About

HISTORY:  Bubble Puppy was formed in 1966 in San Antonio, Texas, by Rod Prince and Roy Cox who had previously performed together in the rock group called the Bad Seeds. Looking to form a "top gun rock band" based on the concept of dual lead guitars, a staple of southern rock that was highly unusual on the psychedelic music scene, Prince and Cox recruited Todd Potter, an Austin, Texas guitarist. With the addition of Danny Segovia and Clayton Pulley, the original line up of Bubble Puppy was complete. The name "Bubble Puppy" was taken from "Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy", a fictitious children's game in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Bubble Puppy's live debut was as the opening act for The Who in San Antonio in 1967.  After a few line-up the final roster for Bubble Puppy settled at Rod Prince and Todd Potter on lead guitars, Roy Cox on bass guitar, and David "Fuzzy" Fore on drums.  In the spring of 1967, Bubble Puppy moved to Austin, Texas and signed a recording contract with Houston-based International Artists. 

Bubble Puppy scored a US Top 20 hit in 1969 with their single, "Hot Smoke & Sassafras". The name was a misheard line lifted from an episode of "The Beverly Hillbillies". The single peaked at number 14 on the Billboard 100 and number 15 (RPM) in Canada. In addition, the song was at the top of many radio station playlists over the spring of 1969. However, despite Bubble Puppy's early success with the "Hot Smoke & Sassafras" single, they experienced numerous conflicts with International Artists, and parted ways with the label in 1970.  Signing Nick St. Nicholas of Steppenwolf as a manager, Bubble Puppy moved to Los Angeles in 1970. Their name was changed to Demian to avoid contractual difficulties with their previous record company.  The group signed to ABC-Dunhill Records and released one self-titled album in 1971. 

CURRENT:  On March 19, 2011, three of the original members of Bubble Puppy reunited for the first time in 25 years for a performance at The Austin Music Awards. The band also added Mark Miller (guitar) and Jimmy Umstattd (bass) to the line-up. David Fore met the two while playing in Austin cover band, the Kopy Kats. David and Mark also played together in the mid-70's in another popular Austin cover band, Zeus. In April of 2013, Gregg Stegall joined the line-up taking Todd Potter's place in the band. Gregg has a long-standing musical affiliation with Mark and Jimmy dating back from the early 1970s.  In 2018, David had to undergo knee surgery.  Randall Maxwell joined them to replace David.   

“Bubble Puppy is back with a vengeance.” (Margaret Mosier, Austin Chronicle) Voted 3rd place for best performing Rock Band in Austin 2015, they have been performing since the Awards night in 2011.  They also won a Texas Legacy Music Award and have been performing monthly from Austin to Houston, Corpus Christi to Padre Island, and San Antonio.  On August 26, they will be on stage at the Moody Theatre for the All ATX show benefiting HAAM,  recorded for PBS and joining Todd Rundgren along with other Austin All-stars.  

Band Members:  Rod Prince ‒ guitar, lead vocals, Mark Miller - guitar, vocals, Jimmy Umstattd ‒ bass, vocals, Gregg Stegall ‒ guitar, vocals,  Randall Maxwell - drums 

ROD PRINCE, singer/songwriter and lead guitarist, is a native of Corpus Christi, on the coast of Texas. He first picked up the guitar at thirteen, finding his true love early in life. Rod was influenced most deeply by the Ventures, Dick Dale, Lonnie Mack, Jeff Beck and, as we all were, Jimi. He dropped out of school at sixteen to apprentice with the hottest band in town, the Velvederes. Under the wing of keyboardist Gary Beck, Rod began his lifelong learning. Rod was a member of the infamous "Bad Seeds", his first recording experience, releasing four singles on the J-Beck label. (a video clip of the Seeds has been the scourge of record conventions for years). Rod would join with Roy Cox to form Bubble Puppy after the Bad Seeds split. He co-wrote their one hit wonder, "Hot Smoke and Sassafras," as well as most of the songs for Bubble Puppy. On, through Demian, Manbeast, Crosswhen, New World Symphony, the Deadhorse Puppy, the Prince Trio, to the apex in Sirius.

Rod Prince Guitar/Singer/Songwriter

Since the demise of Sirius, Rod worked in the construction trade as an electrician for many years. He has two children, Amy and Brenna, and five wonderful grandchildren. He is now the vineyard manager of the family farm-Whistling Duck Vineyards, Dublin facility.

And so, it begins again with Bubble Puppy. Their reunion at the Texas Music Awards in March, 2011 and their outstanding sold out performance at Threadgills in June sparked the renewal. His inspiring guitar solo ignited the crowd and he now looks forward to their new journey as the Smoke Rises again and Bubble Puppy takes the stage once more. "Magic, pure magic."

