John, Steve, Bill, Scott
The Inner Lite
Mercer Island, Washington
1967 - 1969
Members
Bill
Garrett ~ Drums
Steve
Gula ~ Guitar, Vocals
John
Thomas ~ Guitar, Bass
Scott
Thomas ~ Keyboards, Vocals
Bill
Garrett ~ Drums
Steve
Gula ~ Guitar, Vocals
John
Thomas ~ Guitar, Bass
Scott
Thomas ~ Keyboards, Vocals
The Inner Lite was formed by twin brothers John & Scott Thomas in 1967. Influenced heavily by Cream, the band played music by the Cream, the Doors, Vanilla Fudge, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and composed their own instrumentals. The group performed mainly at school dances, private parties, the Bellevue Ice Plaza and various Teen Centers. They were selected by Kern's Music in Burien to perform at the Seattle Teen Fair in 1967-68.The band would often rent a large Kustom Amp for the weekend gigs from Ford's Music located near Crossroads. Remember, the idea back then was to flood the stage with as many stacked amps as you could. This particular amp was a Kustom 200 (charcoal in color with 3 15" speakers). The rental fee was $10 for the weekend and it barely fit in the back seat of my Mom's '67 Buick Electra. About 12 years ago (1997), I started collecting vintage guitars and amps. I always wanted to find that same Kustom amp and in 2002 I finally found it at Pacific Music in Redmond, Wash. I want to believe it is the same amp, since there were not many like this and it was an exact match. As I was wheeling it out the music store, a guy was holding the door open for me and it turned out to be Steve Gula, our guitar player. I had not seen him in 35 years! Wow, did we have a good laugh. So, I think the music gods were shinning down on us that day and I have to believe I own the same amp we rented back in '67-68.
None of us went on to play in other bands. Girls and sports replaced the Fender amps, Vox organ, Ludwig drums and cheap guitars. Scott Thomas is a Captain for Alaska Airlines, Steve Gula owned his own business in aviation fuel, John Thomas is the CEO for Eye Associates Northwest and last I heard, Bill Garrett became a Doctor.
John Thomas, February 2009
