Randy Holden


Randy Holden is an American guitarist best known for his membership of the West Coast acid rock group Blue Cheer and performance on their third album, New! Improved!. His solo album Population II is considered to be one of the earliest examples of doom metal. Holden is also a painter.
WWW randyholden.com

Biography

Randy Holden was born in Pennsylvania and grew up on the move. He played in a number of bands, including the Iridescents, the Fender IV and the Sons of Adam. Holden relocated the Fender IV from Baltimore, Maryland, to Southern California and they eventually became the Sons of Adam. While playing in the Sons of Adam, Holden opened for the Rolling Stones at their first show at the Long Beach Sports Arena. Holden was heavily influenced by Keith Richards' guitar and amp set up, which helped change his own attitude towards equipment and tone. The Sons of Adam began experimenting with distortion and feedback, which pushed into psychedelic rock. Holden left the band frustrated with the lack of original material.
Holden joined the Other Half, a psychedelic garage band from Los Angeles. In 1968, they recorded an album, but Holden soon left and replaced Leigh Stephens in Blue Cheer. He toured with them for a year and contributed three songs for the album New! Improved! Blue Cheer. He is credited with the songwriting, vocal, and guitars for "Peace of Mind", "Fruits & Icebergs", and "Honey Butter Love". He left the group during the recording sessions and the rest of the album was recorded with other musicians.
Frustrated with lack of control over the bands, Randy formed his next new band with drummer Chris Lockheed. Lockheed, also a keyboard player, uniquely played both drums and keyboard simultaneously in live performances. During this time Holden obtained a sponsorship deal with Sunn amplifiers. Through this, he received his famous sixteen 200-watt amplifiers. His new band was dubbed "Randy Holden – Population II", which referred to the band having only two members, and to the astronomical term "population II", which is "a category of stars that have heavy metal in their composition, an appropriate description of the original style of the music attributed to the band". The band recorded only one album, Population II. Trouble with its release led to Holden going bankrupt, losing all his equipment, and departing from music for over two decades. The album was released multiple times in bootleg forms over the years, with no official re-release until a limited issue in LP in 2005 and finally a remastered CD in 2008. The album has become a much-sought-after collector's item over the years.
After more than two decades he returned to his guitar, and began creating music again, reportedly at the continual urging of a loyal fan. He recorded Guitar God in 1994 and released Guitar God 2001 in 2001, followed in 2008 with the release of Raptor.
In 2008, Richie Unterberger said "He's a good candidate for selection as the great unknown 1960s rock guitar hero. No other American guitarist was as skilled at creating the kind of sustain-heavy, snaky guitar lines pioneered by Jeff Beck in the Yardbirds. His recordings with the Fender IV, the Sons of Adam, Ugly Things, the Other Half, and Blue Cheer, as well as his solo recordings, don't only contain some feverishly innovative playing, they also chart the overall rainbow of changes undergone by California 1960s rock guitar as a whole, from surf to pseudo-Merseybeat to psychedelia, hard rock and heavy metal."
In 2010, Holden began working with Randy Pratt and drummer Bobby Rondinelli on Population III, released by Ridingeasy Records on July 1, 2022. Pratt and Holden both composed the songs on Population III.

Personal life

Randy is married to American artist Ruth Mayer. His son, Marlon Holden, is a photographer.

Discography

The Fender IV
  • "Mar Gaya" / "You Better Tell Me Now"
  • "Malibu Run" / "Everybody Up"
  • Fender IV: Surf 101 – Live
The Sons of Adam
The Other Half
  • The Other Half
Blue Cheer
Lucifer
  • Unreleased album
Touch of Heaven
  • Visions of You
Solo