The Bard’s journey to success

is a true study of serendipity meets innovation.

The Bards story begins in the small eastern Washington town of Moses Lake… where they created an immensely different and popular sound by setting classic and contemporary poetry to rock music.

Their standout hit, “Never Too Much Love,” not only achieved regional stardom in the Pacific Northwest but also demonstrated their willingness to push musical boundaries. Drawing inspiration from the British Invasion, The Bards fused elements of rock, pop, and psychedelia, creating a sonic landscape that was distinctly their own

The Bard name means an ancient order of lyric, minstrel poets. They quickly became a standout group among the popular Northwest groups of the 60’s.

The rewards of their innovative style came when the Bards ventured to Hollywood, packing their “garage” tapes. Legendary music producer Curt Boettcher, amused by their lack of “Hollywood chic” introduced himself in an elevator and invited them to pitch their music. That evening, Mardi went to Curt’s home with the band’s garage tapes and after listening to the eclectic mix of Bard mania said, “I don’t know what you guys are on, but bring some to the studio.” Boettcher’s production partner at that time was Keith Olsen, who both engineered and added his own substantial production chops, Keith later achieved worldwide acclaim producing artists who’ve sold over 100 million records.

The producers, along with Gary Usher founded Together Records. The band relinquished their name so they could sign with the label and from this serendipitous meeting “The Moses Lake Recordings”…a unique mix of distinctive songs…including a 20-minute “Rock Opera,” based on a poem called The Creation was born. It is a testament to Keith’s engineering genius that the tracks you will hear on this site were gleaned 30 years later from a rough mix Mardi saved on ¼” tape at 7 ½” ips. (thanks to Paul Speer for his engineering acumen bringing those tapes to life.)

The Bards undeniably left an indelible mark on Seattle’s 1960s music scene.

We hope this website will serve as a love letter of thanks and appreciation to our fans who enriched our lives by letting us entertain you.

Never Too Much Love,

Mike, Mardig, Chuck and Bob

The Bards

We started out as young guys from a small town with big dreams and a love for what we were doing. We grew into a mature band, sharing the stage with big stars like BJ Tomas, the Turtles, Dave Clark Five, Animals, and Young Rascals (to name just a few); and recording with brilliant major producers, including Bill Puhlman of the Wrecking Crew, and then Curt Boetcher and Keith Olsen at the now famous and revered Sound City.

It was a grand time, and the memories are priceless

. – Mardig

Dustin Hoffman was once asked by James Lipton, host of “The Actors Studio” what motivated people to become actors? Hoffman leapt up, stuck his face into Lipton’s and vehemently whispered, “look at me, look at me, look at me.”

Isn’t it true of every performer? So, of course, Mike and Mardig thoroughly enjoyed a ‘look at us’ trip down memory lane on the Pale Bloom and Beyond podcast. .

“The fact that we came from a small town like Moses Lake and had that chip on our shoulder, that resistance to being told we couldn’t do something, fueled our drive to make things happen ourselves. It’s like we had a DIY (Do It Yourself) mentality. If only we’d had the internet back then!” – Mike

Watch the full podcast here.

Watch excerpts from the interview by clicking play

The Band

Being in a band has many life lessons.

You learn about self-employment. You learn about group chemistry. You learn the whole is greater than the sum of its parts!

It’s also a kind of ‘marriage’ – in our case, a 4-way blend of very different personalities and talents thrown into the close quarters of long rehearsals, long drives, and hotel stays.

We developed a division of labor – roles, territories, and alliances.

Bob Gallaway

Mardig Sheridan

Chuck Warren

Mike Balzotti

Juxtaposition

You can hear the beginnings of our innovative growth, beginning with simple (dare we say, simplistic?) originals. This is when we first developed our “signature” approach of using classic poetry and putting it to music; beginning with a Lewis Carrol children poem that snicker snacked its way to wisdom using nonsensical words, and covers employing sounds and percussion to infer meaning. These include the covers of “My Generation” and “Never Too Much Love.” Had we refrained from the opening “person awakes to a day that gradually becomes chaotic,” I suspect it would have enjoyed greater success than it did. But then it wouldn’t have been The Bards.

Eventually, the real heart of the band, the garage roots with our creative originality that frankly was, at the time, off the wall weird, from spoken word (long before Rap), to vocal sound effects, to scat and vocal shadowing of guitar leads (take that George Benson) and choral arrangements to rival The Moody Blues, emerged in our later recordings that were exclusively original, conceived on the stage of the cold, drafty and abandoned Moses Lake Ritz Theater in mid-winter 1968. It was that willingness to explore, to violate norms and dare to be different, that captured the imagination of our producers, Curt Boetcher and Keith Olsen. Curt, after his untimely death, is revered to this day by a cult following. Keith went on to produce over 100 albums earning him more than 39 Gold records, 24 Platinum and 14 Multi-Platinum certifications.

Jaberwocky Et Al

Obleck Et Al

Rockin’ to Ritzville: A Tapestry of Memories

From Wenatchee to Walla Walla, from Salem to Seattle, The Bards share their stories of escapades in pretty much every Northwest town. Stories that didn’t make it into “DANCE HALLS, ARMORIES and TEEN FAIRS.” The stories are simple, sad, mad and glad, funny and bad – the memories that made our venture unforgettable.

Anteaters and Early Mornings

Anteaters and Early Mornings Curt & memorable moments went together. One day we returned to Curt's house after one of our LA adventures &I sat on his couch to relax. His pet miniature anteater, that had managed to claw a hole completely through a solid wooden...

Desert Hot Springs

Desert Hot Springs After weeks of recording, Curt decided that a break for rejuvenation was required & we all packed into his tiny Toyota & headed for Desert Hot Springs. On the way, we stopped at a tram that went to the top of a mountain in the Jacinto...

Dance Halls Armoires and Teen Fairs

Years of research went into the making of this book, which contains over 60 popular group and solo artist biographies, more than 200 rare photographs, posters and other items of memorabilia, along with a discography that contains over 600 group and solo artist entries – documenting thousands of recordscreated by Pacific Northwest singers and musicians