Eric Quincy Tate

EQT
This is a heads up - Damnedoledave ( Dave Cantonwine - EQT's basses) is in the process of cranking up EricQuincyTate.com, Eric Quincy Tate's new presence on the web. Be sure to look us up. Also Dave has his own web site www.damnedoledave.com. So check out Damned Ole Dave and see what he's up to.
A short EQT video. It was recorded live in Atlanta at the WETV studio on Feb 10th. 1976 - it's a blast from the past.
EQT - No Rollin Boogie - Live at WETV 2-23-1976
Add to My Profile | More VideosTracks from EQT albums are now being offered here as mp3 downloads.
All mp3 files are made from digitized audio copies of the original wax LPs. The conversion from wax to digital files was done personally by David Morris, an avid Southern Rock fan who does engineering work for The Vinyl Masters . The digitized LPs have that quality vinyl timbre minus the associated vinyl noise.
(TheVinylMasters.com offer a great selection of vintage Southern band LPs (including EQT’s - www.thevinylmasters.com)They sell each albums coupled with a digitized copy of the album on CD. This works out great for those that want an album and artwork but prefer to play the music on CDs or mp3 devices.)
The EQT myspace was originally created by an EQT fan, Kirk Plunkett.
Thank you Kirk – we greatly appreciated it.
How the band formed and where the name came from.
The basis of Eric Quincy Tate group (EQT) was formed in Corpus Christi Texas in the latter part of 1968. The drummer / lead singer, Donnie McCormick, owned an after-hours nite club called “The Muddy Turtle” situated just a block from the Gulf of Mexico in downtown Corpus . Donnie is a very unique, multitalented and gifted person. He is so charismatic that he almost always becomes the center of attention in everything he does. His voice is full of character and he sings with great emotion while playing the drums. His unique drumming style is based more on dynamically accenting the vocals and music rather than just playing patterns and fills. His percussive style also servers to conduct the band as he plays.
Donnie coined the name Eric Quincy Tate. He wanted to use a formal name for the band but didn’t want to use his own i.e. “The Donald Eugene McCormick Band”. So to share the spotlight and to signify democracy for the band members he came up with the name and it stuck.
EQT’s first half album
In 1969, shortly after the basis of the group formed, Donnie McCormick, Tommy Carlisle, Joe Rogers and Dave Cantonwine went to Macon, GA and recorded a six song session at Capricorn studio. The songs were produced by Tony Joe White for the label Atlantic Records . While they were there at Capricorn they met the Allman Brothers who were just finishing up their first album. They were absolutely amazed at Dwayne Allman’s slide guitar work and asked him if he would do a song with them – Dwayne’s answer – sure.
When the staff producers for Atlantic, Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowell heard the Capricorn cuts they halted the half completed album rejecting it as non commercial. The superstar producers (i.e. produced the Drifters, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles) decided not to use the EQT musicians and proceeded to extracted Donnie as a solo artist adding top notch studio musicians with Tony Joe to make the album.
It was a “Deal or No Deal” situation for Donnie and the members of the band. For the band the recording contract turned into a song writing contract for the album with the hopes of doing live tours. For Donnie it was his debut with plans to bring the EQT band with him.
Donnie’s first album
The new album was made using Donnie, Tony Joe White and a studio band called the Dixie Flyers (alias The Bill Black Combo and today known as Tony Joe Whites’ Band). Later on The Memphis Horns were added to the tracks. The Atlantic producers liked the EQT name concept and the album still carried the EQT name rather than Donnie’s name. And since a previous photo shoot had been done with the EQT members they were thrown on the cover.
It makes for one strange album for folks to figure out. Some people assume Donnie’s name is Eric Quincy Tate. Nowhere on the album does it say who was singing. The album cover has the EQT members pictured on it and credited as song writers but most don’t play on it. Donnie sings all the songs but his name is not mentioned as the artist and he doesn’t play the drums on it either. Tommy Carlisle manages to play a couple of guitar parts and headlines in the credits along with Tony Joe. The Dixie Flyers, Memphis Horns and Tony Joe White play on it but are not pictured. None of the studio staff musicians that played on it are named - it just states Tony Joe White and Tommy Carlisle as playing with friends.
