At core, it is the story of its owner, Jan Kurtis Skugstad,
and his personal commitment to audio excellence. A native son of
Norway, Skugstad (and his family) moved to the USA in 1947 and
eventually settled in Seattle where he learned to play the drums in
jazz, pop, and country bands. In addition, he did spent time in early
Seattle recording studios doing sessions with the likes of Bonnie
Guitar, the Fleetwoods, and the Ventures. Such experiences then led to a
few years on the road – and Nashville- and Los Angeles-based hit-making
sessions with many top names – before he returned home to Seattle in
1964.There is an olde English saying – "A
man's home is his castle" – and it was in Skugstad's Wallingford
neighborhood house that he built a home-studio: his very own Camelot. At
that time the Northwest rock 'n' roll scene was boiling and a handful
of studios were active – but none possessed the secret weapon that
Camelot had: an engineer who was also a talented and highly experienced
musician.
Word quickly spread and a parade of
young combos came clamoring to work with Skugstad and have their discs
issued by Camelot Records. Included among them were the Notations, the Hallmarks, the Page Boys, the Young Men, the Deacons, the Agents 00, the Wellington Five, and the King's Men
(not the "Louie Louie" boys from Portland). No matter what strains of
rock 'n' roll Skugstad was cutting – classic Northwest teen-R&B,
Go-Go dance music, funky Soul, post-Beatles pop, surfer/ hot-rod rock –
he always applied his high production standards. However, many of
Camelot's discs initially fell through the cracks commercially. Far from
being due to song choice or sound quality, that fate was in part a
result of Skugstad's freely admitted personal focus on production rather
than promotion.
Between 1964 and 1966 Skugstad produced a
rather prolific 50+ singles and a half-dozen LPs – in hindsight,
perhaps too many for a one-man operation to effectively promote.
Especially considering that a sizeable percentage of those were
R&B-oriented tunes that traditionally met with little support from
the Northwest radio industry. And whereas other successful Northwest
labels – like Dolton, Jerden, Seafair, Bolo, and Etiquette Records –
each put a great deal of effort into winning the support of powerful
area radio DJs, Camelot refrained from getting too far into that
courting ritual. Still, Skugstad did score significant commercial
successes along the way: for example, Ron Buford's classic
number, "Deep Soul," became the label's all-time biggest seller (moving
many thousands of units, but mainly in radio markets in places like
California and Texas where the demand for straight R&B was greater
than Seattle). Then there was the Dorsals & Gatormen's 1965 rock 'n' roll tribute to Seattle's famously captured Killer Whale, "Namu," also did incredibly well on Northwest radio.
But
beyond those winners, Camelot was also the home to many other gems
including more fabulously soulful discs cut by teen-R&B groups
(mainly with African-American singers and/or players) including: bands
led by Dave Holden and Ural Thomas, and the Statics with Tiny Tony, the El Caminos with Woody Carr, Jimmy Pipkin & the Boss Five, Larry Lee & the Leesures, and Mr. Clean & the Cleaners.
And if these were foolishly overlooked at the time, they are today, all
recognized as highly prized discs in the global record collectors'
realm.
Camelot Sound Studios was moved a
couple times in those early years: first to an old auto-shop/warehouse a
few miles up at 10905 Aurora Avenue North -- and later even further
northward to a large garage at 20707 60th West, in Lynnwood. And if the
construction of those new studio facilities didn't keep Skugstad busy
enough, he also carried on as a first-call drummer, and as a
remote-location engineer who was skilled at cutting live performances.
In the latter occupation he engineered Ernest Tubb & the Texas
Troubadour's excellent 1965 show at the Spanish Castle Ballroom (which was released on CD by Rhino Records in 1992), and the jazz icon, John Coltrane's band's performance at Seattle's Penthouse (which was released by Impulse Records as the Live In Seattle LP).
In addition to running Camelot, Skugstad
also launched an entire family of labels to broaden the musical field,
including: a second rock label (Quest Records, which was the earliest
home of Merrilee Rush & the Turnabouts), a pop label (Nordic
Records), and a fine country/western label (Spur Records). In the years
hence, Skugstad progressed to other activities – today he works out of
Paradise Sound Recording studios and Camelot Media is involved in many
audio and video productions. Though its vintage catalog was officially
out-of-print for four long decades, with this "best of" CD release in 2009, the legend of Camelot is finally resurrected.