SUMMARY

Here and there between Summer 1984 and Summer 1986—Weird Tape #1 is basically a loose collection of recordings scattered over two years. I finally outgrew ninE legS and started doing some other stuff. I bought one of Ron’s keyboards (a Korg MonoPoly), which started me playing something other than guitar. Pop songs, proto-chamber music and spacey improvs: none of which fit in with the repertoire of 3RSG or Savage Gulf, the bands I was playing in at the time.

The Moth period coincides with No Man’s Banned. Mark Thompson (bass) and I (guitar & vocals) wrote a bunch of songs together, many of which I still play today. We played live twice in Sewanee: as one of many bands playing at Lake Cheston (for a 1995 Earth Day concert or some other liberal nonsense), and as a between-sets interlude (along with Dog & Bone) at the Phi House in 1986. Mark—while no great bass player—was very creative, and our collaboration was the beginning of my development as a songwriter. His lyrics for “Falling” and “Castaway” showed me there was more to writing lyrics than self-adoring cleverness and provocation.

LINEUP

PERFORMANCES