The album was recorded in two different studios, Memphis and Miami, by two different engineers. It was produced by Atlantic Records but then released on the Cotillion label. The album is a mosaic in construction. It was heavily produced but done by pros and has excellent sound quality for the day. The cut are great sounding and Donnie sings with a youthful raspy energetic voice. Donnie’s Cotillion album is fantastic in many ways. It really captures the hay days of the Memphis sound
(As a side note in 2007- Rhino Records released an EQT CD. It contains all of the cuts from the Donnie McCormick / Dixie Flyers Cotillion album AND the six cuts that EQT band members did with Tony Joe at Capricorn including the one with Dwayne Allman. It also has one additional Cotillion studio cut that was originally dropped called “Blowing the Clouds Away” (The song is sung beautifully by Donnie and perhaps is his best vocal to date. It was written by the members of “The Kings”. Donnie and Tommy were members of The Kings previous to EQT. The Kings consisted of Donnie McCormick and Tommy Carlisle with McWhorter and Ron Morgan Jr.))
EQT’s first album as a group
As things turned out the early EQT group cuts capture the interest of Capricorn. The band was approached by Phil Walden when their Atlantic contract ended. In 1972 EQT signed a deal with Capricorn and made their first true album as a group. In Macon, GA at the Capricorn Studio they were assigned to Paul Hornsby, a young producer at Capricorn, who molded the band's raw songs and sound into something extraordinary. When the album was finished Capricorn's Paragon Agency then put EQT on a major concert tour of the US playing on shows with the Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker, BB King, Frank Zappa, Mary Clayton, Alice Cooper, Trapeze, Yes, Dr. John, Todd Rundgren, Mountain, Ted Nugent, Rare Earth, Wet Willie and Johnny and Edgar Winters to name a few.
The band restructures
During their Capricorn tour Tommy Carlisle, the guitar player, quit the band unexpectedly. The band dropped out of touring but continued to play as a three piece while they looked for a replacement. During their year long search they ran across Wayne “Bear “Sauls. He was decidedly the magic they needed to complete the band. Bear joined the band kicking the group into high gear and taking the music to a new level of energy.
EQT's 2nd Album
Once the band got it together they drew the interest of a local business man, "Michael Thievius. Thievius was the backer of porn movies (Deep Throat for one) and owned sex shops in the Atlanta area as well as a good amount of downtown property . He had recently diversified into the music business building a top notch studio in Atlanta. Thievius had also recently gotten into some serious trouble at that time and was in prison waiting on a jury trial in a murder case. When EQT auditioned for Thievius they traveled to Lexington Kentucky and played in a prison yard for the inmates of a halfway house type prison where Thievius was incarcerated. Thievius liked what he heard and signed the band to a record contract while he was still in prison. This is how EQT came to make their GRC album.
Six months after signing with GRC, EQT with Sonny Limbo as the producer completed the album. One side of the album is a live recording made at the Chattahoochee River “Ramblin Raft Race” in Atlanta. The other side of the album was done at the Lowery Studio which was owned by the Lowery Group who also did the publishing. The GRC album took off strong receiving a tremendous amount of promotion and air play when released in 1975. EQT was once again on their way up and back into the concert scene. In the midst of all the excitement the bottom dropped out again for EQT. Michael Thievius had gone to trial, was found guilty and sentence to hard time. The GRC record label lost financing and crumbled as the Fed confiscated Thievius’s empire after Thievius’s escaped during transportation to the penitentiary never to be seen or heard of again.
EQT’s 3rd album
Continuing on EQT in 1977 started their own record label and did a live album. This album was recorded live at the “Whipping Post”, a club in Augusta Georgia and is simple known as the white album which brands a hand stamp label. It is one kick ass recording of the group at their best and biggest. It features both of the EQT guitar players Tommy and Bear along with Jerome Joseph better know as “Conga Jerry” from Santa Barbara, CA a perfectly matched percussionist for EQT . This was the last album EQT made as a full group.
The Crew
"During our career as EQT we had a talented great group of people helping us. The two main people that made all the difference in the world were Michael Floyd and Larry Tubbs. Those two guys took care of business for us and hump tons of equipment thousands of times (including a Hammond organ and an acoustic piano) and drove it at all hours to all point leading out from Atlanta spanning the whole US and did so for many years. Seriously - they put more into the band than the band did and did it for practically nothing. They did it because they had faith in us and that will always be remembered and appreciated. With out them we would have been sitting on the side of the road somewhere the second week out wonder what the hell to do. Mike and Tubbs were also responsible for the sound that everyone heard and were always a part of the EQT sound signature. EQT would not have been the same with out them"
In 1979 Joe Rogers, the keyboard player, left the band and worked as a studio musician recording with the likes of the now legendary country band Alabama on their first RCA album, Johnny Nash’s Bird of a Feather CBS album and Danish singer Kim Larsen’s (AKG Gasoline) “Yankee Drengene” CBS album which also featured Mylon LeFevre.
EQT's Album as trio Trio "Six Pack"
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