Fred Coutts (vocals)
Dee Long (guitar; keyboards)
Dave Martin (bass)
John Judge (drums)
Dave Darch (guitar)
Vic King (drums)
Val Mancuso (guitar)
Leo Genova (organ; added)
RH King collegiate school mates Dee Long (keyboards), Fred Coutts (vocals), John Judge (drums), Clifford Maynes (bass) and Dave Darch (guitar) originally formed as Black Market in Toronto in 1966. The band played school dances and battle of the band contests throughout Toronto and eventually changed their name to The Polychromatic Experiment culminating in an opening slot for Nucleus.
After Polychromatic Experiment wound down in 1968, Long and Coutts recruited Val Mancuso (guitar), Vic King (drums) and Dave Martin (bass) to form Bloodstone. Having maintained their connection to Nucleus's Greg Fitzpatrick, they were able to land a production deal with producer Shel Sefran for a 7" single released on Bent/Quality Records called "Toronto" and backed with "I'm Your Man" in 1970. Alas, the record's lack of commercial or radio success led to them disbanding later that year.
Long would join Terry Draper, John Woloschuk and Jamie Bridgman as a member of Mudcow in 1971. Following the collapse of Mudcow, Long and Woloschuk created Klaatu. Long is now a solo artist; Fred Coutts would drift in and out of a number of Toronto bands and would eventually re-team with former Bloodstone bandmate Dee Long in late '70s cover band FUNN alongside Klaatu member Terry Draper and brothers Gerald & Terry O'Brien among others. Fred Coutts died of natural causes in 1999; Dave Darch made several recording guest appearances in the '70s including work on Klaatu's "California Jam" single in 1974 and would maintain his connection with former Bloodstone bandmate Dee Long with a non-Klaatu side-project called The Burgerheads (a version of which appeared as the backing band on Klaatu's 1981 song "At The End Of The Rainbow"). Darch now lives in western Canada.
The Bloodstone single finally saw a re-issue on CD when it was included in an anthology of early works by Dee Long on 2009's 'LONGevity: 1, 2, 3, 5".
With notes from Dee Long and Clifford Maynes
Singles
1970 Toronto/I'm Your Man (Bent/Quality) 1997
Albums
Video
Compilation Tracks
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