Gordon's Musical Journey, part 2

I graduated from U.T. with a degree in Radio, Television, Film. I ended up moving to Reno, NV of all places, to work at a couple of network affiliated t.v. stations. I continued to play drums and guitar. I joined a band called The Others, which really had some cool tunes. We even played with the famous straight-edge band Seven Seconds. Things fell apart, of course, but I jammed with the band of the fella who recorded The Others' first cassette, they asked me to join, and ultimately I became a member of Action Figure for the next 3 or 4 years, playing rhythm guitar, backup singing, and writing songs. We played around northern California, self-produced a couple of releases ("Actual Size" and "Sold Separately"), and had a lot of fun. I wrote many tunes for the group. It was a prolific time for all of us. We did radio appearances, and I made a couple of music videos, back in the time when videos were a big deal.

After the lead singer of AF moved away (R.I.P. Willy), the remaining 3 of us formed an acoustic band, The Hollowbody's. More gigs and radio appearances. The lead guitar player and I had another band called The Blue Veins. It was about this time that I finally decided to trade in my drums (still had my dad's old set!), and concentrate exclusively on guitar. Formed a band with the old AF drummer and his brother (R.I.P. Craig) called None Of The Above. I took a few guitar lessons and classes, and was getting better and better. I finally got burned out working at news stations making crappy local ads for used car lots, got a little money from a relative who passed (thanks Great Aunt Helen!), and decided to move back to Austin.

Back in Austin, I bought a computer and some recording software, and started to learn how to record at home. Meanwhile, I still pursued playing live music, hosting an acoustic open mic for a year so I could meet other musicians. I quickly got a new circle of musical friends. I answered an ad in the paper, joining a band called The Texas Philisitines. It was kind of a cow-punk band, lots of fun. It was my first time I was hired purely as a lead guitar player. I kind of liked being the hired gun! We did a bunch of shows and had 2 studio releases.

I continued playing solo acoustic gigs, and also started playing what I called "ambient" shows, in which I played music that was very layered and textural. I used my guitar to make crazy loops and also control my synth, all the while playing leads over the top. I played this music at several art gallery openings and other interesting venues. I played and was interviewed on KUT radio, and even played a live hour set on a local t.v. channel during South By Southwest. I had a couple releases of these extended live tracks; one called "Wood, Metal & Plastic" and another called "Damaged Goo". I also took this style further and helped form a group playing improvised ambient music, called The Belgium Factor, which played a few shows and released a CD.

I formed a band playing original and improv rock and weirdness, calling it Smartacus. It had a couple of incarnations, the first of which I also played Chapman Stick for a short while. We played a bunch of shows, and released a CD of my original songs called "Eyemoeba", and another CD of our improvs called "Improv-O-Rama". We had some very creative times with this group.

I shot an experimental video of my friend Oscar's mosaic art and creations, put a tune to it, and called it "The Lounge". It was shown in a local film festival. Plus, I did music and sound design for the stage show "Tourist Trap" by S.T. Shimi, music for a friend's animated video that became part of her art installation, music for another friend's video called "The Sleeper's Dreams", and music and sound for a tactile art installation that you went through blind-folded ("Eye For An I") ! I also edited a few videos for other bands, including Spoon, Fastball, and The Deep Sombreros, whose first video was an Austin Top Ten that year.

During this period in Austin, I was working at a state agency, shooting and editing video and other audio/visual work. I realized the videos I was editing for work needed music, and I decided to make my own music for them. Eventually, I came to understand that I was enjoying doing the music for the videos more than making the videos themselves. I decided I wanted to learn how to do this kind of work for real, and began to look into schools that could teach me how.

Go To Part 3 of G's Journey