Table 64
I've recently unearthed much of the debut release To Kill the Giant from my formative band, Table 64 (1995-1997), named after a table at a Perkins restaurant in Doylestown.
I look back fondly on this first forray into putting together a band and collaborting on original music at a time in the mid-90's where we had our own home base at a restaurant in Buckingham, PA for one crazy summer--culminating in a few appearances on WHYY's new music talent showcase.
Check out The Poet and Exhale as examples of demos from this period.
The Slackharmonic
The Slackharmonic spanned 1999-2008 for me.
I learned from the process of self-recording and mixing the What Wonders?!? EP that you need to set deadlines and stick to them or else fall victim to procrastination. I overdid it on mixing and overdubs.
I'm happy with this recording, while appreciatively knowing "I'd do this" or "I'd do that" differently 20 years later. The big lesson - strike as fast as you reasonably can, and move on to new material to avoid creative stagnation.
thoughRevisit old material to remember the joy you found in it in the first place, for example, check out one of my earliest tunes written around 1996, Kickback (this version was tracked in 2003 for a booking demo), or perhpas the poppier Bullet Train Through Richmond.
Check out the previously unavailable Under the BFB (unfinished album)
Mini Mammoth
The self-proclamied "oxymorons of rock".
This slice of my life was fairly prolific by sheer volume of material written and played over a short period of time (2009-2011), during which I overcame a lot of personal adversity.
One of my favorite memories is playing a "hat show" where all our song titles were tossed in a hat and we played whatever our fans pulled, including repeats. I still have that fedora!
I continued to self-record with this band, though the original tracks are currently unavailable for our pair of EPs, Too Much Time Wasted and Drunken Text Message, though you can check out demos for songs such as Sisyphus Engine, TBD, Drunken Text Message, Gut Check, as well as sing alongs, Vampires and Reptiles, and You Are Here...
...on my Bandcamp.
Magnificent Birds of Prey
Hey - according to AI: "The Magnificent Birds of Prey (also known as MBOP) was a DIY alternative rock, indie-alt, and psych-punk band from the Philadelphia and New Jersey area, active from roughly 2012 to 2020"
"rotten to the core, but she is soft and sweet as ever" - Shopping Mall (unreleased)
"Patience taught you how to sing a new song, once you've waited long enough it's time to move on" - Can't Wash My Soul
This doesn't do justice to the many gigs, blood, sweat and hard work that went into this 8 year creative slug fest. Late hours, long drives, frequent mid-week promotional appearances--all DIY--and still proud of all of these songs: