Family Tree - Biography
The funny thing about the band Family Tree is that it is very aptly named. Founding member and Stockton, Calif. native Bob Segarini (b. 1945) never achieved mainstream in the US, although several of his later efforts were very well received in Canada. However, he was the locus for all sorts of intriguing projects, bands, activities and scenes, all of which branched off from his fertile presence, and were nurtured in one way or another by his exuberant rock ‘n’ roll vision. While Segarini’s critical reputation is secure on the merits of the profoundly obscure, one-and-done band Family Tree, his entire rock ‘n’ roll oeuvre is a tale of how some musicians can happily outrun fame, fortune and success and still cross the finish line as winners. Rock ‘n’ roll needs all of the Bob Segarinis it can get. The notion that an artist can succeed on her or his own terms is exceedingly scarce these days as music is increasingly subject to global consolidation, multinational conglomeration, and digitized anonymity. Okay, sure, Segarini now works as a deejay for Sirius XM Radio, but it’s the spirit of the thing that matters.
In the mid 1960s, Segarini made his way to the Bay Area, and started gigging in garage bands, ending up in the Ratz, with guitarist and vocalist Gary Grubb. After the Ratz, Grubb would join the Brougues, and change his name to Gary Duncan; from there, with the assistance of inveterate San Francisco scenester Marty Balin, he would slide into the initial lineup of Quicksilver Mesenger Service. Undaunted, Segarini assembled another band, and made some crucial industry connections. The promise of Family Tree’s ambitious chamber-pop narratives got them signed to RCA. The lineup included: Segarini on vocals and guitar; Michel Dure on keyboards; Vann Scater on percussion; keyboardist and guitarist Jimmy de Cocq on keyboards and guitars; and Bill Trochim on bass. When the went into the studio to record their debut, the producer was Rick Jarrard, while the string arrangements were scored by George Tipton. It was a stroke of fortune.
Concurrent with the Family Tree sessions, Jarrard and Tipton were working for RCA with another artist who was rocketing to stardom: the songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and larger-than-life character, Harry Nilsson. Nilsson was busy assembling his second album, Aerial Ballet. His career and reputation require a degree of objectivity, given his eventually slump into substance abuse and less-than-stellar albums, but in the late 1960s, Nilsson was the stuff of nascent legend. He was writing hits for the Turtles and the Monkees, the Beatles adored him and sang his praises left and right, and John Lennon would repeatedly incorporate Nilsson into his subsequent solo albums. As it turned out, it was a simple task to slide studio musicians between the two sessions, and eventually Nilsson himself got involved with Segarini, co-writing a track and participating in the Family Tree recordings.
The completed Family Tree album was released in 1968, and it was an aesthetic revelation, if not the commercial hit that RCA anticipated. Miss Butters (1968 RCA) is a glittering pop extravaganza that still sparkles and charms almost a half-century after its release. It is a fantastic recording that manages to achieve Escape Velocity from the dreadful, inexorable pull of era-specific psychedelic dross, while retaining great, sloshing bucketfuls of high-concept gloss. The songwriting is complex, the arrangements inventive and seamless, and the multi-tracked, layered vocals are impeccably wrought. Miss Butters is one of the earliest prototypes of the concept album, and despite being recorded during the height of Haight-Asbury indulgency, it doesn’t advocate Tuning In, Turning On or Dropping Out. Rather, it’s a pensive, wistful chronicle of the last days of an aging schoolmarm. There’s a sure sign of the durability of this sole album by the Family Tree: Miss Butters is, essentially, a companion piece to Nilsson’s Aerial Ballet (1968 RCA), which was critically lauded as a masterpiece. In the 21st century, Miss Butters sounds like the better of the two albums. It nestles comfortably next to such classics as Village Green Preservation Society by the Kinks.
Disappointed with the lackluster reception for Miss Butters, Family Tree disbanded. Segarini and De Cocq formed Roxy, adding Randy Bishop on bass and second vocals, and landed a deal with Elektra. They managed to record one outstanding LP, the eponymous Roxy (1969 Elektra), which confirmed Segarini’s dazzling gift for songcraft. Producer (and former Brian Wilson collaborator) Gary Usher decided to flesh out the group with additional ex-Family Tree members; the augmented group, re-christened the Wackers would record three more albums: Wackering Heights (1971 Elektra), Hot Wacks (1972 Elektra), and Shredder (1972 Elektra). Segarini woud make one more effort at a group effort, with the Dudes, and their sole disk, We’re No Angels (1975 Columbia); afterwards, he would go solo for good.
He released a series of major-label albums in the late 1970s: Gotta Have Pop (1978 Bomb/Epic), On the Radio (1979 Bomb/Epic), and Goodbye LA (1979 Bomb/Epic). None of these were hits in the States, but when he said, “Goodbye LA,” Segarini meant it. He left LA for Canada, where his solo efforts had reasonable success, and garnered him cult status. He soon transitioned into a career as a highly popular deejay, who is now heard throughout North America. Maybe Bob Segarini never became a superstar, but for nearly two decades, he went toe to toe with some of the greatest pop craftsmen of his day, and he emerged with a series of albums that continue to sound fresh, invigorated, and inspired. That, in the cutthroat world of rock ‘n’ roll, is true victory.
