FUNHOUSE
Uda Ox (2011-2013)
Uda Ox (Contact, Album, 2013)
Uda Ox (Ma’acah’s Room, Album, 2013)
Uda Ox began as a solo project after being inspired by a “U” (Travis Coster + Jeff Johnson) performance at OFH, and consisted of loops constructed from ambient guitar, casiotone, lo-fi samples and circuit bent electronics with collaged digital visuals. After performing several times at OFH, Ground Zero (another all-ages DIY space in Seattle’s Eastside), Johnny’s Basement and Cairo (with Zephyrs, Secret Colors, Legato Bebop) Uda Ox evolved into a 3-piece outfit with David Fure (Drums) and Alex Manjarrez (Guitar) and changed its sound entirely, the ambient loops now serving as tuning interludes between songs (a Naomi Punk trick), and performing more aggressive, spartan, riff-driven Seattle shoegaze-punk music (another Naomi Punk trick). We performed at Heartland (a DIY space in Ravenna, with Thee Ahs, Marvelous Good Fortune, iji), Sloth House (a punk house in Bellingham, with Rubix Shoes), Johnny’s Basement (with Sibling Rivalry, Box) and Cairo (with Weed, So Pitted, and Cascadia). We broke up at the end of the summer of 2013 when the three of us went to college. A year later I released a slowed-down, “remastered” version of the album. Links to live footage, interviews, etc above.
Neoseeker (2013-2015)
Neoseeker (My Hand, Album, 2015)
Neoseeker was the continuation of Uda Ox after moving to New York. I performed immediately at Columbia University’s Lowlapalooza festival as a solo ambient set, and then met Zach Calluori (Drums). We performed at a poetry event as a 2-piece in a painting studio with Drug Pizza who was seemingly the only DIY act on campus at the time. That painting studio + that art community would soon become Hi Fi Snock Uptown, an essential part of my creative life from 2014-17. We rehearsed in WBAR, Barnard College Radio Station, and performed at WBAR, Snock, and Double Exposure events (the latter involved accompanying the film “Akira” in ADP, a society I belonged too). Max Lawton (Guitar) joined the group. In December-January of 2014/15, Zach and I recorded in a warehouse in Nutley, NJ, and I mixed the tracks with Nich Wilbur at The Unknown in Anacortes, WA. We released the album with a slowed-down B-Side, and performed in the basement of a student clubhouse and for WBAR’s Fall-Kick Off. Both sets were recorded in full and can be found in the link above alongside an interview and other artifacts.
Cool Void (2016)
Cool Void (Gluten, Live, 2016)
Cool Void was the project of Jeff Alan McLean, one of my oldest friends in Washington and star of my feature-film The Prince of Love (2015). I was in Washington the Summer of 2016 working at a local architecture firm - the winter break before that I had filmed a music video for Cool Void’s single “I Guess This Is Throwing Up”. Jeff invited me to play second guitar for the summer, which I was happy to do, with Simone Dawson (Bass) and Alec Carey (Drums). We rehearsed in Jeff’s basement at the Hideout House in Renton/South Seattle, and performed at the Hideout House twice with hardcore punk and heavy emo bands (Southworth), a DIY space on Bainbridge Island, and Black Lodge with RVIVR and Darto, which was a dream come true to play that stage with local, “serious” acts I was inspired by growing up. Cool Void broke-up several months after I returned to New York, though Jeff continues to perform similar music in Seattle (Sunbloom, JNX, Porcelain).