The Strawberry Alarm Clock has grown up, but that’s OK. We all have.
Members of the band were in their teens and early twenties in 1967 when Incense and Peppermints hit #1 in both Canada and the US.
With their latest release, they stay true to their roots, but also shows they are not afraid to explore personal issues and the challenges of life in their songwriting.
Big Stir Records is releasing the first full album of new music since 1969 from psychedelic rock pioneers Strawberry Alarm Clock. It’s called Where’s One? and it’s slated for release on August 7.
The release of a new album from the band is nostalgic enough, but there’s more to it than than a stroll down memory lane.
The new album Where’s One not only returns the band to the genre they helped to invent, but it does so with five original members from their original run of four albums 1967-1969. Mark Stephen Weitz (keyboards), Randy Seol (drums/percussion), George Bunnell (bass), Gene Gunnels (drums/percussion), and Steve Bartek (guitar, flute, sitar and production), are joined by guitarist Howie Anderson, who’s been a full member since their 1986 reunion.
The album still has the trademark “grooviness” of late 1960s Strawberry Alarm Clock music, but they also experiment with touches of sunshine pop, new wave, and funk. The final track on the album, Galactic Symphony – Persian Skies, offers an audio “trip” down memory lane with the work of LA poet Stephen J. Kalinish. There’s even a scorching instrumental version of The Beatles’ Day Tripper on the album.
The content is clearly more personal and their writing has been affected by life and relationships. The album features songs that, if you’re of a certain age, you can relate to. Songs like Since You Have Gone Away and White Light explore our relationships with our parents, even after they are no longer with us.
The lead track from the album, Monsters, was released just in time for Halloween 2025. It deals with the long lasting effects of trauma and anxiety:
Older fans will be able to appreciate the personal lyrics in some of the songs and rock out (perhaps even light some incense) to the classic sound of the band, while younger fans will have a chance to experience the magic of one of the pioneers of psychedelic music who are still having fun making music.
WHERE’S ONE? hits record stores in a Deluxe Double LP edition and as a CD, as well as streaming on all digital platforms worldwide, on August 7, and it’s up for pre-order/pre-save here.
In this edition of the Vinyl Professor Podcast, I recently was lucky enough to sit down with five (!) members of The Strawberry Alarm Clock to take a deep dive into the album. Where’s One?
Copyright Peter J. Maurin, The Vinyl Professor. Published under Creative Commons License: Attribution/Non-Commercial Use.
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