Rob has a good handle on the Holmes situation. Sadly, he continued his shady ways into the 2000's, conning me into sending a copy of the Crystal Circus acetate, which he then released thru Bad Akarma in Italy.
The story is a bit convoluted, but Bill Holmes had deals with other bands too, and there was some overlap (or casual crossover) of members. There was "The Shapes of Sound", "Crystal Circus", "Indescribably Delicious", "Giant Crab" (Formerly "Ernie and the Emperors" and later "Big Brother Ernie Joseph") and "Strawberry SAC". Many had some contributions by Greg Munford whose voice Holmes wanted to capitalize on. He continued his scam of putting his name on some songs actually written by the young musicians. Practices that started as unethical, Holmes pushed into Illegal territory, when he drew from these bands musicians that he put together into a fake Strawberry Alarm Clock (or two). He would represent the fake band as the real SAC, book shows with them, and pocket most of the money himself. Mark Weitz representing the real SAC sued Holmes, and the court issued a restraining order preventing him from using the name - an order he ignored. By 1969 less money was coming in and he stopped paying his lawyer. There is less info about his activity after that. I believe he was also sued by Gary Lovetro and at least one member of the other bands. At the final hearing of Weitz's lawsuit in 1972 (it took that long), Holmes did not appear. The Judge decided in favor of Weitz and SAC, ordering Holmes to pay money owed to the band and never use the words Strawberry, Alarm, or Clock, in any way in the future. There is no record that money was actually paid by Holmes. It appears he was responsible for the Akarma label unauthorized re-releases in later years. I have reason to believe he died last year. There's more to the story and more info may come to light in the future, but this is the short version.
P.S. When Homes was fired the band found many unpaid bills. Holmes never paid Gary Lovetro the balance of what he was owed for his contract buy-out, and Mark Weitz ended up paying that $17,000 to Lovetro out of his own pocket, which left his pocket empty. Ouch!
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After the SAC fired Bill Holmes after the Sea Shell album, does anyone what became of him? Is he even still alive?