Embarrass Fair, age 14

When I was 20 years old, I finally got the hell off the iron range (northern Minnesota), and moved to the hometown of my favorite band, the Replacements. I had been dreaming of this for many years, thinking how great it was, having a music MECCA right here in my home state. For about five years prior to this big move, I was playing new wave covers in my high school band called the Imports. We had about twenty original numbers with that band, and we all wanted to move down to "da cities" and become rock and roll stars. We had no idea what we were getting into.

I moved first, then the drummer, then the bass player (Russell Bergum), and eventually, the KEYBOARD player (Jim Kennedy). Our first gig was at FERNANDO'S on 15th and Lake Street. What a disaster. What a let-down. Then we played NEW BAND NIGHT at the 7th St. Entry, where future rock luminary Ed Ackerson was our soundman. Ed LOVED us! We were IN!!! Then, some things happened. It was like that old Bryan Adams song--Jimmy quit, Timmy got married. I shoulda known we'd never get far... Well, at the time I was glad that band ended. We SUCKED, and I didn't like trying to write ART ROCK. My next move was to become a SOLO ACOUSTIC performer, and try the "coffee house circuit".

My first gig doing that was at the Gioco cafe, in Dinkytown (later renamed Espresso Royale). Jay Hurley, of Landing Gear, (then of the Sedgewicks) was the booking guy. He still works there, although since we ruined it, they don't have live music anymore.

The "show" was pretty good, and some of my friends came to see me play. Two of the friends were Russell Bergum (the ex-Imports bass player, who was all new wave), and my brother, Glen. Glen had graduated fom high school a few days before. I was at the graduation ceremony and party and while at home, I saw Glen and our dad come close to kicking the crap out of each other. I said, "Glen,when I go back to da cities, why don't you come with me, eh?" He did. Anyway, back to the Gioco cafe. After I played, Russell expressed interest in playing his stand-up bass that he nicked from high school with me on some songs. I said "sure, why not. We're NOT gonna play no NEW WAVE, though. We're gonna play what I want to play." Then later that night, Glen expressed interest in playing some percussion with Russell and I. He said, "We'll call ourselves the Glen-Russells, with a 't'." The Glenrustles were born. We had no idea what we were getting into.

Well, Glen got himself a snare drum with his graduation money, and took two twigs and fastened a tambourine to it, then took a coat hanger and fastened a pot lid (no pun intended) to it and attached that to the snare drum. Then we found some maracas. Glen had his drum kit. At this point, he was playing with sticks cut from our back yard. We lived in Columbia Heights, north of Minneapolis. It was the summer of '88. We were out of the nest for good and writing tons of tunes. We practiced three times a week. It was a new sound.

On September 25, 1988 we had our first gig as "Rich Mattson and the Glenrustles". It was at the Gioco cafe. Then we played the New Band Night again, the Uptown Bar, and worked on recording an ALBUM. In November, '88 (sometime around there) Glen and I found a house to rent on 28th & Harriet, in the UPTOWN neighborhood (where all the cool musicians lived). It was awesome. The basement was like a concert hall. We had neighbors only on one side, and they were MUSICIANS, TOO! We got two roomates, one of them being Jim Kennedy (the old Imports keyboard player), and the other a bass player named Jimmy the Sloocher. Jim Kennedy learned how to play guitar over the few months since the Imports broke up, and genius that he is, decided to join our band, and play guitar, banjo, piano, and fiddle. The only one he COULDN'T play was the fiddle. He returned it to the music store the next day.

We set up the "studio" (my 4-track) in the living room and recorded our debut ALBUM in one night. It turned out to be a nine song cassette. All we ever wanted was to be on TWIN/TONE. That never happened, but that's another story. We dubbed those cassettes in my room, one after the other until we had 200 of them. We even got our name in the City Pages.

