The Graveyard Five | The Graveyard Theme | (Stanco) 1968

“The Marble Orchard” / “The Graveyard Theme” (Stanco Records SR-102) September 1968

The Graveyard Five | The Graveyard Theme | (Stanco) 1968 | I’ve just bought a re-issue of this monstrous 1968 fuzz tormentor made available by Lysergic Sound Dist. Original copies are virtually non-existent, maybe a handful survive and copies sell for several thousand dollars, so this is a required item that looks and sounds amazing.

It is believed that the Graveyard Five hailed from the Kelseyville – Lakeport area of California (Teenbeat Mayhem!) and despite the apparent late 1968 release, this sounds like it belongs two years in the past.

Have a listen to this cranium smasher, crank up the volume and feed your mind with some reverbed guitars and fuzz . . . . remember, that the late ’60s weren’t all about love and white doves. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find the good stuff that no one knows about. 

Confirmed group line-up as follows:

Gary Prather (rhythm guitar)
Louis Shriner (lead guitar)
Steve Kuppinger (bass)
David Templeton (drums) 

The Graveyard Five | The Graveyard Theme | (Stanco) 1968

I got in touch with The Graveyard Five rhythm guitarist Gary Prather via YouTube and he answered my questions.

EXPO67: Gary, if you want to elaborate more on the killer Graveyard Five record please get in touch. I’ve just wrote about the disc on my blog but would like to know who played what instruments, the recordings, did the group play any gigs, were you in any groups prior to the Graveyard Five and did anyone go onto other groups etc etc . . . just nerdy stuff that I kinda dig and need to know!

Gary Prather: Hi Colin, Dave played drums, Louie played lead guitar, Steve was on bass guitar, and I played rhythm guitar.  We played a lot of local gigs before winning a battle of the bands contest in Lakeport, California that got us the recording contract to cut the record with Stanco.  

We were all in high school at the time, and I had to quit the band shortly after making the record (my parents kinda forced me to for personal reasons). I don’t know if the others went on to play with other bands after that, but I played for a short time with my brothers in a band before going on to college.  

My brothers still play to this day, and have cut a couple of albums of their own music. 

They are the Prather Brothers Band and are playing at the Cobb Stock festival in Lake County this weekend.  Nowadays all I play is the radio.