Christopher - What'cha Gonna Do? (1969 Columbia, SC) | Acid Rock / Heavy Psych | Full Vinyl Rip

What'cha Gonna Do? is the only album by Christopher, pressed in August 1969 on Chris-Tee Records as a demo - around 100 copies exist. My copy is the Lion Productions reissue, LION LP-101D, one of 500 copies, with a 12-page booklet of photos, road stories, and complete lyrics. Christopher were four students at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Frank Smoak on lead guitar, Steve Nagle on rhythm guitar, Bill McKee on bass, Gary Lucas on drums. Gary Lucas was the USC student chairman for the Eugene McCarthy for President campaign and hired the band for a fundraiser - that was their first gig. From there they started playing the campus nightclub the Golden Spur, and an anti-war coffeehouse in Columbia called the UFO FTA. When it came time to record, they went to Arthur Smith Studios in Charlotte, North Carolina - the best 8-track studio in the South at the time, at $62 an hour. Arthur Smith was the man behind Guitar Boogie and Dueling Banjos. The engineer, Jerry Black, introduced himself by saying it was the first 8-track recording of an acid rock band he'd ever done. The demo didn't get picked up. In Gary Lucas's words, they all graduated. That was it. Almost every track on this record was written by Frank Smoak - Fugue on Side B is the one Bill McKee wrote. The title track opens Side A and runs twelve minutes. When Smoak asked what to call it, Lucas said "what'cha gonna do?" and the name stuck. Original copies are nearly impossible to find and have sold for close to $4,000 when they do surface. 🔥 Standout tracks include: What'cha Gonna Do?, Day of Sunshine, and The Great Clock. 🎸 Sounds like: Josefus, The Other Half, Blues Magoos, Steppenwolf 🎧 Vinyl Finds Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj0yF7-9YQ9oSXuMGglp1N8SlbZUEtCJ7 🎧 Full Vinyl Rips Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj0yF7-9YQ9pEOi1yCUyAZikNmWVdz8Hn 📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vinyl_piper/ I sell my doubles and extras here: https://vinylpipershop.com/ 💿 Tracklist 00:00 What'cha Gonna Do? 12:06 The Great Clock 17:43 Holiday 20:45 Death Song 24:06 Fugue 27:32 Modern Day Oracles 30:24 Day of Sunshine #Christopher #AcidRock #HeavyPsych #PsychedelicRock #LionProductions #VinylRip #VinylPiper