Helped start Sunburned Hand of the Man

What: I played bass guitar, alto sax, tambura, and bunch of other instruments in the experimental psych-rock band that would become Sunburned Hand of the Man.

When: 1991-1998.

Where: At a warehouse in Charlestown, Massachusetts.

Why: The only "looking to start a band" flyer I ever answered was up on a wall at Mass College of Art where I was taking a super-8 filmmaking class. It mentioned the Thinking Fellers and Sun City Girls as influences, so I dialed the number and a guy calling himself Rich "Dontius" answered and invited me to bring my bass over to Sullivan Square where I ran it through my Blue Tube distortion and an amazing effects pedal called the Bi-Phase II. With Rich on guitar and some other guy on drums we sounded a little like Chrome or Hawkwind jamming in their 1970s heyday. A week later we got together again but the Bi-Phase II had been leant out and we weren't feeling it. I ended up in the Swirlies and remained friends with Rich, later giving his cassette release Shit Spangled Banner heavy rotation on the radio.

After Shit Spangled Banner's breakup, Rob, the bass player, started holding weekly open practice sessions in his warehouse—the same one that Rich had invited me to a few years before. I came every week, now playing alto sax, but then took a left turn into tooting my horn for Homes Not Jails instead.

Memorable Moment: Sunburned Hand of the Man's third show was at a club two blocks from my house. This one song fell into a familiar note that caused me to run home, grab an antique brass automobile horn, and then dash back to hop on stage, blowing into the car horn which was, as I suspected, in perfect pitch with the song.

Legacy: Sunburned Hand of the Man have released over one hundred albums (I think I'm playing on last year's release "The Loft Tapes, 1996-97") and done numerous tours of North America and Europe (see this impressive list of places and people they've played with). They are in part responsible for the neo-psych-folk revival that hipsters call "New Weird America" (a.k.a.: "Post-Punk Jam-Bands").

Regrets: The Bi-Phase II disappeared with erstwhile member Conrad Capistran. I leant my Blue Tube to Mary Lou Lord and never got it back. My sax is busted and rusting under the bed, otherwise I'd be the guy with the beard in the video above.