Below is the text of Klaatu's 1st edition of their fan club letter, "The Morning Sun". Please note that there is an advertisement in it for Klaatu merchandise. The address is no longer valid. PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANYTHING TO THIS ADDRESS. It is unknown who holds this P.O. Box at this time. Thanks.

You'll also note that the catalog numbers for the band's first two singles on GRT are listed as the same catalog number. This is listed that way in the newsletter. It also lists the first single from HOPE as having a B-side of 'Around the world in EIGHT days'. Another anomaly in the discography is that Perpetual Motion Machine is listed strictly as Perpetual Motion.

Autumn, 1980 - est. 1980

OUR FIRST EDITION!

Toronto - Capitol recording artists Klaatu have remained an enigma since their debut album in August, 1976. The identities of the band's members have become one of the best-kept secrets in the recording industry, but as of Monday June 9, 1980 the reclusive group came out of the closet to prove that they're alive and kicking.

The info is just beginning to filter in: Klaatu is John Woloschuk, Dee Long, and Terry Draper. All three are in their mid-twenties and are Toronto-born and raised.

Woloschuk plays keyboards as well as rhythm and bass guitar. Draper is Klaatu's drummer and percussionist, but he also sits in on keyboards and rhythm guitar. The band's lead guitarist is Dee Long. As the electronic wiz of the group, he's the man behind the synthesizers. The vocals are determined this way: whoever writes the song, sings the song.

The prevailing notion of Klaatu is that all three were studio musicians who got together and formed a band. That isn't true. Woloschuk, Draper and Long knew one another from the various local bands each played in during their teens. It wasn't until Jan 1, 1973 that they stepped into the studio to record Klaatu's first album. Member Woloschuk: "Up to now, there's been no advantage for us to be high profile. It's not a question of shyness, it's just that we'd rather put the emphasis on our product rather than our personalities."

DID YOU KNOW
that there actually was a World Contact Day organized by the I.F.S.B. (International Flying Saucer Bureau) on March 15, 1953?

DID YOU KNOW
KLAATU have had all 4 of their albums to date reach the Top 200 Best Selling Albums in the United States. Two of them (3:47 and HOPE were in the Top 100)?

DID YOU KNOW
that the name KLAATU was taken from the 1951 movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still"?

NOW YOU KNOW!

LIMITED EDITION OFFER

KLAATU STICKERS - .25
SUN STICKERS - .25
OFFICIAL KLAATU STATIONARY (50 Sheets) - 1.00
SIR ARMY SUIT POSTCARD - .50
SIR ARMY SUIT BUTTON - 2.00
ENDANGERED SPECIES FULL COLOUR POSTER - 6.00

NOTE: All items listed above are available on a limited quantity basis only. So order now!

All orders are to be accompanied by full payment in cheque or money order payable to KLAATU. DO NOT SEND CASH.

MAIL TO:
KLAATU
BOX 1030
OAK RIDGES, ONTARIO L0G 1P0
CANADA

How did the original lineup in the band fall into place?

The band started with John and Dee, who were working together in an electronics company, and John connected with (producer) Terry Brown in the course of looking for work in a studio. As it happened, he had some lyrics to some of the songs we had been working on. He didn't get the job, but Terry expressed interest in hearing some of our demo tapes. We had already tried raising some interest in the tapes from a few record companies, so it was a bit of a surprise when we had someone asking us about hearing them. Anyway, we all went down to Toronto Sound (which Terry co-owned with composer Doug Riley at the time) with the tapes, and Terry was obviously excited by what he heard. It became a four-way project from then on; Terry Draper was the third active member in the group, and Terry Brown became our technical advisor and producer.

The first Klaatu album was three years in the making, is that right?

Yes and no. Yes, it did take three years to make, but it wasn't three years of continuous work. You see, we were still working day jobs, but on Friday nights we would all meet at Toronto Sound and pick up from where we had last left off. Actually, what we were doing was constructing one song at a time, and there would be gaps - sometimes for as long as three months - when we would be writing new material outside the studio. It was a utopian situation, which contributed to the length of time in making the album. We didn't have any formal design of making music a career at this point, and since Terry had virtually given us free reign in the studio, there was none of the usual pressure to produce by a certain deadline, or to contain ourselves to any set budget.

