Crystal Mountain

Cleveland, 1973-4

band pic

Crystal Mountain was formed by members of Wimpy, Just Crystal, Thunderballs, Mephistopheles, and Coloured Rain - all from Cleveland's southeast suburbs.

The primary lineup was Tom Ciula (vocals, keyboards, bass), Dave Rosky (lead guitar, vocals), Brian Banks (lead guitar), Ralph D'Amico (vocals, guitar), Tom Healey (drums, vocals), and Monica Oberlin (vocals). After a while, Ralph D'Amico and Brian Banks left with Dave Hantz (vocals) and Keith Karlyn (lead guitar, vocals). Early members were Mike Halligan (bass, vocals) and Bruce Campbell (sax and flute - occasional member)

Crystal Mountain played several high schools and bars in the Cleveland area. Regular venues included That's It and Fat Alberts with opening gigs for Sonny Geraci (former Outsiders and Climax singer) and Sugarloaf. The band played mostly cover songs as was typical of the times. They did perform a couple original songs. The cover material included songs from Cream, Jefferson Airplane, Suzi Quatro, Jeff Beck, Buffalo Springfield, James Gang, Johnny Winter (the Rick Derringer era), Rolling Stones, and Allman Brothers.

The band evolved into Crystal.

more pics

The original band

Thanks to Dave Rosky