Biography

               La Overtoner

Biography

So it was the summer... in 2006, and I was ready. I had talked with Dave Harborfield about playing guitars together, after a Frog Holler show, and he was interested. Then it all started in Dave's kitchen one day... in his old house. The one that was near Allentown. I had a whole backlog of material that I wanted to explore with someone else on lead guitar. Someone whose style differs from my own. We played a couple times, but then he got busy with building his new house and all the craziness from ground up. I went off and started playing some solo gigs and writing more singer/songwriter fare, and decided to record a demo at the Moonlight Forest Studio where Ben Longenecker was living.

I got back together with Dave in early 2008 (in his new house) and started rehearsing songs... ones that would be added to the set list that would be more band format. He asked who could we get on drums and bass.
Ben had already offered his hands on bass. I thought of an old friend, Billy Whalen, from up near Pottsville that might know a drummer... since he runs his own indie label, Blind Pigeon Records, and fronts his own band, Gleason's Drift. He replied that he "has been known to play the drums at one time". I knew this, but thought he might be too involved to get back behind a kit. I was gladly wrong and he joined up after one practice. The EP houseconcert release at the Moonlight Forest boasted a resounding sucess. There we are...
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So now it was January 2007 and I was in the studio with Ben cutting songs. Pretty bare bones. I had no time restraints so I took home the mixes and expanded my horizons. This would sound great with harmonies... this would sound great with percussion... this with bass... and so on til I had a professional violin player doing three part that I charted out. Ben and I carved away at the excess til it had the right intimacy, yet clearly shadowed something more elaborate.
Ben looked at me after the first mixing session of Trash Man and said "... people need to hear this". I thought so too. But how? This was mostly a solo project.