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The idea of a Patron Saints reunion, let alone a new studio album, seemed quite remote up until early 2000, when Kirk Foster, Jackie (Fornerod) Haigney and I hatched plans for a huge reunion bash, code-named "Saintstock." After absurd amounts of time and energy were expended, our dream came true on the weekend of September 23-24, 2000 in Bedford, NY., the details of which you can catch up on here. |
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Even after 40 years, the old band chemistry was still there, but it was the new chemistry created that excited us...since I was the only common bond tying all of the Patron Saint/Garrison personnel together, many of the various band members playing together had never actually met each other until that weekend. When the dust finally settled, the following crew had happily signed on for the new album project: Me (Eric Bergman, original member), John Doerschuk and Kirk Foster (from the Latimer Sessions period), Jeff Alfaro (original Patron Saint drummer before Paul D'Alton on Fohhoh Bohob), and Roy Ellingsen (guitarist from the group Garrison, which was basically a re-named Patron Saints, 1978-1980), so it truly was to be a real Patron Saints album.
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 John Doerschuk at the mixing board and Kirk Foster on bass laying down a track. |
The main problem would be logistics; Jeff, Roy and I lived within driving distance of each other, but John lived in Cambridge, MA and Kirk lived in West Lafayette, IN. Somehow or other, we managed to get together enough over the past few years to record what we needed. We decided to revisit a couple of songs from the Latimer Sessions, Fly Away and In The Mourning, both of which I felt deserved a rethinking from a "grown-up" perspective, Good Friday, an old live favorite from the '70s which was never recorded in the studio, a few from the '80s which had never been recorded, and some brand new songs. As a special treat for Fohhoh/Proto Bohob fans, there's also an early '70s demo recording by original Patron Saint and Fohhoh Bohob co-writer, the late Jon Tuttle, which was given the "Beatles-Free As A Bird" treatment, i.e., other instruments were added to Jon's demo to make it a finished production. You can check out the track listing here. Early on, I had toyed with the idea of us recording the new album in a "real" studio, but if you've followed our history at all, you know that that's not the "Patron Saint" way of doing things! In true Fohhoh Bohob fashion, the majority of Time and Place was recorded in my home studio, substituting the Pro Tools digital realm for the ancient analog reel-to-reel tape decks of yore. Welcome to the 21st Century... |
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I designed the packaging around a beautiful photograph Jon had taken entitled, "Almighty Cloud." Jon's sister, Cynthia Edwards, who had the original photo, graciously allowed me to use it for the album, and sent me a high resolution scan. Here's the full, uncropped version:
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 Our only concession to age...presbyopia! 5 Saints, 5 pairs of glasses... |
There are also photos of all of us performing back in the late '60s/early '70s juxtaposed with us today; we're proud of our history/legacy, and have absolutely no desire to make believe we're young, "fresh" and oh-so hip. Think "middle-aged dudes" can't rock? Well, kids, feel free to check out the audio clips...
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Since all of us on the new album knew and played in the Patron Saints with Jon (at right, in 1967) at various points (with the exception of Roy), we all felt it was extremely comforting to have Jon's work not only on the album, but also encasing it. I, for one, could not imagine a true Patron Saints album without Jon being a part of it. 