  Originally from NYC, MARK MILLER has been playing guitar since arriving in Austin in the late 60's. In 1969 he became friends with schoolmate, Jimi Umstattd, a union that would come and go for over 40 years, now here to stay. He developed his playing style listening to Clapton, Page, Gibbons, and of course, Rod Prince & Todd Potter, huge influences in the
early 70's. Graduate of Westlake HS (1973), he then began playing in Austin area cover bands, joining town favorite Zeus In 1974. In early 1975, famed Bubble Puppy drummer,
David Fore, joined Zeus. This was the start of a life-long relationship between David & Mark, one than would eventually lead to the current BP agenda. Eventually, Zeus signed with Kiss' manager Bill Aucoin in 1978, joining Kiss, Billy Idol, and Billy Squirer, already with that management team. Mark experienced a dream come true when he got to
record at Electric Lady Studios in NYC, working with famed Hendrix engineer, Eddie Kramer and Mike Stone (Journey & Queen), recording demos for Capitol Records & EMI America in the late 70's. 

 In 1980 he joined up with long-time friend, musician & song-writer/producer, Jay Podolnick. They formed a super-group of sorts, adding John Staehely (Spirit, Bob Dylan), Austin guitar icon, Glen Fukinaga on bass (future Dixie Chicks bassist), and Mark Singer, a hot-shot studio session
drummer from LA. While the band had talent galore & was turning heads everywhere, the project was short-lived and never landed a record deal. Fast forward to 1989 and Mark was tapped to be one of 3 lead guitarists on Jay's Warner Bros. release, "Inside Out", sharing honors with Eric Johnson & Billy White. While the record had modest sales, the experience of recording with such great players was invaluable.
After that project, Mark worked on building a business and starting a family in the late 90's. Musically inactive until 2003 when he started playing with a group of guys in the Round Rock area, doing acoustic covers of classics from all generations. As that band got better and more noticed, they added a drummer and went "all electric", thus the new "Kopy Kats" were born. The band enjoyed covering classic hits from 60's-90's at venues in  Central Texas.Soon after, drummer David Fore joined the Kats .It was at Mark's invitation that D-4 come hear the band at a party in South Austin, just to see if he might like the fit. It was there that they asked David up to jam, only to surprise him with an old BP tune that we all loved. Hot Smoke & Sassafras was the tune, and we nailed it. David joined up and it wasn't long before the masses started clamoring for the "real" Bubble Puppy to make a comeback. Well, after brain-storming the notion for a while, the band was asked to reassemble for the 2011 Austin Music Awards. Mark was asked to join the original line-up, along with his friend of over 40 years, Jimi Umstattd. The show was one for the ages, thus the clamoring turned into a roar for more shows. So now, here they are...the Bubble Puppy of the new millennium. Playing with precision, purpose, & passion, as it once was and how it shall remain 

Gregg Stegall has been playing guitar professionally in Austin, Texas since he was in high school, where he met Mark Miller and Jimi Umstadt and joined forces to form a rock and blues cover band called Nueces. While in this band, they learned several Bubble Puppy and Demian songs. Little did they know that 40 years later they would all find themselves as Bubble Puppy members, playing on stage, alongside their mentors, Rod Prince, David Fore, and Todd Potter. Even though Gregg did not join BP until after Todd Potters departure from the group in 2013, he acknowledges a great respect and kinship towards Todd, and the great guitar performances that Todd did on all the records that make up the works of Bubble Puppy, Demian, and Sirius. "It's quite an honor to be asked to fill the shoes of a great guitarist like Todd, and I hope I am able to do justice to the great legacy of music that I am faced with" GS
     After graduating high school, Gregg started a professional sound reinforcement company in 1975, with his high school shop teacher, John Nelson. This eventually became the largest sound and lighting company based in Austin, doing live sound for local, as well as national acts coming through Texas. This gave Gregg an extensive knowledge base, and set of experiences in the live world of music, which has proved to be a valuable asset throughout his career.

