Dallas | ‘Casualty Of Love’: Forgotten Album From The Seventies | Interview

There was several band formations until the band settled upon “Dallas” and recorded, now a completely forgotten album in 1979, ‘Casualty Of Love’. Its DIY cover reveal that it must have been privately pressed.

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Dallas were Paul Kidd (lead guitar/vocals), Gregg Stocki (drums/vocals), Randy Welch (bass/vocals), David E. (rhythm guitar/vocals).

Where and when did you grow up? Was music a big part of your family life

Gregg Stocki: I was born in Waynesboro, Virginia. We moved to Richardson, Texas (a suburb of Dallas) when I was 3 years old. Music wasn’t really a big part of my family life as a child. My dad played guitar but he didn’t have any instruments laying around or play them on a regular basis. He played on live radio as a young man but he went to college and became an electrical engineer. We moved to Texas because he got a job at a company called Texas Instruments. He and my mother were from upstate New York. He was the son of Polish immigrants and my mother was adopted.

When did you begin playing music? What was your first instrument? Who were your major influences?

I began playing drums in the 7th grade about age 12. Drums have always been my first instrument. I can play a little guitar and piano but drums are my true love. I remember we had some family friends and we were at their house one time and their son had a drumset in the garage and started playing what sounded like an amazing groove to me and I fell in love with the drums. I remember watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and hooking up a small reel to reel recorder to the T.V. Anything that was music was good I thought. My parents had movie soundtrack albums we would listen to, ‘West Side Story’, ‘The Sound of Music’. I remember Ray Conniff and Herb Alpert albums.

What bands were you a member of prior to the formation of Dallas?

The first real band I was in was named Hot Apple. I think that was in junior high. Our first gig was playing for a fashion show. Next was a horn band (like Chicago, Blood, Sweat & Tears) named Morning. When I got my driver’s license I started playing with some older guys playing country music. That band was named Broken Spoke. I can’t remember how I met up with them. Might have been my brother in law who is a great jazz drummer in Las Vegas. I started playing clubs around Dallas as soon as I could drive. That was 1972. I graduated high school in 1974 and had enrolled for college at North Texas State University but I was offered a gig playing on the road with a family band from Louisiana named Arceneaux and Cousins.

I went to high school with the bass player, Randy Welch, and he called me and invited me to join them. That was the first band we played in together. He quit not too long after that and went back to Dallas and formed a band named The Weekend Band.

After I left Arceneaux I went back to Dallas and started playing with a local legend named Will Barnes. At some point Randy contacted me and invited me to join The Weekend Band which eventually turned into Dallas. By the time of the ‘Casualty of Love’ album I think Randy and I were the only two original members from The Weekend Band.

What’s the story behind The Weekend Band?

The story of The Weekend Band is pretty interesting.

Randy had some really cool business and musical ideas. That band was a 7 piece group.

Bass, two drummers, two guitars, keys and sax. Heavily influenced by Loggins and Messina. In fact Randy had forged a relationship with Jim Messina and we went to Los Angeles and recorded an album at the studio they did all their recording at – Haji Sound. We were working on a deal with Columbia Records to fill the slot after Loggins and Messina broke up but it never went through. They chose The Sanford-Townsend Band over us. The disappointment and other circumstances led to members leaving the band and we evolved into Dallas.

“We would do a showcase and have Sandy West from the Runaways play drums on a few songs”

Where did Dallas play? 

We played clubs around Texas – Dallas, Austin, Houston, Port Aransas, El Paso. We played around Los Angeles – Madame Wongs, The Mint, The Palomino. Our manager was a guy named Carlos Bernal that we met through our Los Angeles lawyer for the Weekend Band. Carlos has a very interesting history. He was a roadie for the Byrds and worked with Gram Parsons. He took Gram’s place on the South Africa tour. He also was road manager for The Runaways. When we were living in Los Angeles and trying to get a record deal, Carlos came up with the idea that we would do a showcase and have Sandy West from the Runaways play drums on a few songs and I went out front and did lead vocals. I was scared to death. I had always had the drums to hide behind. Sandy and I became friends.

Musically we were into Elvis Costello, Ian Dury and the Blockheads , The Knack, Chris Spedding, David Bowie, Mott the Hoople. We classified ourselves as New Wave. I believe we originally pressed 500 copies of ‘Casualty Of Love.’ The first 100 I think were hand stamped with a red number from 1 to 100 and sold at a premium as a collectors item.

Side 1 –

‘Casualty Of Love’: was written by David E. basically a story about heartbreak.
‘Do What You Wanna Do’: I remember Randy telling me that this cut was about my attitude
‘Rodeo’
‘Mr. Twister’
‘Miami Motel Tragedy’: I think this one’s about Alan Freed, the famous disc jockey.

Side 2 –

‘Le Crazy Eights’: Cheap hotels and rock and roll.
‘Rock and Roll Star’
‘All Because of You’: Written by a friend of ours.
‘After the Gold Rush’
‘Top Dog Daddy’

Where was the album recorded?

The album was recorded at Goodnight Audio in Dallas, Texas. They also had a studio in L.A. I think the owner’s wife was a backup singer for Stevie Nicks. Randy and I did most of the producing but everyone in the band contributed. I believe it was recorded on an MCI 24 track 2″ reel to reel recorder. Maybe a Neve console. Man I don’t recall how long we took to do it. David E. did the front cover drawing and Randy did the lettering. David had a cosmetology license and I think this was something he had to do for his class. Randy did all the back cover work. He’s a very talented artist. You should check some of his stuff out on Facebook.

“We opened for McGuinn, Clark and Hillman, Eric Johnson”

We opened for McGuinn, Clark and Hillman, Eric Johnson. The night we were opening for McGuinn, Clark and Hillman we had decided to go home after sound check and get showered and change clothes. When we got on the highway to get back to the club there was a terrible traffic jam. We heard on the radio that someone had been killed in a car wreck and the highway was closed. We were stuck! I was driving and decided to pull into the median and drive until we could find an exit that would get us to the venue. We were late and everyone was pissed off at us. Carlos had stuck out his neck to get us the opening slot with his old bosses and we screwed it up. Rock and Roll.

David E. eventually left the band and we did it three piece for a while. Then Paul decided it was time to call it quits so Randy and I started playing with another guitar player named Rock Custer who moved to Dallas from Hawaii and was a descendant of George Custer. Rock was tragically killed while trying to walk across a busy highway going home from my apartment. I think at that point Randy and I decided it was time to go our separate ways.

Randy lives in Colorado now and is still playing music and writing poetry and painting.

I don’t know what Paul and David E. are doing these days.

I’ve been in Nashville for 30 years and have had a career touring and recording with country music artists. I quit touring about 5 years ago but. I’m still playing locally with some amazing musicians, Rory Hoffman, David Spicher, Stuie French, Paul Kramer, Tommy Hannum, Craig Duncan, Wendy Newcomer, Eamon McLoughlin, Tom Buller … so many great players in this town.

There is some unreleased Dallas material.

Klemen Breznikar