Other Bands
In addition to my work as Zaftig, I've played keyboards, bass and trombone in some other bands. As well as Peal and the Satellites mentioned below, I've occasionally played trombone and other instruments with the excellent Brooklyn group T. Griffin Coraline; in Minneapolis I was part of the second wave of horn players with the local ska band Suspect Bill; and I used to play in a jazz combo called Amenna Penna, named after a dream.
Peal
Joe Baumgart, Chris Cron, and John Rorke
Peal was a very fun rock/ska/funk three piece and staple midwest bar band circa the late 90's (not to be confused with a current alt-rock band of the same name). Their shows might included a foot-played theremin and end with the band transforming into a dixie-style marching unit, complete with sousaphone and washboard, to lead the audience out into the cold MN nights in time for the 1AM bar time. I occasionally played trombone along with saxophonist James Norman at Peal shows, and I recently dug up an old cassette from a live show in March 2000 at the St. Paul Turf Club. The first 6 tracks above are from that show. The seventh, Rollerdonna, is a studio track I play on at the end.
I didn't play on the other four Peal tracks but I like them a lot. Agnes is about the minimalist painter Agnes Martin. The live tracks are from the same show.
The Satellites (now the Izzys)
Mike Storey et. al.
In college I recorded some parts for a Dr. Octagon-meets-John-Cage hip-hop music project Mike Storey was then working on. When we met up again later in New York, he had shifted gears and was putting together a pop outfit called Zooday. I joined on keyboards. With The Strokes' first album repopularizing NY garage-rock, Mike shifted gears again, dropping most of Zooday to form a rock 3-piece. I stayed on and switched to bass. We recorded some of his songs and played some fun shows; eventually I left and they became The Izzys. Later the new bass player and drummer left to form another group, and The Izzys continued with new members as a sort of country band. Both bands were pretty succcessful.
I still like the music we made and I've posted two versions of two tracks from The Satellites.