(Progressive Rock) White Wing - White Wing - 1975, MP3, 192 kbps

Rapid City art rock band called White Wing (1968-1976) and had recorded an eponymously titled album with a Minneapolis- based record company called ASI in 1975. ASI released a single entitled, "Hansa," off that album, which received spotty national and international airplay and made the BILLBOARD Top Singles Picks list.
However, company president, Dan Holmes (left), who had produced our album, strongly encouraged me to release the WhiteWing rhythm section, hire guest vocalist Larry Galbraith (from another Rapid City band called FREE FLITE), and to stay in close contact with ASI for future recording projects. I took his advice and made those hard decisions, although leaving WhiteWing and my old friends was very painful and I questioned that move and my motives for many years to come.
Those same ex-band members were reluctant to sell the WhiteWing name (which was a corporate holding), so Mike, Larry, manager Mike Chambers, and I set out to form a totally new band and image. After a series of auditions we landed Nebraska- based drummer John Haynes and the new line-up was complete. Larry coined the name ASIA, and, because we all loved the mystical, exotic and expansive implications, the name stuck.

Album sales were weak, however, because distribution to the hundreds of small Midwestern towns we typically toured were very poor and difficult to coordinate with airplay. ASI also chose rather foolishly to promote us as "the next Moody Blues," when, in fact, we were much heavier, much to the surprise of many promoters, booking agents, and club owners. After considerable album promotion touring and countless radio interviews, ASI chose not to pick up the contract option for our second album (which was fully composed and in demo form) primarily because they were in the midst of a belt-tightening stage after the mid-Seventies recession.

Original WhiteWing: Mike Drew, lead vocals/organ (1968-1973); Rod Schroeder, vocals/guitar; Mike Coates, lead guitar; Gary Cass, bass; Norm Curtis, drums.
Other Members: Mike Niva, lead vocals/organ (1974), Mike English, lead vocals (1974).
Band roster on WhiteWing album: Mike English, lead vocals, Mike Coates, lead guitar; Tim Renshaw, keyboards; Gary Cass, bass; Norm Curtis, drums.