Album Notes

One Less Nothing is a collaboration. Mark Loperfido, Lou 'Vout'eroulous, and augiealexander.com make up aeiou, a San Diego County award winning trio.

Consisting of nine tracks, "One Less Nothing has an indie demo feel" says alexander, "I was burdened with no-budget, tired recording gear, little time & an extremely impatient drummer." Conversely, One Less Nothing has a very unusual flavor featuring Loperfido's infectious approach to the bass guitar, Vout's Chicago jazz influence/background and alexander's original arrangement, signature style guitar rhythms, and dark, introspective lyrics.

aeiou began to form in January of 2000. Special Boy was a short lived project closer to alexander's vision that ultimately spawned aeiou. Vout was brought on board by the original aeiou bass player Krazy Kevin. "Kevin & long time friend/band mate, Lou, began arguing during the first week of rehearsals causing Kevin to quit like the big Schizophrenic baby he is" quotes alexander. "Little did I know, this incident would lead to my discovery of a 20 year old creative genius, Mark Loperfido." Alexander & Loperfido met at Twiggs, a local coffee house. Mark worked there and Augie performed there. "I actually loaned Mark one of my bass guitars long before I knew I would be playing in a group with him"

Mark Loperfido's official status came immediately after the trio preformed their first gig at Tuba-mans in North Park, San Diego, less than a week after their first rehearsal. "Getting this rhythm section to accurately express songs that I had been playing for years was not happening." Exclaims alexander, "aeiou's ultimate fate was to write new songs. AND THEY TURNED OUT GREAT! Mark had dozens of short bass lines. He would just loop one at a time, allowing Lou and I to layer our ideas on top. I would record the session, and work out vocal melodies and lyrics on the side. With the exception of We Bleed Blue and Things Fall Down, One Less Nothing IS Mark's bass lines and how they made me feel in the spring of 2000."

Recorded and produced in 'The Closet' at Left Coast Studios, San Diego, Augie tracked Mark's bass and Vout's drums, ultimately dubing his own guitars, vocals, percussion, and other odds and ends. "Tracking was troublesome," exclaims alexander, "great frustration came out of having to be diplomatic with Vout about tempo and simplifying parts for the good of the whole. Although I had control of the knobs, I had little control of the drums."

Despite the studio politics, One Less Nothing has strong, cutting edge material and an unusual sound. Alexander has plans to re-record and/or re-mix Big Silver Aeroplane, Estrogen and possibly We Bleed Blue.

Shortly after the realease of One Less Nothing, aeiou disbanded in July of 2002. Lou got married and Mark got a job. Alexander continued writing and recording and began making plans to move to NYC.