We kept after gigs, playing goofy places like the Valli Pub (a pizza place), Fernando's, the Seward Cafe, eventually getting into the 400 Bar, and the Cabooze. Our main venue, though, was that basement. We had parties, parties, PARTIES!!! Every other weekend, at least. The strangest mix of people showed up; punkers, deadheads, skinheads, cokeheads, metalheads, you name it, they were represented. Nothing bad ever happened, (save for the time "Baggs" shit his pants on the stairs) and nothing ever got stolen or broken--nothing we cared about, anyway. Those were strange days, indeed. We built up our eclectic following that still comes around when we get together.

Early in 1990, Russell announced that he was moving to Chicago. I was a little upset, but not much because Russ was always studying and way more into school. He wasn't a dope-smoking moron like the rest of us. The big problem was finding a replacement. Also right about this time Jimmy K. decided to finish school in Bemidji, so he too was leaving. Now I was worried.

Glen was working at the Leaning Tower of Pizza with Greg McAloon, who said he played bass and guitar. It took about a month to get him into the basement to jam with us, but when he finally did, we had a new sound. It was good. Glen had been practicing on a full kit that we bought for $50 from some hippy. I rediscovered my old Gretsch guitar and Peavey/Plush amp combo. We decided, somehow, to "plug in", as it were. All of a sudden we were an electric 3-piece rock group. We instantly recorded another ALBUM at Leo Whitebird's studio across the street, and went to work dubbing those tapes. The gigs were starting to roll in. We still played our parties, too, although our house was slowly turning into a total shit-hole.

Something dawned on me in early 1991, after recording our third ALBUM with Tim Mac at his 6 Feet Under studio (we actually had those tapes professionally dubbed! Lost the DAT master in the process, though). I realised--hey, there's clubs in every town, all across the USA, even outside the USA, where we can play!!! Sounds silly, but I suppose my rural upbringing kept my world a little smaller than most peoples'. We had the van, we had the demo tapes, we even had a little press from our hometown--what were we waiting for?

Our first couple of "tours" were to Chicago and back, with our friends DOG-994-some of the craziest mutherfuckers in Minneapolis rock history. I can't say (remember) much about the tours, except that we didn't make any money--I mean we DIDN'T MAKE ANY- you know how some people say they didn't make any money, yet they got paid $25? Well, we didn't make ANY money. In seven shows, I'd have to say we performed to about 25 people, half of which were club employees. Sound bad? Hell no!! It was a kick in the ASS!! We had a great time. We were young, stupid, and drunk. We went back and did it again, countless times. Later in the Glenrustles' career, we started calling going on tour an "exercise in futility".

O'Cayz Corral, 1991

We met some great people and bands on the road, and some awful people and bands, too. Most of all, we had fun. God, there's some pathetic road stories in the Glenrustles. Just amazing. No label support, no radio support, no guarantees, just the bond of friendship, and ROCK AND ROLL. Ah, memories--Glen laying face-down in some park in Chicago, going to the Western Union in some godawful neighborhood in New Orleans, sleeping in the van in January outside Madison, the sound of Jimmy puking...all the glory of rock superstardom. We eventually did start to get paid for our roadtrips, but it's never quite like being home in Minneapolis, where we were beginning to pack 'em in...

Anyway, where was I? So we were a 3-piece power trio for most of '91 and some of '92, until Jimmy Kennedy came back from Bemidji with his business degree. He re-joined the band, now playing guitar full-time. We recorded and released a couple singles that year, and sent out a lot of demo tapes to big time record labels. Twin/Tone was floundering, and we didn't even want to be on that label anymore.

Glen had started his own band, called the Peasants sometime in '92, and the house on Harriet was abandoned, and we were practicing in my new basement, a couple blocks from the old party house. The new basement was smaller, and had two rooms in it, and I decided to make it into a recording studio. I took out a loan from my Grandad and bought a 12-track recording/mixing machine and went to work full-time recording friends' bands. Flowerpot was born. We recorded a lot of tunes that never got released in any form, save for the errant demo type tape floated out to those stupid record labels.

