disraeli (spelled with a lower case d) self-produced four 45s from 1967-70, finding an original sound that was both accessible and psychedelic.

Band members were Steven Mathre lead vocals, Al Nelson lead vocals and saxophone, Thomas Stangland guitar, Roger Everett guitar and vocals, Steve Kernes bass, and Gene “Geno” Faust drums and vocals. Richard Keefer, who did a lot of engineering work for Oregon and southern Washington bands, also helped produce disraeli’s records.

When a copy of their third 45 came up for sale, the seller (I’m sorry, I don’t know who) wrote a good description of the group:

These handsome chaps all attended Astoria High School in the mid 1960’s…

Their freshman effort was “Tomorrows Day” b/w “Humidity 105”. People liked this record everybody bought copies, fellow students, people at the gigs, their relatives of which they had many and their relatives friends.

They had two frontmen, Steve Mathre and Al Nelson who both sang up a storm and played the tamborine so hard they had to wear gloves to keep from getting blisters. Al also played a mean tenor sax … They sold stock certificates to their friends and neighbors, got better gear went back to the studio and recorded another 45.

“What Will the New Day Bring?” and “Spinning ‘Round”, songs about a peeping Tom with a knife and coming home drunk with the whirlies for the first time respectively. The picture sleeve for this 45 was color and featured the band in matching red blazers out on the south jetty at the mouth of the Columbia, a popular spot to party and race cars not to mention neck etc. This record was supposed to establish disraeli. Both sides were predicted to be hits, it was recorded in stereo, a big deal in ’67 for a 45. The record got airplay and charted around the Northwest.

I remember seeing a billboard for the band in Portland Oregon in late ’67 it said:

disraeli….

listen

A band self-releasing a 45 with a color picture sleeve was unusual for the time, and to release it in stereo in 1967 is extremely rare.

45 releases:

Mantra 001 – Tomorrow’s Day (Stangland – Mathre) / Humidity 105
Mantra 113 – What Will The New Day Bring? / Spinnin’ Round
Mantra 114 – Say You Love Me (Stangland-Mathre) / I’ve Seen Her One Time (Stangland-Mathre)
Mantra 115 – The Lonely One (Stangland-Mathre-Wiley-McKune) / You Can’t Do That

Thomas Stangland mentioned to me that “There were probably 8-10 tracks recorded, but never released because of minor glitches or they just didn’t seem good enough.”