THE RISING SONS THIRTY YEARS AFTER MISSING OUT ON ROCK 'N' ROLL FAME AND FORTUNE, THE SONS OF CHAMPLIN ARE TUNING UP FOR A RETURN

BYLINE: JOHN BECK The Press Democrat

Hanging on the wall in the Sons of Champlin rehearsal warehouse, a chalkboard reads: "One of life's greatest pleasures is seeing how much better you can do something.''

Not far away: "Practice is the best of all instructors.'' Karate dojos and Zen monasteries have never been more optimistic.

Three decades ago, the chalkboard would have summed up life's ultimate high in the psychedelic haze of a mind-altering drug. Not that anyone could have read it through the clouds of smoke.

The legendary Bay Area band might still jam to the tune of "Get High,'' but those days are over. More than 30 years after the Sons were launched in a Marin County garage, they're back at it again (whatever you do, don't call it a "reunion''), playing a string of gigs from Seattle to San Diego with venues like Rancho Nicasio and The Fillmore in between.

Aside from an exercise in remembering each other's names, most retro-band reunions come together when an ailing friend needs help or when money and egos run dry (or as the Eagles proved: when hell freezes over).

But this latest revival was sparked when a friend proposed shooting a documentary on the Sons of Champlin. Filming a concert that's staged for the sake of the film may break a few rules in documentary filmmaking, but if it means the Sons get back together, who cares?

"We're not going to be the Backstreet Boys,'' leader Bill Champlin says. "We'll be lucky if we're the Salvation Army Band at Christmas. But we're having fun playing together.''

On a recent night in a San Rafael warehouse along Highway 101, the Sons took a break from rehearsals to tell the story of "the band that got away.'' Imagine a free-form conversation that unfolds like improv night as every member tries to get in his joke or one-liner.

"We've been together for 30 years so a lot of these issues were sorely contested when we were teen-agers,'' guitarist Terry Haggerty says at one point, describing the creative dynamic in the band. "I think we realized that anything that's not hashed out really hurts us more than it's worth.''

Champlin interjects: "Besides we're out of hash anyways.''

All jokes, lame and tame, are fair game. Before you know it they're at it again, riffing on everything from Vietnam to Mel Carter jokes and the days when Haggerty lived in a Douglas fir in Forestville and set the woods on fire while trying to smoke out a swarm of bees.

"I forgot how incredibly wonderful the Sons fans are,'' Haggerty says. "We haven't been out there forever, and there are all these people who when you really look at the specific faces, you say, wow, these people are still around and they absolutely love us.''

Lost in a backstage flashback, Champlin deadpans: "I wonder if she'll forgive me for how quick I was ... and then there's that one in Santa Cruz.''

Back in the late '60s and early '70s, the Sons' brand of "blue-eyed soul'' and rock shared Fillmore and Winterland bills with the likes of the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Big Brother and the Holding Company. While everybody else was tripping on psychedelic rock and folk, the Sons gravitated to a rock hybrid of soul and R&B."Because it was funky and it made you think of sex and it made your body move and it did all the fun things,'' Haggerty says. "We used to play these gigs when we were kids and we'd drive back over the bridge listening to the radio and the organ trios and Lou Rawls. We just lived for that stuff. If it was funky, you'd never go to sleep.''

A 1975 Chronicle review of a Winterland show with Jefferson Airplane mentions that "the Sons of Champlin is not only now, but has always been one of San Francisco's best.''

But when The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane took off and gained worldwide exposure, the Sons never followed.

"With the Sons, every time opportunity knocked we answered the phone,'' Champlin says. "We had a lot of really good opportunities but we just didn't recognize them.

"Everybody always says, `Oh man, you guys never sold out,' well nobody ever offered us to. We never let opportunity get close enough to us, to even have an attempt to sell out.''

At one point, record label exec Clive Davis flew out to meet the band and talk about a deal, but it fell through when the Sons' manager told him the band wasn't available because they were too busy taking acid.

"We were smoking lots of pot,'' Champlin said. "It was a real Rastafarian thing whether you want to cop to it or not. We'd buy a 20- or 30-pound bale and smoke all of it.''

It's hard to expect anything less from a band that once released an album dubbed "Minus Seeds and Stems.''

"That's kind of one of our rules now is we leave all that behind,'' Champlin says.

When the band dissolved in 1977, Champlin moved to Los Angeles and joined the Chicago band, while the other members drifted on to various day jobs and solo projects. Bassist Dave Shallock lives in the back of the band's rehearsal warehouse. Haggerty has battled severe epilepsy for the past 20 years.

Most of the band might be in their mid-50s, but the music hasn't missed a beat. Notorious for spontaneous live energy, the band's last CD "Sons of Champlin Live'' updated all the classics like "Get High,'' "Follow Your Heart'' and a 15-minute "Freedom.'' Recorded at the Burbank Center in 1998, it's a tight collection sparked by imaginative solos you'd expect to hear from a band that's been together for decades.

"It's kind of fun to go back to this material that we really like and really holds a place in our hearts with the chops we got now,'' Champlin says. "It's a different thing -- we've got better chops.''

This time around the Sons may be getting back together for the sake of a "Behind the Music'' style documentary, but the mythic comeback still glimmers.

"We're hoping that maybe the fluke factor will come in,'' Champlin says. "Some kind of a fluke where some angel comes in and says, you know I want to take a shot at this.''

You can reach Staff Writer John Beck at 521-5300 or e-mail at jbeck@pressdemocrat.com. PHOTO: 4 color, 2 b&w by Scott Manchester/Press Democrat 1 :Bill Champlin, lead singer for the Sons of Champlin, plays guitar and sings during a band practice in San Rafael.(Teaser, Q1) 2: Members of the Sons of Champlin, left to right, David Shallock, bass guitar, Mic Gilette, trumpet, Tom Saviano, sax and Bill Champlin, singer, practice for an upcoming tour. (Teaser, Q3) 3: Bill Champlin, Sons of Champlin's lead singer. 4: Members of the Sons of Champlin's horn section , Mic Gilette, background on trumpet, Tom Saviano, sax, play during pratice. 5: Bill Champlin, top, lead singer for the Sons of Champlin sings a number during band pratice in San Rafael. The Sons of Champlin, above from left to right, Terry Haggerty, lead guitar, James Preston, drums, David Shallock, bass guitar, Mic Gilette, trumpet, Tom Saviano, sax, Champlin and Geoffry Palmer, keyboards jam while preparing for an upcoming tour. 6: Bill Champlin, lead singer and band leader of the Sons of Champlin pratices guitar in San Rafael. The Sons' next concert will be May 25 in Santa Cruz Infobox: Cover story In the '60s and '70s the Sons of Champlin were riding high on the Bay Area music scene. But while contemporaries such as the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane went on to rock 'n' roll fame, the Sons could never hit it big.

More than 30 years later the band is playing again and gearing up for a tour.

"I forgot how incredibly wonderful the Sons fans are,'' guitarist Terry Haggerty says. "We haven't been out there forever, and there are all these people who when you really look at the specific faces, you say, wow, these people are still around and they absolutely love us.