In April of '94 we did another tour to Chicago and back when things got a little too crazy. Glen was trying to drive the whole band insane. He wanted me to kick his ass. On the way to Milwaukee we decided, after almost leaving him at the Wendy's Oasis, that he should leave the band. We went to Milwaukee and Glen chanted "DAHMER, DAHMER, DAHMER" the whole time. We stuck to our decision.

Upon returning to Minneapolis, we started auditioning drummers, and settled on our good friend Rob Gilboe. Now there wasn't a Glen or a Russell in the Glenrustles. It never occured to us to change the name...we were too famous.

With Robbie in the band, we decided to save all our gig money and make the ultimate ALBUM, and make c.d.'s. In late '94 we went into the Third Ear Recording complex and began recording what would become BROOD, our first "real" ALBUM, with Tom Herbers producing. It took about a year to record the whole thing, as we spread out the recording dates (so we could pay as we went), and make it the perfect ALBUM. We still played our usual two to three gigs a month local, with a road trip once a month, to Duluth, LaCrosse, or Chicago.

Once BROOD was completed, we sent out a lot of tapes, thinking "of course we'll get that record deal now!". We didn't, and we put it out on our own SMA (Start Making Albums..or Suck My Ass..depends who you're talking to) Records. I've got a kickass collection of rejection letters if anyone would like to see 'em. It's kinda funny. Well, BROOD went over like gangbusters and we paid off the manufacturing costs in 2 months. Local papers gave it nice reviews, and it was good to get some recognition, for a change. The national reviews were kind of luke warm, though, so we went right to work on the next ALBUM. This time I took all I learned from Tom Herbers and recorded the whole thing at my own studio. We stretched the recordings out over a year, recording songs as they came, over the winter of '95 and spring of '96. Those were tough times for me, personally, and it shows in the writing. The band was kicking holy hairy ass live, and packing rooms all over town. We even made some waves in Chicago, by now. Yet with all our ass-kicking and half-assed promotional efforts, nobody would touch us in the business. We couldn't find a booker, we couldn't find a label, we coudn't even find a manager, let alone someone to sell t-shirts. I was becoming bitter. And maybe even (God forbid!) a little jaded. In Stone, the second ALBUM came out in the summer of '96. To this day it remains some of our biggest supporters' favorite. Jim Meyer wrote an incredibly good review of it in the Star-Tribune, and it was nominated for "best rock album" at the Minnesota Music Awards. Over the next year, big changes would take place in the Glenrustles' camp...

Robbie decided, over much brainstorming and inner turmoil, that he didn't want to be in a band anymore. It was nothing personal, he just had to "get on with his life". So, weighing my options, which were A)start a whole new band, or B)just get another drummer, I decided to check out the latter first. Glen was first to volunteer his services. I was surprised and tentative about it at first, then said, "what the heck?" Since leaving the band, Glen and I had become better friends, better brothers, and we'd both GROWN UP a little. Glen was finally getting over the fact that Kurt Cobain was dead. Also, Jimmy Kennedy was seeming less and less interested in what rock and roll had to offer him. He had become more interested in playing jazz piano, something he had done since I "discovered" him playing Floyd Cramer in his parents' basement. This was Jim's true calling, I figured, and I didn't call him when Greg and I went on to practice with Glen on drums again.

So now we were back to the old POWER TRIO, and it felt good, kinda. I didn't like having to cover all the guitar parts and singing too, while playing with what was becoming known as a bunch of party animals. I'm no Jimi Hendrix. I don't know how I ever did it. Things were different now.

