Album Notes

A brief history of MINE. My introduction to music began when my grandfather showed me his silver saxaphone that he played during the Big Band Era. I took up the sax myself during grade school, but soon switched to the trombone. I moved to Vermont for my high school years where I played tympani and percussion in the Burr and Burton school band. Near the end of my senior year I bought my first guitar and started learning chords from a songbook I found in a shack on top of Bromley mountain in Peru, Vermont, where I was working as a lift attendant. After high school I lived in Burlington for a year playing open mics before moving to Boulder, CO. It was here on an Easter Sunday years ago that my band The Samples played their first show. About 5 of our friends were there and we hid eggs for them to find, each good for some tequila. Our first self-titled album was released in 1990 on Arista Records. We also released several recordings on Boulder's independent label What Are Records?, one on MCA, and somehow remained a band.

In our first touring days, our blend of rock and reggae had us playing with acts such as The Wailers, Johnny Clegg, Black Uhuru, Aswad, Jimmy Cliff, Burning Spear, Steel Pulse, and more. The mid 90's saw us performing on a number of H.O.R.D.E. (Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere) tours, which included several headlining dates. The rest of the decade was spent getting ripped off by lawyers, managers, and accountants, meanwhile touring with everyone from Sting to Sonic Youth.

I left the band in 2002. Some folks had e-mailed me asking about new material, so I threw this semi-acoustic thing together at home. Look for my other disc here called FLY EYE, it's songs contain instruments that you have to plug in. Sometime this century I want to hit the road with some friends and play this stuff. Thank you for reading this.