A Little History
Music lovers
Singers & Players
Performers & Professionals
Children of the Hit Parade
At the beginning of 1973, Bill Schereck was well on his way to forming his own live sound production company, having survived the producing and management of three Midwest rock festivals, including the ill-fated, but ultimately renowned Wadena IA festival.
J Mason, having completed a year's tour as bassist of the highly regarded club act Monte Carlo, was then fully immersed in the reformation of the group into the strikingly talented (though short-lived) ProgRock group Chilldron.
They met in March ‘73 when Schereck was contracted to record the group’s demo album at their rehearsal space in Bettendorf, IA. The bond which formed during that week has lasted a lifetime.
Irving Azoff passed on the Chilldron demo … “there is nothing there that we can sell”. Bill continued his sound engineering enterprise, leading to a role as a touring manager for Casablanca records. Mason set his guitar down in 1976 and eventually wound up spending 30 years plus in “the best day job ever for a rock ‘n’ roll roller“ – as a successful home builder, in California, Texas and Indiana.
The two reconnected in the late 70s in LA, where Bill was managing and producing the group The Word. Mason’s firm was doing work for record labels and industry execs. Having fielded and demurred on offers from Peter Grosslight (Triad Artists/William Morris Agency) to join their staff; and The Word to join the group as bassist (their original guy had gone on tour with Alice Cooper), he was deciding for the last time to stick with his day job.
Bill Schereck’s career path led him into the broadcast and high-tech communications arenas at a global level. J Mason continued to hone skills and polish his reputation as a progressive homebuilding executive. Despite the (often thousands of) miles between them, the friendship remained strong. At the turn of the millennium, they found themselves both in North Texas, both seeking a glide path to retirement. They found that their passion for music and interest in the business of music had not withdrawn a smidgen in the previous 20+ years. The Road Runners had reformed in ‘95, and were well into what turned into a 20-year run of successful summer shows in Savanna, IL. Bill Schereck began writing and recording original music under his own name.
Old Mogul Records was formed around 2010 as a tongue-in-cheek retirement hobby for Bill and J. What prompted the idea was a recurring discussion about the group The Word and what a great body of original work that album had been… and then looking further at the incredible wealth of talent and high-quality tunes which never made it to the front of the stage in the industry.
Hence the slogan “the best stuff you’ve never heard”.