san francisco, 1994

In the beginning of 1994, Chris Streng (Stratford 4, Mt. Whateverest, Hermans Throo Osmosis) was living in an apartment at 28th and Wawona St. in the Sunset district of San Francisco with our mutual friend Ron Guensche (Spidermeow, Hermans Throo Osmosis), and I was living in the East Bay in the ‘burbs, having just moved back to the Bay Area from Irvine, California.

I think we conceived of the idea to start a little two-man band in Las Vegas, when Chris, Ron, Eric Larson (American Girls, Gentlemen), and Anthony Georgis (Reclinerland, Parks & Recreation, Hermans Throo Osmosis) drove down to Irvine to visit me and the four of us plus my college friend Vanessa went on a little road trip. We facetiously named our little band after the famous scene in Star Trek when Patrick Stewart yells out “There are four lights!” in defiance of an alien who is trying to manipulate him.

I had some songs written from when I lived in Irvine, and Chris had a ton of songs written as well, so I drove across the Bay Bridge over to Chris’s place in the city and we rehearsed, just the two of us, alternating between playing bass and guitars. Ron recorded us one afternoon in their living room and, poof!, we had a demo.

Chris procured some studio time through a mutual friend named Rhonda, and at some point we went into Pyramind Studios in San Francisco and recorded some of our songs together. To fill out the sound a bit, we invited Anthony to come and play drums and percussion. I think some of our other friends showed up to play percussion and do some background shouting.

Chris and I alternated between playing bass, guitars, and vocals, and the result was a little four-song EP, which I’ve dug out of the archives for your listening pleasure.

Enjoy!