Phil Aaronson: Alumnus

I've always been involved with music; in fact, this affair goes all the way back to my Dad attempting to teach me the trumpet at age 5. Like a cold shower, it didn't stick...until a band came along and DEMANDED I sit up and pay attention. You guessed it, the sax solos in Men at Work's "Who Can it Be Now?" set my 5th grade brain on fire and led to many a night practicing my sax technique in a little apartment in NYC. My mother was especially thrilled by that development (thanks Mom).

When high school rolled around, along with long hair and the burgeoning metal and punk/hardcore scene of NYC, I of course had but one mission—to play in a band and get chicks. BABY EXPLOSION burst onto the scene in the Bronx, a cacophony of Marshall Amps and hair, and quickly bought us notoriety, as in you guys are TOO LOUD AND YOU SUCK. Additionally, and much to the chagrin of the band, I secretly worshipped my Crowded House album...

I quickly realized in college that if you actually want to play for folks, you have to give 'em what they want. Ohhhh the metal heart was still there, but it drowned in a sea of Neil Young covers. R.I.P. I guess. One side effect—I realized that Neil Young is a f**king genius. Along with the rest of music that was not recorded at 188 BPM.

After many years of kicking around the SF scene, I responded to the infamous Bill Donte diaries; I had to try out because his posting sounded like the ravings of a whack job. They were and he was; however, this band he put together was so unique, so surreal, so...SLIPPERY, I had to join. The rest, as they say, is history.