We kept recording, all through the changes, and never stopped gigging. We did some shows as a three-piece, after one Graham Gregorich, an old aquaintence from the 'range, said how he'd LOVE to play guitar with us. After one particularily disastrous night, I gave him a call. I made him two cassettes of songs to learn, and within a week he had them all LEARNED. We had a new sound. It was good. To wipe the slate clean, a third ALBUM, Fire At Night, was released in December '97. This album consisted of stuff we recorded with Rob & Jim and some with Glen. Some of the songs Glen played drums on were recorded the night he re-joined the band, and he thought they would be "just demos". A couple other songs were recorded with our friend Leo Kuelbs on drums, and a couple more didn't even have any other Glenrustles on them at all. Only one song, "Whole Lotta Nothing", has the entire new lineup on it: Me, Greg, Glen, and Graham.

So, Fire At Night came out in the midst of the Christmas season, in 1997, and was virtually ignored by all the press. Big deal. Time will tell. I still think it's a great ALBUM.

Throughout '98 we re-formed the Glenrustles with our new guitar player, wrote a whole bunch of new songs, recorded 'em, logged in around 65 gigs, (mostly LOCAL) and looked at our happy, friendly place at the bottom of the rock HEAP.

At some point during the year we mixed down a bunch of songs and, noticing that each album we release has an extra word in the title, agreed to call the collection "Honey Grease and Neptune" (4 words, fourth album-get it?). The more we played locally the less people showed up to see us. I was beginning to tire of the local scene and seriously thought about my future in music. Was I going to just keep on recording bands and play locally, or was I going to get the heck outta Minneapolis? The rest of the Glenrustles were always pretty indifferent as to where we took it, and now they were beginning to settle into normal home (40-hour work week) life.

In November of 1999 I took a road trip out east with my lil' yellow dog Pookie to visit my cousin Mark (the guy who got me started on this path to rock and roll obscurity) and to clear my head..step back a little. During my visit to Connecticut we spent some time in NYC, bopped around the coast a little, and did some jamming. I decided that when I got back I would try something new.

I had thought of the name Ol' Yeller back a long time ago when Robbie Gilboe left the group and I was pondering starting a new band. I liked the name because, as I was over 27, that is OLD, and seeing that I screamed myself hoarse by the end of every gig, well, that's the "yeller" in me. Also I hate to mention I can be kind of a wuss at times (come on, who can't?) and I just love my yellow dog. Hey, the old Disney movie was pretty good too!

When I returned from the east coast, I found my friend Dale Kallman had returned from Montana, where he had been living deep in the backwoods, surviving off roots and berries and fresh fish. Dale, a multi-instrumentalist, had always displayed a natural ear for music, and seeing he had adopted a big monstrous yellow lab bitch it was automatic that he be the bassist in my new group.

Keely Lane had always been my favorite local drummer, and I had the opportunity to record him with his country band Trailer Trash on several occasions. We talked about him playing on some of my songs, just in the studio. Our sessions together worked out so well, and we got along so good that I HAD to have him in the new band. Keely readily accepted, and committed himself to our new sound. He had no idea what he was getting into...

At first we toyed with having Greg McAloon and Graham Gregorich on guitars, therefore making it a THREE GUITAR ONSLAUGHT, and patterning ourselves after the Buffalo Springfield, but the old Glenrustles laziness permeated rehearsals and I grew frustrated with organizing 5 guys. Also, I had bigger goals of touring RELENTLESSLY, and I knew Greg and Graham wouldn't be up for it in the long run.

SO, we've sorta kept the Glenrustles together, being that we're all neighbors practically, and we can put on a show here and there once or twice a year to get our yaya's out. I like the arrangement. I still like all the songs too. You may or may not notice that I keep the Glenrustles and Ol' Yeller songs separate, i.e. Ol' Yeller just plays Ol' Yeller songs, and the Glenrustles only play Glenrustles songs. Most of which were written by yours truly..

While having troubles keeping Greg and Graham interested in the Ol' Yeller project, I met a guitarist named Randy Casey. Randy talked big and played guitar like nobody I have ever jammed with. We got together a few times and he agreed to join the group. We had no idea what we were getting into..

