Earth Quake was a Bay Area-based blues rock group that eventually fell on the edges of the early punk scene of the late-'70s. Originally formed in 1969, the band was quickly picked up by manager Matthew King Kaufman (who would later guide the career of the Greg Kihn Band).
The group was influenced heavily by the '60s blues rock movement of the Yardbirds, Cream, and Jimi Hendrix, along with the blues masters themselves, such as Muddy Waters and B.B. King. Kaufman was able to sign them to A&M in 1970, and after a steady year of touring the band released its debut self-titled LP in 1971. But the record didn't sell, and neither did its follow-up, Why Don't You Try Me? (A&M, 1972).
Kaufman felt it was the label's lack of interest in promoting Earth Quake that caused the band to have such minimal sales initially. This was probably an astute observation since A&M was knee deep in working with Joe Cocker, Humble Pie, Procol Harum, the Carpenters, and several others at this time.
The live Earth Quake shows were well received so Kaufman and the band decided to form their own label, Beserkley. They emerged in 1975 with Rocking The World, followed by 8.5 (Beserkley, 1976) and Leveled (Beserkley, 1977). They would make one more studio album, Two Years In A Padded Cell (Beserkley, 1979), before breaking up in 1980.