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Started as a bedroom four-track project in 1992. Name inspired by a scene from a still-to-be-determined classic sci-fi film that JJ Heldmann saw during summer break that year.
Grew into a four-piece with JJ on bass, Tracy Barnwell on guitar and vocals, and Ron Rushing on drums and windchimes (and speaking of windchimes, where the hell are you, Ron?!). Jason Carriera replaced Ron on drums briefly, and back to a bedroom four-track project in late 1993.
In that time, had released a couple of demo tapes (one of which ended up being reviewed in CMJ - resulting in a couple of pointless A&R inquries, but that's a whole 'nother story), a 7" compilation, a 7" single, and a 10" EP (the latter featuring oboe and guitar guesting by Kyle Bruckmann and Justin Crane, respectively).
A year or so later, received a terse, yet forever memorable e-mail from Mike Babb of Quiddity Records, when he'd heard that JJ (playing with Madison Electric in Ann Arbor, MI at the time) was flying down for the weekend to record some stuff: "Start writing." Resulting two songs released as a 7" single on Quiddity some time afterwards.
A lot of details around that time have become a blur, to be honest. There's a 7" compilation on Audrey's Diary, a 7" single on Entangled, a compilation cassette on Silver Girl. One trip out west to record a couple of songs with Rick Stone working the board (and adding vocals), and Katie Conley adding vocals as well. One trip to Michigan to play a show in Detroit with JJ on bass and her future husband Mac's Mac running the drum machine. Also a trip to Noise Camp, Livonia to record a couple of songs with Warn Defever running the board like a midwest Scratch Perry (JJ played bass, and I got to have fun with Warn's Farfisa). There's also a couple of Warn remixes in there as well. As I said, chronology is hazy.
Met up with Dan Plunkett of ND Magazine (and 33 Degrees record shop) at an Illusion of Safety show, talked a while about our mutual affinity towards Sarah Records. And why do I mention Dan? On a later visit to Austin to visit 33 Degrees, Dan would introduce me to the girl of my dreams who'd play my records on her radio show, invite me to play on said radio show, and eventually ditch a perfectly fine state job and run off with me to Vegas to get married in a drive-thru chapel. Somewhere before, during, and after all this are three 7" singles with Nancy as the Imaginary Friend, an opening gig for His Name Is Alive with Nancy on guitar and vocals, JJ on bass, and Doug Dillaman on drums, a double-split single with the Steinbecks on Drive-In Records, a 7" single on Wurlitzer Jukebox, and a BOTM album or two (both out of print, but both available through iTunes and eMusic).
Fast forward to 2006, and I'm sure there's craploads of events and people that I've forgotten. Sorry. Nancy and I have been working, travelling near and abroad (mostly for non-music-related dayjob work stuff), doing non-commercial radio, voicing anime characters (although Nancy's done much, much more of that than I), and otherwise straying far from the tracks of the twee train (thank you, Jack Mcfadden).
For a while, I used to think that working in IT was the worst thing that could have happend to my music-making. And then I used to think it was the move into management (talk about crossing over to the Dark Side(TM)!). I'm starting to think that it's not the lack of time and energy, but that I've reached a resting point. I don't feel the need to churn out songs and crank out product, but I still enjoy playing, occasionally recording, and eventually sharing what gets recorded. In a way, it's much less about the recorded goods, even about the songs themselves, but more about the people that you meet along the way.
Man, this has turned into a rambling mess! Anyway, at some point, I'll be adding songs here, and who knows, some of them may be new works.
Cheers!
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