Our first gig on the Amador High School quad. Dustin’s got the long hair and the orange shirt. Ron’s the blonde, Chris is in the white T-shirt, I’m in the red and black checkers.
It was 1989…
…(for fuck’s sake) when me and my best friend Dustin asked our High School friends Chris, Ron, and Anthony to start a band with us. The name Dustin came up with was the Hermans Throo Osmosis. We modeled ourselves after a supergroup led by George Harrison and gave ourselves stage nicknames. I was Otis, Chris was Wilberforce, Ron was Roland, and Anthony: Imogen. I can’t remember what Dustin’s name was.
Dustin played harmonica, I played acoustic guitar and sang and wrote songs (knowing at the time only 3 chords), Chris played electric guitar, Ron played bass, and Anthony played the drums. After a short while, Dustin left the group, and the remaining four of us played gigs all over the San Francisco Bay Area between 1990 and 1993. We played in a battle of the bands, were key members of the Valley Musician’s Network, and even played venues in San Francisco such as Brainwash, the Hotel Utah, Thunder Bay (Berkeley), Morty’s, and the Stone (before it closed down.)
In 1993, I moved to Oregon with Anthony and some others to play in a different band, The American Girls, while Chris formed the Stratford 4, and Ron became a professional producer as well as played in various amazing bands, including Spidermeow and a Guns & Roses cover band.
The four of us have remained close friends ever since. Anthony and I have played together steadily in Reclinerland and Parks & Recreation. Chris has joined us on various performances and recordings. And Ron has always been around to mix and master our various projects. Ron’s knob-twiddling talents be heard on almost all of my recordings.
In March, 2020, during the global pandemic, when most of the world was in lockdown, Ron hit us up with the idea of making an album together. Like most bands, we took advantage of the available technology and sent each other songs to overdub parts on. The result is two volumes (22 songs) of material!
Volume 1 will be out this October, and Volume 2 will be out as soon as the dust settles on Ron’s move to the Northwest.
30 years of friendship. We hope you enjoy our new work.
Truly,
Michael
Prom 1990
Graduation 1990: Anthony, Ron, me, Chris
Some party in 1991 at Chris and Anthony’s first apartment in Berkeley.
Ron and I arriving somewhere.
Ron at a Danville Vet’s hall gig 1992
Our horn section at the Danville Vet’s Hall 1992.
Chris at the Danville Vets Hall gig 1992.
Press photo for BAM Magazine review 1991 (screenshot)
The album art for our first release: a cassette called 544. The psychedelic inner drawings were done by yours truly.
For merchandise to promote our Battle of the Bands performance, we made light switch covers.
Me in 1990. Trench-coated, hair helmet duly feathered.