MacArthur: Flirting with the progressive

MACARTHUR was formed sometime in the late 1970's, consisting of Ben MacArthur (vocals, guitars), Bill Hefflefinger (guitars, keyboards, programming), Donald Stockford (bass) and Jeff Bauer (drums). In their initial lease of life they had released to limited quantity vinyl LPs, MacArthur and MacArthur II, issued in 1979 and 1982 respectively.

Ben MacArthur narrates how their albums came to life:

"The MacArthur album was released late in 1979. After finishing the master, we tried to find a record company to press a small run. Most people would only press 500 to 1000 at a pretty hefty price. Bill Heffelfinger’s father, Eugene, was a teacher at a local high school and was able to get RPC Records in Camden, NJ, to do a 200 copy run. Its cost was still nearly $2000. RPC did it because Mr. Heffelfinger did a lot of school business with them. Otherwise, the album may have never been pressed. Not to mention the fact that Scott Stockford was able to secure the loan. To date I know there are only around 180 to 190 albums out in the world. I have 6 copies but 4 are not in good shape. They were given back to me by people who thought I would like to have them back. It’s a shame they were not taken care of better.

Because of the small run, RPC only wanted to print the album and did not want to do any art work on the album cover unless we came up with a lot more money. So we got creative and put a MacArthur sticker on the front and taped the credits on the back. Looking back, we could have made a sticker for the back too, but we didn’t. I see now that even big companies were doing that back then".

"We sold albums at various record stores around the tri-cities (Saginaw, Bay City and Midland) and at shows. We also sold them to anyone seeking to own one. I know one record dealer, Rock-a-Rolla Records, was closed down because they were selling drug paraphernalia. There were 10 albums there when the police confiscated their entire inventory. I was never able to locate them so they are probably out there in a box somewhere. I would surely like to find those! (There’s something for treasure hunters!) It’s rumored that Scott Stockford had some unopened copies but we have not been able to confirm that since he passed away and his wife is not able to find them".

"When the album came out, we did a local radio show on WKYO. They interviewed us and played some songs, it was pretty fun, just like being a rock star! We also had a few nice write ups in the local Bay Area Review, a music-oriented newspaper. Everyone thought the album was unusually good for just a locally recorded album. We always heard the same thing, "What are you doing here? You should be touring!” That’s what we thought too, but life is funny. I even won the Bay Area Review "best solo artist" award one year after I started doing some solo gigs. I also was approached by Bay Music who allowed us to record at their business using the latest and greatest equipment. They were so impressed with the album they just wanted to be part of it. That’s where we recorded MacArthur II.

By 1980 all of the first albums were gone. We worked on MacArthur II and managed to put together the money to do it right. It was a much better production all the way around. By then MacArthur was playing less and less together as a band and we all just faded into regular lives. Bill finished his degree in teaching and went on to become an internationally known high school band director and played in a few different cover bands. Jeff and I went back to school and finished degrees and went to work in the corporate world and Scott worked for himself as a taxidermist until he passed in 2013." 

MACARTHUR II (FULL ALBUM)

MacArthur reformed in 2006, their current line-up consisting of permanent members Ben MacArthur (vocals, guitars), Donald Stockford (bass) and Chuck Harrington (drums). David Asher (keyboards) lends his talents when needed, first and foremost for live purposes. And while talk and rumours about reissuing their original albums as well as the band recording and releasing new material have circulated, nothing substantial has come to pass yet. Avid collectors might note the existence of one bootleg however, as their first album was bootlegged in 1980 as The Black Forest.