Originally Purple Earthquake, the band drew its influences from rock and blues bands of the 1950s and 1960s, such as The Kinks, Muddy Waters and the Yardbirds, and played clubs and ballrooms in California in the late 1960s. They were managed by Matthew King Kaufman, who got them a recording contract with A&M Records, where they released two albums, Earth Quake (1971) and Why Don't You Try Me? (1972) but with little commercial success.
After experiencing frustration at what he saw as A&M's incompetence in handling the band, and winning some compensation for the unauthorized use of their music in the movie The Getaway,] Kaufman set up Beserkley Records in 1973. Earth Quake released four albums on Beserkley between 1975 and 1979, as well as working with other musicians including Jonathan Richman (who they backed on his 1974 recording of "Roadrunner"), Greg Kihn (who sang backing vocals on some of their records), and guitarist Gary Phillipet (aka Gary Phillips - previously of John Cipollina's Copperhead).The band split up in the early 1980s, although a compilation album, Sittin in the Middle of Madness, was issued in 2000.
The first two albums, Earth Quake (1971) and Why Don't You Try Me (1972), were remastered and rereleased December 27, 2004 on Acadia Records.
Gary Phillips died in 2007 at the age of 59. John Doukas died on March 19, 2011, in South Africa, at the age of 62.