Perhaps you could tell us a little about the album Endangered Species released June 1980.

The title, Endangered Species, is actually a song, but one that we left off when we were deciding which of the 25 tunes would actually be released. The track is about the planet and how we are destroying the life on it.

We took about four months in Toronto writing material and constructing basic arrangements, then we spent two months in Los Angeles recording the album. It is about as basic, structurally, as one is going to hear from us; I mean, we could re-create it pretty well note for note on the stage.

To be continued....

KUOTABLE KUOTES AND KLIPPINGS

With this column we will introduce you to the President of our record company and our personal representative for the last five years (what we call our silent years)........ FRANK DAVIES.

FRANK has been in the record business for 16 years and at the ripe old age of 33 is a veteran in the business having been a record producer (with several U.S. and Canadian hits to his credit), a music publisher, a music journalist and critic, an album jacket designer (with a Grammy nomination for his 'GOODUNS' album jacket - recorded by the King Biscuit Boy - to his credit among other international design awards), an International Director for two major record companies - one English and one American and, as an Englishman (ironically) one of the major promoters and investors in Canadian talent over the last ten years (Prism, Dan Hill, Ian Thomas, Gus, The King Biscuit Boy, Crowbar, Private Eye, Graham Shaw, Fludd, A Foot In Coldwater to name just a few).

Anyway, we felt that FRANK would be the best person to give, in each issue of our newsletter, a complete rundown of our business activities and endeavors which we hope will be of interest to you. In so many of the letters we receive we are asked about our upcoming releases, news on our film ventures, where our records have been or will be released, and many other items that FRANK is more aware of than any of us. So here he comes (and yes, he did work with and for The Beatles in two years in the mid-sixties hence a lot of the rumours surrounding our supposed affiliation with The Beatles)........

Well thank you for the nice introduction. The first thing that I thought we should cover for all those people, and most particularly the avid record collectors among, who have written and asked is a complete and up to date DISCOGRAPHY of all KLAATU's singles and albums.

Klaatu Discography (January 1st 1973 - July 1st 1980)

GRT RECORDS OF CANADA:
1973 HANUS OF URANUS (Original Version)/Sub Rosa Subway (Original Version) - single (Canada only) #1233-18 Special Sleeve
1974 DOCTOR MARVELLO (Original Version)/For You Girl - single (Canada only) #1233-18 Special Sleeve

(all Canadian Albums contain lyric sheets)

DAFFODIL RECORDS OF CANADA:
1975 CALIFORNIA JAM/Dr. Marvello (LP Version) - single (Canada and U.S. / U.K. on Island Records) #DIL 1057 - Special Insert
1975 TRUE LIFE HERO/Hanus Of Uranus (Original Version) - single (Canada only) #DIL 1066
1976 CALLING OCCUPANTS/Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby III - single #1073 - Capitol Records worldwide excluding Canada
1977 CALLING OCCUPANTS/Sub Rosa Subway (LP Version) - single #1075 - Capitol Records worldwide excluding Canada
1977 WE'RE OFF YOU KNOW/Around the World in Eight Days - single #1077 - Capitol Records worldwide excluding Canada
1978 DEAR CHRISTINE/Older - single #DFS 1079 - Capitol Records worldwide excluding Canada - Special Sleeve
1979 JUICY LUICY/Perpetual Motion - single #DFS 1080 - (Canada & some foreign territories) - 12 inch version as well
1979 ROUTINE DAY/Silly Boys - single #DFS 1081 (Canada white vinyl - and some foreign territories) - Special Sleeve
1980 KNEE DEEP IN LOVE/Dog Star - single #DFS 1083 - Capitol Records worldwide excluding Canada
1976 3:47 E.S.T. ("KLAATU" the rest of the world) - Album #10054 - Capitol Records worldwide excluding Canada - Special Record Label (Canada only)
1977 HOPE - Album #10057 - Capitol Records worldwide excluding Canada - Special Record Label (Canada only)
1978 SIR ARMY SUIT - Album #16059 - Capitol Records worldwide excluding Canada - Special Record Label (Canada, U.S. and some foreign territories)
1980 ENDANGERED SPECIES - Album #16060 - Capitol Records worldwide excluding Canada - Special Record Label (Canada only)