock, receiving plenty of airplay - as did Earth Quake’s cover of the Easybeats hit Friday on My Mind.

Earth Quake, formed in San Francisco in 1966, was heavily influenced by 1950s and 1960s rock and blues bands such as the Yardbirds, Muddy Waters, and the Kinks. Kaufmann signed the band to A&M Records in 1970 and produced their first two albums, Earth Quake (1971) and Why Don’t You Try Me? (1972), with them and Allan Mason.

From 1975 to 1980, Earth Quake released four albums on Beserkley and worked with other artists on the label. For example, they served as the backing band for Jonathan Richman, and Greg Kihn sang backing vocals for Earth Quake in the studio.

In the early 1980s, the five musicians went their separate ways. Gary Phillips joined the Greg Kihn Band and worked with John Cipollina (Copperhead). Phillips died in 2007 at the age of 59. Four years later, singer and frontman John Doukas followed him.

Encouraged by the commercial success of Jonathan Richman’s Egyptian Reggae and the release of the label sampler Bezerk Times, Beserkley artists Tyla Gang, Greg Kihn, Rubinoos, and Earthquake embarked on a joint European tour in the spring of 1978. The bands’ concerts on March 14 and 15 at the Audimax in Hamburg were recorded by WDR for the program Rockpalast. Forty-seven years later, guitarist Robbie Dunbar reminisces, A great performance, a great show, by our unforgettable band, and encourages fans to Turn it up and enjoy!

CD: 1978
1. Lovin’ Cup
2. Hit The Floor
3. Stayin’ Out
4. Street Fever
5. Mr. Security
6. Saving My Love
7. Friday On My Mind
8. Trainride

After a quick introduction, and a notation to the audience that they were going to record the show that night, this mesmerizingly fantastic flashback to the late 70’s opens on the brilliant rock n’ roll of Lovin’ Cup and the rocker Hit The Floor (which has a suspiciously similar opening guitar line to Born To Be Wild), and then we get the fervently charged Stayin’ Out and the alt-punk-hued Street Fever.

Along next is the sweaty rock of Mr. Security which is in turn backed by the KISS-imbibed Saving My Love, the set rounding out on the screamfest that is their cover of The Easybeats’ Friday On My Mind, coming to a close on the drum-led rocker Trainride.

The DVD features all the same tracks and showcase a band not only having a great time live, but a collective musicianship that was at the top of its game back in 1978 at Rockpalast.

Musicians:
Steve Nelson
Robbie Dunbar
Stan Miller
Gary Phillips
John Doukas

Official Purchase Link