Like a lot of people who have played in bands, I always thought it was a good idea to do everything myself. By “everything”, I mean not just writing your own music, but recording it and distributing it, by whatever means necessary.
“Oh yeah? What kind of bands have you been in, anyway?”
Nowadays, there are a number of convenient labels for this kind of ethic, from “D.I.Y.”, “indie”, “alternative”, etc. While I don’t think those terms really describe much in the present day, at one time they represented a true alternative to the traditional ways in which bands made music and presented it to the general public.
In addition to the releases I’ve worked on for other artists, the DIY ethic had been exercised on my own band projects over the years. This seems like as good a place as any to direct your attention to some of the musical sounds I’ve actually had a hand in creating.
Freak out to the art-rock-funk of The Sacred Version or The Hytones, or the hyper-disco punk groove of Dancing In The Dark. Tap your feet to the futuristic AM radio sounds of somersault or Demolition Factor, shake your hips to the over-driven blues rock of The Pushrods, or take a mystical trip to the stream-of-consciousness improv of benevolent dreams. You can even get all introspective to the existentialist beat of Borrowed Time, whether performing their own original music, or covering the songs of Joy Division. Rest assured, there’s plenty more where all this came from. Past, Present, and Future.
Here are a few bands and projects I’ve been involved with during the past few decades – documented for posterity, using whatever technology was available at the time.