Throughout 1999 and into 2000 I had about 20 basic tracks I was working with. I recorded the guitar and drums with Keely, sometimes overdubbing Dale's bass, sometimes playing everything myself. Once Randy joined the band, we recorded around 6 songs live in the studio for our debut album. We kept working on the stuff, eventually releasing the Ol' Yeller album in February 2001.

Everything was going great. We were rehearsing a lot, like I wanted to, we had tours planned, then Randy bailed on a big New York residency, due to lack of funds. But Dale and I liked the idea of being total bums in the big apple, and went out there anyway, for a month. Keely's gal had a baby boy, so Keely stayed home too. This was a great trip for Ol' Yeller. We decided to keep it an efficient touring machine, and go three piece with me covering all the guitar parts.

So the rest of 2001 was spent touring, rehearsing, and recording new songs as they came. Another album, "Nuzzle", was released in February 2002. We toured our butts off (by my standards) behind that one! We had no idea what we were doing (er, getting into) but we went out of our minds to book ourselves all the way to any coast for as long as we could go, which fortunately was never more than 3 weeks at a time. That one 3 weeker from Texas to Mississippi to LA and back was murderous! No a.c. in the van! It was mid-June! I was pleased as punch to play the TROUBADOUR though! That and driving the coastal highway #1 was worth it all. Dale and I did all the advancing for the shows, we became quite the team but were having a hell of a time balancing all that work with playing as well. After awhile it got pretty frustrating doing both. Especially for Dale. We'll get to that in a bit..but let me tell you, we were having good times on the road, and actually breaking even after awhile. Met some great bands that we actually keep in touch with and trade shows with, like all those plans the ol' Glenrustlers used to make but never followed through upon.




We didn't look back, took no prisoners, left no stoner left unturned-on, wore blisters through our axes, and all that, then came home and recorded more. It's become a cycle I am purty comfortable with lately, we record whenever we have a chance, one or two songs at a time. Before you know it, we have 16 or so songs to meld into an album. The next one down the conveyer or through the cosmic airwaves was "Penance", with all those tales of cheatin', sneakin', and thinkin' too hard about a sorry assed broken down compromised life. It's good to get all that stuff out, but I don't get stuck in the roles. Generally I'm genuinely happy about the way things are turning out.

Anyway, the story.. "Penance" was a giant leap forward in getting our name around, and even scored us international licensing with the wonderful Blue Rose Records in Germany. As of this writing we have yet to get over there, but I'll be damned if we don't soon. Over 2003 we kept the touring machine rolling, wearing grooves in the trail we were traveling to NYC, to Austin, over there to Mississippi, back in KC again, try this place in Athens Ohio.. Over the winter Dale was showing signs of wear, and we almost booted him out a couple of times. He would drop the ball if he figured noone was listening and noone cared. I'd get mad at him onstage, and I'd feel terrible later about it. One night at an acoustic gig in Northeast it all came to a head and we wound up calling each other "asshole" between songs. Dale had quit having fun at it. I just wanted to play. I still do. I don't care who listens and who don't. There's always someone over in the corner getting their mind blown, right? When I think about it, I don't think anyone ever cared about Ol' Yeller as much as Dale Kallman. He just can't bear playing in Springfield Illinois to 3 people or St. Cloud MN with the football game on the bigscreen. I can just roll with it, and Keely rolls with me. Dale can't. I'll just rock harder. Dale won't. It was a rough decision for us because we respect his talent so goddamn much. We had quite the brotherhood going on. The Nuzzle-Penance era was an amazing time in the life of my mom's favorite band. In hindsight, I don't know if he quit, or if I fired him, I guess we just agreed that it wasn't working out like it was supposed to do. By now I know it never does. To thine own self be true. Well, the next day we had a show in Duluth so I hastily threw the Glenrustles in the van and made it a Glenrustles show instead. A tour was looming on the immediate horizon so while we were in Duluth, I asked Greg McAloon if he would go on tour with us, and maybe even be in the band again. I didn't have to twist his arm, Greg was ready to play again.

