M.E. and Me
PERFORMING AT SOMEDAY
Sunday, Jan 14
The L. Jim McAdams Birthday Edition of The Silver Gate: starring Nice Nice, Dead Air Fresheners, Nequaquam Vacuum, L.A. Lungs, and M.E. and ME
About the artist
Instruments: Acoustic/Electric Cellos, Voice, Piano, Synths, Guitars, Basses, Electronics, tape machines, etc.
The cello is the only instrument I'm traditionally trained on but I don't play it much in a traditional manner. Although the last 2 years of college were spent doing synthesis and recording. I had the honor of using a large Buchla modular synth at school for a year. When I would leave the studio after hours of working on that thing I could barely speak to or understand people. It was pure heaven. That's the good kind of insanity.
The piano and guitars I have been self taught since about 1986 or so. The cello I started in 1979 but had many breaks after my first college. Basically I hardly played throughout my 20's. The little bit of playing I did do was all noisy electronic and plucking stuff.
I've been the member of several bands over the years but never the leader.
First was my friend's techno-pop thing in high school and shortly there after called MISCONCEPTION. I still work with him sometimes. He uses the name 'LICKED,' which I have to admit I'm not a big fan of. Next was SURGEN GENERAL/OD (Odiferous Digits). That was the first time I played bass. We really sucked and I played WAY too many notes. MR. HAPPY was next. They were friends of mine at Pacific Lutheran University. Again, the music sucked really bad and I played bass. I had nothing to do with the creative direction or songwriting in the band. My next band was in 1995 in Bellingham, WA called UNCLE SQUIRRLY although we changed the name shortly there after to SUPERFLY 2000, which I'm still embarrased about. Not my choice at all. I played guitar and electric cello in the band. To this day SF2k was the most over-the-top band I have ever been a part of. Imagine a train wreck between a train carrying a nut-house and a circus with a train carrying PinkFloyd and Parliment/Funkadelic. We were all about the show. Costumes, lights, lazers, makeup, meaningless lyrics, SUPER LOUD (we practiced at about 118 db!), and 6 people who were all out of their minds in different ways. After a few years we exploded. Alcoholism, crystal meth addicts, the bassis fucking the singer (who is totally hot, by the way. I would get distracted once in a while at practice because she always wore tight T shirts and I was single the entire time I lived in B'ham), manic depression, one of the drummers ended up in a psych ward, the money from the shows somehow never made it to the band members (hmmmm), egos, control issues, etc. It got all fuckered up. But we did some really cool stuff and I learned about the wonderful world of effects pedals and haven't turned back. It's hard for me to do a show, any show, with less than 3 or 4 pedals. Though we died a horrible death I look back most fondly on my shows with SF2k.
Shortly thereafter I moved back to my hometown of Olympia, WA and joined the band FREQUENCY dB, formerly called Slow Children. I played guitar, acoustic/electric cellos, keyboards, and backing vocals. We had our moments and some great songs and some fun tours but we started to move in a musical direction that really wasn't me. And there was some fucked up stuff that happened like a car wreck, relationship breakups, new ones forming, uncertain living conditions for most of us, among other things. For quite some time I was bitter about the direction we ended up going and how I felt myself and others were being treated and treating others. Now, after having gone through a divorce and finantial hardships galore, it really doesn't seem that bad. I was not a strong or centered individual at that time. I didn't stand up for myself or others and chose to follow instead of trying to expand my musicality myself. I just read what I previously wrote about Freq dB a year ago in this bio and realized that I said some pretty fucked up stuff in regards to other members and the direction we took, therefore dissolving myself of any responsibility in what did or didn't happen back when. I think they read it and got really pissed off at me, and rightfully so. What I said was really asshole-ish and unnecessarily harsh. Since I've grown up quite a bit over the past year or two and have dealt with some pretty difficult life situations the whole band thing has been put into a more realistic perspective. I recognize where I was part of the problem or could have been part of the solution. I have no bitterness, resentment or anything like that anymore. It all seems very silly and overly dramatic now. So Sam and John, if you happen to read this, please accept my truest appologies. I was an asshole. I recognize that and hope you all will forgive me.
Then I hooked up with who is now my ex-wife and went to The Evergreen State College. I got back into cello and began to compose and do things that I wanted to do instead of following other people around. So now I'm single and I am forging my own path in music. There are those I play with occasionally like McCloud Zicmuse's LE TON MITE (pronounced le tone mi-tay. it's french, folks) which is partially performance art but a lot of free-improvisation and structured compositions. I've played at the past 3 OLYMPIA FESTIVALS OF EXPERIMENTAL MUSICS, two with Le Ton Mite and one with 4 other free-improvisationalists. That was the single greatest moment of group improvisation of my life. It was unbelievable. I saw a tunnel of light. No, I didn't die.
I'm not trying to make money. I am playing for the sake of playing, for my personal enjoyment and fullfillment. If people like what I do, which i hope they do, then great. If not, whatever. Hopefully the fact that I'm into what I'm doing shines through and makes my music more accessible to people.
Thank you for reading this. I'm impressed you made it this far.
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