 During the late 70's and early 80's, Gregg took Mark Millers place as guitarist for the band Zeus, which later became known as Morris Code. During the 7 years he was with Morris Code, he recorded in the studio and played hundreds of gigs, all the while searching for the ever elusive "big record deal" that never came, even though they were signed with Peter Leed's American Bands management company. This was at the time that Blondie was at their peak during the "Heart of Glass" era, and Peter had just sold management rights of Blondie to another company, and he was going to make Morris Code the next Blondie. How many times have we heard this story?
     In 1985, Gregg was fortunate enough to be asked to join the legendary Texas cover band "14K" to take Brian Wooten's place as lead guitar player. A really big set of shoes to fill, as Brian was considered one of the best guitar players ever to come out of the state of Texas. Gregg had always looked up to Brian, and did everything he could to try to emulate Brian's playing. While he never became as advanced of a player as Brian, his playing abilities were greatly improved by studying what Brian had done in "14K" as well as "Too Smooth", another legendary Texas original rock band during the 70's. While in 14K, Gregg performed on two episodes of Star Search, and participated in the making of 14K's Christmas video "Ring Christmas Bells'"which aired on national TV networks during the Christmas season, all of which can be found today on You Tube.
     Throughout the rest of the 80's and into the 90's, Gregg played in various cover bands such as Dear John, Duck Soup, and the Executives, as well as doing live sound engineering for the best R&B band ever to come out of Austin, known as "The Bizness", who's members went on to join "Rick James", "Tower of Power", "Kenny Loggins", "Jodi Watley" and "Prince". That was an especially talented group of musicians that Gregg worked with for a couple of years.
     After 2000, Gregg took a hiatus from playing guitar, and focused exclusively on live sound, and furthering his small sound company, 1st Stage Audio, which he runs with his wife Kathryn. Also mixing as house audio engineer for Cedar Street Courtyard on 4th St. in Austin, TX. While there, he met the Austin version of the Spazmatics, and has worked with them for the last 9 years as their "go to soundman of choice." Though not playing guitar for them, Gregg continued to absorb abilities for improving his guitar playing by listening to, and working with the Spazmatics guitar player "Brian Young", another great player who has had an influence on Gregg over the last 5 years. Brian played with David Lee Roth for 7 years prior to moving to Austin, so obviously, he's going to be a great "Eddie Van Halen" style player. EVH is one of Gregg's favorite guitar players of all time.
     Gregg considers it an honor to be a part of the legendary Texas band, Bubble Puppy, and looks forward to meeting and playing for all the BP fans in Texas and across America.

JIMI UMSTATTD, joined the Kopy Kats on Aug 3, 2006, after about a year of solicitations from the band where a Texas Legend, Reggie Witty, was retiring thus necessitating a top notch quality replacement. Jimi has played guitar since he was 3 years old, taught by the master himself, Dr. Bob Umstattd, who was an early guitarist and singer mentor for his medical partner's impressionable young son named Eric Johnson. Jimi's bass playing began when in 8th grade, some highschoolers needed a bassist and 'converted' Jimi during the Hendrix and Beatles era of 1968. Earlier deep influences, most particularly Paul McCartney, can be felt in the melodic bass riffs and smooth vocal blending still enriched in Jimi's unique and rebellious but rock steady style. In 1969 while a freshman at Austin high, Jimi's Battle -of-the-Bands efforts were definitively disqualified due to the unprecedented nature of radical behavior and set material including The Beatles' mega-hit "Why Don't We do it in The Road?" which was a bit too advanced for an all age crowd. That same year, Jimi met fellow rocker and middle-school friend Mark Miller who would become a Kopy Kats founding member. The lads had many had many adventures even back then in various bands and performances. Jimi's extreme love for playing Rock and Roll music and performing Glenn Hughes-type vocals has been a mainstay in his life with too many bands to list.

Presently he has also become the bass player for the infamous Bubble Puppy band replacing Roy Cox . 

Roll music and performing Glenn Hughes-type vocals has been a mainstay in his life with too many bands to list.

Presently he has also become the bass player for the infamous Bubble Puppy band replacing Roy Cox . He played with them for the Austin Music Awards in March of 2011, at Threadgills in June and looking forward to many more shows as the Smoke Rises again and Bubble Puppy returns to the limelight with the same magic from the past.
So what's his day job in his spare time? He calls it "entrepreneurial exploitation of bargain manipulation and consequential profiteering." Jimi most loves the exquisite companionship of his best investment ever, his wife Mariellen. Their family of 3 children are constant reminders of the satisfaction of passing along a very fortunate natural musical talent to another generation. Although Jim is Sagittarian in nature, he can be terrible obnoxious on a rock stage in front of large crowds. The highest professionalism of proper performances often graces other audiences as well. Playing favorite rock n roll songs mixed with a splash of modern country is the perpetual therapy that makes the spice of life prevail in the Kopy Kats, Bubble Puppy and in Jimi. The name J. Aubrey is supplemented as his pen-name on almost 40 original songs he's written since moving into the hills of SW Austin, a magical and creative setting he loves to call home. Rock on everyone, let it rock!

 Inspired to play drums by hearing my junior high school band play Chicago’s 25 or 6 to 4.

The Authority 1982-85 (Cover)
Aerial Dream 1989-91 (Original)
One Million Days 1991-92 (Original)
Dear John 1992-93 (Cover)
Kabuki Brown 1995-96 (Original)
Scott Linhardt 1996-1997 (Original)

Break to work in semiconductor industry

Love Vandals 2007-2014 (Cover)

Currently, in addition to drumming with Bubble Puppy, Randall plays with his church praise band and a country and rock quartet named Silver and Gold, both in his hometown of Dripping Springs, Texas.

Influences: Tommy Aldridge, Terry Bozzio, Neil Peart, Jerry Gaskill.