That tour, in February of 2004, was a much more laid back vibe, less worries, less hand-wringing/head holding and I knew we were going somewhere good. Greg doesn't do harmonies, so I practically broke my Gretsch in half making up for the lost vocal parts.. Keely and Greg get along like puppies at playtime. Before we left I called an old friend of Greg, Keely and mine. Just to put the bug in his ear.."So Andy, we were thinking about adding a guitar player.." Andy Schultz from Hibbing is the guy. I knew his band Betty Drake was going through some tough times, 2 of its 4 members moving out of state, and it would be hard to imagine a guy like Andy not actively playing the guitar in a band. The timing was just right. I have been a fan of Andy for many years, and his acceptance to join the ranks of the Yellers means a lot. The full-on new lineup made its debut March 12 2004 at the 7th Street Entry. Everybody commented on what fun we appeared to be having. It's no secret, we are enjoying ourselves. Together we completed the "SOUNDER" album, scraping together a few leftovers from the Dale Kallman days and recording a good chunk of it from March to August 2004 with the new lineup. SOUNDER was released on September 7. 2004 to rave reviews and many great accolades. We were honored with the MMA award for "Best Americana Group" shortly after, and the album made many "best of 2004" lists. However nicely we were treated in print and around the twin cities, the tours we embarked upon that year were pretty dismal, attendance-wise. The places that we still really seemed to click were New York City and anywhere in Texas. Somehow, everywhere in between had forgotten about us. Something about college towns; they're supposed to be great "markets", but the kids move in and out of there within a year, and with those changes comes a new tide of musical taste. It seemed to me that the "americana" tag wasn't really helping our cause either. 2004-05 were the years that the sampler pretty much took over rock and roll. Either the sampler, or very very very very very quiet and precious singer-songwriters with little tinker-toy instruments. We just thumbed our noses at the trends and kept on doing what we do best, which is rocking.

Somehow, in the midst of all this "Sounder" support, we got roped into playing at wedding receptions for friends and/or fans. Over the summer of 2005 we played 4 or 5 wedding receptions. Here I was now, the wedding singer! It was great times, and we still will play weddings. Sometimes we wind up in the strangest places imaginable, and honestly, wow..good times. The best is when the wedding party keeps asking for more ORIGINAL music. That is cool.

Later in the summer or 2005, I got the wild idea of moving out of the city, and started looking into houses further north. The idea was that I could operate from anywhere, with today's technology, why be bound to city living if I want to live in the country? Well, I followed through, and in October of '05 I bought myself a church up by my old hometown of Eveleth! I went to work on renovating it straightaway, making it into a studio with living quarters. I spent that whole winter remodeling it myself with money I made selling the church's pews.

In the meantime, Greg had started his own construction company, Andy became a father, and Keely decided to pursue his dream of being a Nashville drummer! Suddenly I felt as if the band was going to be no more! I was a wreck over it. Towards the end of the winter, sick with the flu, I wrote my bandmates a letter (not an email) asking them if they still wanted to do this Ol' Yeller thing. It was all too dramatic, but up in my little rock and roll paradise I was feeling abandoned by the guys I was building it for. Well, bygones being bygones, my good pals Greg and Andy understood my plight and stood by me in the search for our next drummer, as Keely was certainly out. He got a great gig straight off the bus in Nashville. Yes, he is that good.

The first band I had record in my new studio was the Gleam. These guys are great friends of mine, and their singer (Zack) and I spend hours talking music and ideas. We really got down to brass tacks one night and he recommended with an iron fist that we try out a guy that drummed for them for one gig. I saw that gig and thought the drummer was over qualified for the Gleam..but probably could play the Ol' Yeller stuff damn good. "You gotta get Buck", Zack repeated, again and again. He was referring to Ryan Otte (the Gleam had nicknames for everybody..to them I am Dickie Skins). Ryan Otte played in this great band called Little Dirt that I ran sound for once, and I remember him from Ol' Yeller shows too. I gave him a cd with 21 songs on it, we got together 2 weeks later and played 18 of them without stopping. He beat us up. And he's in!

