[1] In 1963 his family relocated to San Mateo, California, where Pihl would become active in music and a participant in a number of local bands.

[1] At his home recording studio, Pihl worked with the founding members of a band that would eventually be called "Night Ranger."

He also played with several other bands including Day Blindness, Fox, Crossfire (Steve Jones, Mitchell Froom, David Froom, Phil Marshall with Jeff Dorenfeld as manager; Crossfire also performed with Norman Greenbaum as lead singer for several years.

The concert was to raise awareness and funds to stop the Army Corps of Engineers construction of the Lake Sonoma Dam project in Geyserville's Dry Creek Valley.

After Jeff Dorenfeld became manager for Boston, Pihl made other introductions including Doug Huffman, another drummer from Sebastopol in Sonoma County when Boston needed a replacement, and still later, bassist David Sikes from Fairfield, California near Sonoma County.