Hard rock and progressive band. Members included Sandy Racher (lead guitar), Ricky Ford (rhythm guitar), Pete Plamondon (bass), Jerry Siegel (drums). Racher, Ford, and Siegel were formerly of the Cinnamon Cloud. Their original lead vocalist Paul Rugg left the band early on eventually founding the Jericho Sound Company.
Joshua performed throughout the teen center and school dance circuit (Parkville Teen Center, Our Lady of Fatima CYO, Franklin Sr. High School) progressing to clubs such as the Bluesette, the People’s Place, UAW Hall, Eastwind, and as house band at Mother Lode’s Wild Cherry. On Friday, January 8, 1971 Joshua performed live on TV channel 67.
The group had a relationship with Tree Frog Productions, a company that was responsible for bringing many national acts to Painter’s Mill and local arenas. Tree Frog booked Joshua to perform as the opening act for many concerts at Painter’s Mill including Foghat, Savoy Brown, the James Cotton Blues Band (with local groups Quinn, and Grin), Seatrain for a New Year’s Eve concert on December 31, 1970. In 1974 they opened for the Raspberries at the Latin Casino. They also opened shows for Eric Carmen, If, Seatrain, Ruth Copeland, Atomic Rooster, and others.
Joshua appeared in many of the large local band concerts including the Hopkins, and Read Street Festivals, Corpus Christi Church Benefit Concert on March 14, 1971 along with Calhoun, Cabbage, Calico, Live Steam, Gary & Louise, & others. They performed at the WKTK sponsored Flood Relief Benefit concert at the Steelworkers Hall on August 22, 1972. The Steelworkers Hall concert on October 8, 1972 with Grok, Coyote, Turn Blue, Staggerwing, and Zed. With a slightly different line-up they performed at the People’s Outing at Timonium Fairgrounds on May 26, 1974 with recording star Bill Withers and many other local groups.
Above: L-R: Racher at UAW Hall 1972, Camp at Parkville Sr. H. S. November 1974, Siegel at BPI 1974
In 1974 the band began to go through some personnel changes. Ford was replaced with guitarist Tim Camponeschi (ex-Momma Max). Plamondon left and was replaced with Butch Roche (bass ex-Parts Unknown). Also joining the band was saxophonist Steve Simcoe, and then bass guitarist Nick Longo (ex-Port City) also joined the band briefly before going on to join Hollins Ferry.
Tim Camp, Steve Simcoe
Siegel, Camp. Courtesy of Jerry Siegel
Racher went on to play in several club bands including Breezin’ and Grand Slam. He also became a guitar instructor. Siegel continued playing for many local groups. He became a drum instructor and played music in the ‘00s band Paradise. Camponeschi went on to form Bootcamp. He continued to perform in the ‘90s-‘00s as Slim Man. Ford played in the band Rock Hard Peter. Roche worked at Randallstown Music and later joined Ozz, and Catwhistle before going to work for Steve Boone at Blue Seas Studios. Joshua equipment manager Dave Hoffer also played keyboards for the bands Pooba and Rorer 714.
A self-produced Joshua CD containing tracks recorded in 1972 was released in the 1990s and was available at local record shows.