The rub of this new drummer story is that we had so much music recorded with Keely to get out.. With all our personal stuff making time fly by I hardly noticed it took 2 years to put together the latest ALBUM, which I called "GOOD LUCK", as in "Good luck with that." I heard that phrase, on average, probably 10 times a day every day from July 2005 to May 2006. Keely did too, so did Andy, as did Greg. I can't wait to do some recording with Ryan!

While we're here on the bio, I might as well mention all the other bands in my life, some proud moments, some funny stuff, some hobbies...

1981-September 1982: Easy Tilt Eveleth, MN
Mark Saari (my cousin); guitar and vocals
Rich Mattson; guitar and vocals
Marsh Thompson; bass
Tim Leseman; drums and vocals
*Prior to this lineup, Mark and I used to jam with me on bass, and Dennis Frye on drums. Other "jammers" around this time were Russell Bergum, Kris Kvaternik, Wade Bendarik, Paul Mayasich, Jim Rosati, John Viikensalo...

1982-1984: Alibi Longmont, CO
Mark Shultes; bass
Jamie McGregor; drums
Lorn Potter; guitar and vocals
Rich Mattson; guitar and vocals
*When I was in 10th grade the Mattson family up and moved to Colorado. We were soon to be back in Eveleth, but those two years totally blew my mind!

1984-1987: The Imports Eveleth, MN
Rich Mattson; guitar and vocals
Tim Leseman; drums and vocals
Russell Bergum; bass and vocals
Jim Kennedy; keyboards and vocals

Tom "Monk" Cerar; guitar and vocals, summer 1984
Jim "JJ" Rosati; guitar and vocals, 1984-1985

1980-1982: The Foilers/the Barking Spiders West Eveleth, MN
Rich Mattson; shitar and obscenities
Tim Leseman; drum solos
*Sometimes there was noone to jam with up in Eveleth, so my neighbor and I would just make a bunch of noise and try to get a reaction out of the old ladies across the street. Punk rock? Shit, I thought we invented it! Oh well.

Summer of '84: This band had no name, but all we did was play U2 songs with a few Alarm and Clash tunes thrown in for good measure.
Ray Sherrod; bass
Jeff Lutz; drums
Rich Mattson; guitar and vocals

1987-1988: Eleven Long Haired Friends of Jesus In A Charteuse Microbus Columbia Heights, MN
Paul Seeba; guitar and vocals
Tim Crutchowski; drums
Jim Kosluchar; bass
Rich Mattson; guitar and vocals
*We were all roomates who moved from "da range" to "da cities", and we all played music, so what the hell? We changed our name for every gig (all 4 of 'em).

1989-1990: the Groundskeepers Minneapolis, MN
Frank (Robert) Fitzgerald; vocals and guitar
Rich Mattson; guitar and backround vocals
Peter Anderson; drums
*Frank Robert wrote all these great tunes and all we did was practice. He went on to form a new band every 6 months and probably still is...great stuff though, I tell ya...

1991-1992: Thick Minnesota, USA
Alex Minotte; drums
Jim Kennedy; guitar, bass and vocals
Dan Aronen; guitar, bass and vocals
Rich Mattson; guitar, bass and vocals
*This was a fun little cover band that played parties and bars from Bemidji to Biwabik. Usually a 3-piece, they would call themselves "Thick and Rich" when I sat in.

