Bitter Seeds/Rock Shop
Jerry Benes - Lead singer,harmonica,guitar
Pooch (Leonard Paschini) - Lead guitar
Gene Everett - Rhythm guitar and bass
Bob Anderson - Bass (sometimes Mark Brimsmead)
Ron Tiboni - Drums (sometimes Brent Reynolds)
The Bitter Seeds played extensively around Monterey County and the San Francisco bay area from 1966 through the early 70's. They were the first rock group to play at Feast of Lanterns in Pacific Grove and people were getting down...and loving it, but, PG being a holy and uptight town pulled the plug so the fun and good music had to come to an end.
They shared the bill with such heavyweights as The Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Aum, and Sandy Bull
They recorded their single at a studio in San Jose,CA and decided to change their name for the record to The Rock Shop so they wouldn't be confused with The Seeds of Pushin'Too Hard fame. The single was a double sided garage/psych masterpiece with driving rhythms and plenty of psych lead guitar. It got considerable play in the LA area reaching number 10 on some charts. The band promoted the record as The Rock Shop but eventually went back to calling themselves The Bitter Seeds.
They also recorded four demo songs at a studio in Monterey which are included here to be heard for the first time!
Special thanks to Linda and Leonard Paschini for sharing their scrapbooks and memories!
Click on a song title below to hear that song.
Early Bitter Seeds publicity photo 1967
Linda Paschini on the left drew many
of the posters on this page and her
friend Victoria Green
Gene Everett
Bob Anderson
Poster for The Rock Shop at The Matrix in San Francisco
The Rock Shop at the Bulls Eye Tavern
Jerry Benes
Leonard "Pooch" Paschini
Gene Everett
Ron Tiboni