All Saved Freak Band

Infobox Musical artist
Name = All Saved Freak Band


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Genre = Christian
Years_active = Start date|1968 - Start date|1978
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Past_members = The All Saved Freak Band was an early Christian rock band formed in 1968. The group was based out of a Christian commune that lived on a farm in Windsor, just outside of Orwell, Ohio. Members included co-founders Joe Markko and Larry Hill, Mike Berkey, Ed Durkos, Tom Eritano, Tim Hill, Morgan King, Norris McClure, Carole King, Randy Markko, Kim Massman, Pam Massman, Tom Miller, and rock guitarist Glenn Schwartz. Glenn Schwartz was formerly of the James Gang (replaced by Joe Walsh) and Pacific Gas & Electric. Tom Miller had been featured in Life magazine as part of the protests on the Kent State campus at the time of the Kent State shootings. One of Larry's Hill's five children, Brett Hill, Joe's brother Randy Markko and Tom Miller all lost their lives in 1972 from automobile accidents due to lack of sleep on the way to concerts, before the band recorded their first album.

Musical career

The band was started as a musical outreach of Larry Hill's Church of the Risen Christ. Though much of their music is blues driven, their writing and harmonies are comparable to a combination of Bob Dylan, The Who, and Peter, Paul, and Mary. Their second album, "For Christians, Elves, and Lovers", is based on the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. In February 1975, lead guitarist Glenn Schwartz's family had him kidnapped for three days in an attempt to have him deprogrammed by Ted Patrick after they had learned of his devotion to Christianity. The deprogramming attempt was unsuccessful and the Band issued their third album, "Brainwashed" in, as what one ex-member termed, "a cynical response" to critics who felt the band members' Christian faith had "brainwashed" them to the realities of life.

The church leader, Larry Hill, said he had visions in the summer of 1965 and that God told him that a great war was coming to the United States. Hill influenced his group of about 50 adults and children to "sacrifice all" for this coming battle. Hill's visions that the United States would soon be invaded by the USSR and China, which would usher in the end times were especially influential on the lyrics of the 1980 album "Sower," released after almost all the band members had departed.

The group disbanded in 1978 after members who had departed the commune were successful in persuading authorities to bring child abuse charges against Hill and another church leader, Diane Sullivan, whom Hill later married. Hill fled the state to PA to avoid prosecution, but Sullivan remained in Ohio and was convicted and sentenced. The few remaining members of the church moved to Pennsylvania and returned to Ohio in the early 1990s.

In 2006, the All Saved Freak Band’s best-of collection Harps On Willows was selected by Cross Rhythm Direct as one of the Top CD Releases of 2006 along with releases by Bob Dylan and Switchfoot.

The 2006 Emmy-nominated documentary Frisbee: Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher by David Di Sabatino features two songs by the All Saved Freak Band (“Sower” and “My Poor Generation”), and the soundtrack to the documentary also includes “Ode To Glenn Schwartz.”

Discography

* "My Poor Generation", 1973 (Rock The World)
* "For Christians, Elves, and Lovers", 1976 (Rock The World)
* "Brainwashed", 1976 (Rock The World)
* "Sower", 1980 (Rock The World)
* "Harps On Willows" Best of ASFB Vol 1 July 4, 2006 (Hidden Vision)

External links

* [http://www.allsavedfreakband.com www.allsavedfreakband.com]
* [http://www.hiddenvision.com/asfb.htm www.hiddenvision.com]