Before I was an accordion player, I played synths. I owned a number of synths and samplers through my years at Crazy Go Nuts University. During my time there -- September 1987 through December 1994, guitar players were worshipped and synth guys were viewed with some suspicion. It was a time bookended by the jingle-jangle of U2 and R.E.M. at the beginning and grunge at the end. Being a small college town like Athens, Georgia or Olympia, Washington, the guitar was also king in Kingston, Ontario. Those damned plank-spankers, as I used to refer to guitarists, got all the attention, love and respect, leaving we few keyboard players -- namely myself, my buddy Karl Mohr and "Craigertronic" -- in our own quiet musical backwater. My friend Sarah English once wrote in a music review in the Queen's Journal that she could never trust a band with a keyboard player in it.
This ghettoization made us synth players a closely-knit bunch, and we often gigged together, even after graduation. For the April 1999 launch party of his mother Merilyn Simond's book, The Lion in the Room Next Door, Karl invited me and another Kingston-based synth guy, Steve Skratt, to be the entertainment. Along with our friend Chantal from a gazillion Kingston bands as well as Rachel Smith and Krista "Lederhosen Lucil" Muir, we formed the improv synth trip-hop band Lion.
On a lark, we decided that we'd all wear wigs for the gig. I went for the "anime hair" look, but since Rachel had already claimed the blue one, I had to take the pink. It didn't look too bad...
The wig. Attention Mom, Dad and parents-in-law: I promise not to wear this at the wedding...much.
Kraftwerk ain't got nuthin' on us! From left to right: Karl Mohr (who's switched from wig to fez), Steve Skratt, me and Rachel Smith. I'm playing my Ensoniq EPS Sampler and Roland MC-303 GrooveBox.
Not all the instruments were synthetic...but our hair was!
In the background: Rachel, Chantal and Krista, who also played violin at the gig. Krista is now the Montreal indie pop darling known to the world as Lederhosen Lucil.
"More major sevenths! MORE MAJOR SEVENTHS!"
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