Bilyeu was a solo performer at the Oar House in Hawaii Kai while Pratt was downstairs at Chuck’s in Sunlight with Kirk Thompson.
They opened concerts for Earth, Wind & Fire, Batdorf & Rodney, The Moody Blues, Sly & The Family Stone, and Cecilio & Kapono.
In 1975, the band released their debut self-titled album Kalapana, featuring Jackie Kelso on sax and flute, Bill Perry on bass, and Larry Brown on drums.
With Pratt, Bilyeu, and Thompson remaining, the group added bassist and vocalist Randy Aloya (replacing the departed Feary), sax and woodwinds player Michael Paulo, and drummer Alvin Fejarang.
Kalapana’s fourth album Many Classic Moments, primarily a soundtrack to the Gary Capo-helmed surf film of the same name, was released in 1978.
With Kalapana’s popularity in Japan going strong, the band toured there regularly, adding keyboardist and guitarist Kimo Cornwell (formerly of Beowolf and later with Hiroshima).
On December 26, 1982, Bilyeu, Feary, Thompson, Fejarang, Paulo, and Aloya played a one-night "Kalapana Live Reunion" concert at the Waikiki Shell with Hawaii guitarist John Rapoza standing in for Pratt.
[1] In 1986, Kalapana reunited as a quintet—Bilyeu, Feary, and Pratt plus Gaylord Holomalia (keyboards) and Kenji Sano (electric bass) – and recorded a successful comeback album, Hurricane.
For the song "Living Without You", the band was brought out wearing white zoot suit dinner jackets with red velvet bow ties.
In 1997, Kalapana released the Hawaii version of Captain Santa Island Music with liner notes by international radio DJ Kamasami Kong.
Feary's problems and eventual suicide called attention to the patterns of drug addiction and mental health and treatment needs.
Guest artists included the group Chant singing background vocals on "Ten Years After" (written by Komuro), Tris Imboden from the band Chicago on "Another Lonely Night", Michael Paulo on saxophone, and Pauline Wilson and Garin Poliahu on drums.
Their latest album on Pony Canyon Records, "Captain Santa Island Music", consists of songs written for a clothing line in Japan.
In June 2017, the original members of the band (with Feary's son and heir Sebastian) sued Guy in federal court in Los Angeles for rescission of the mid-1970s agreements.
[citation needed] As a result, on November 30, 2018, under Manifesto Records, the seven-album, eight-CD box set The Original Album Collection and the single-CD “best of” package Black Sand: The Best of Kalapana were released.