1990-present?: World On A String Minneapolis
John Eric Theide; piano, guitar, vocals
Rich Mattson; guitar and vocals
Robbie Gilboe; drums
Greg McAloon; bass
Peter Anderson; drums
Jim Gruidl; guitar and vocals
Dave Boquist; bass, fiddle and vocals
Micheal Mackelreth; bass and vocals
Randy Broughten; pedal steel
Glen Mattson; drums
Patty Jansen; bass
*This is the Neil Young tribute band that plays once in a blue moon. I must pay tribute to the man who taught me how to play the bass, drums, rhythm and lead guitar, and vocal harmonizing, not to mention respect for the acoustic guitar. Before Neil, all I liked was Ted Nugent and Van Halen!

1993-1996: Beangirl Minneapolis, MN
Steph "Tulip Sweet" Dickson; vocals and bugle
Rachel Berven; piano
Jason Deming; drums and dingers
Shannen Lach; bass and vocals
Peter Nicolai; accordian and vocals
Dale Kallman; trombone
Dan Haeg; the original guitarist
Rich Mattson; the next guitarist
Jim Kennedy; the last guitarist
Rob Stealcheat; conga
Terry Judson; Terry Judson
*I played in this band for only a couple months, but I recorded them and made a lot of very good friends.

1995-1996: Beyond Zebra Minneapolis
Jason Logan King Sack; vocals and guitar
Mike "Chicki" Crego; drums
*Scott Allen; bass
*Rich Mattson; guitar and vocals
Grant Johnson; guitar and vocals
Greg Ebel; bass and vocals
*Very much a band before me and Scott Allen signed on to go on a big month long east coast tour!

1997-1999: The Odd Minneapolis
Tom Siler, aka "Tommy Obsession"; lead vocals
Mark Mallman, aka "Count Rockula"; keyboards and vocals
Dan Haeg, aka "Danny Commando"; guitar and vocals
Jason Deming, aka "Scott Jaffee"; drums and vocals
Rich Mattson, aka "Reggie Pype"; bass and vocals
*This was my first real gig playing bass with a band. We got voted number 1 best new band in the "Picked to Click" critics' poll in City Pages in 1998 and that was the beginning of the end. God it was fun though..

Fall 1999: WHOGASM Minneapolis
Kristy Hunt (Roger Daltrey)
Dan Haeg (Pete Townsend)
Shawn Walker (Kieth Moon)
Rich Mattson (John Entwistle)
*A Who tribute band that only played one mind-blowing show, at the Turf Club.

1998-2000: Kirk St. James Minneapolis via Dallas TX
Kirk St. James; vocals and guitar
Rich Mattson; bass
Ken Devoe; drums
this is the band that went on the west coast Supersuckers tour, other members included:
Johnny O'Halloran; bass or drums
Tom Cook; drums
Rob Gilboe; drums
Jaques Wait; bass
*Kirk moved to Minneapolis after Tenderloin broke up and recorded some stuff at my studio. Then we did some shows together.

1999-2002: Danny Commando y los Guapos Minneapolis
Dan Haeg; vocals and guitar
Jon Davis; bass
Baby Grant Johnson; guitar and vocals
Bob Anderson; trumpet and melodica
Rich Mattson; drums and vocals
*Somehow I got roped into playing drums with my buddy Dan, and stuck with it for 2 years! They're still rockin', and better with a "real" drummer...

1999-2001: Jason Sack Band Minneapolis
Jason Sack; vocals and guitar
Rich Mattson; guitar and vocals
Pete Boulger; drums
Micheal Leggs; bass
Jim Kennedy; keyboards
Jim Crego; guitar (fill in)
*Jason was the leader of Beyond Zebra.

2002-2004(?): the Blue Violets Minneapolis
John Ewing; vocals and guitar
Steve Brantseg; vocals and lead guitar
Tom Cook; drummer guy
Johnny O' Halloran; bass 1996-2001
Micheal Whitten; keyboards
Rich Mattson; bass
*These guys, formerly/currently known as the John Ewing Band, are good friends of mine. I recorded all three of their albums and know all the songs, so if they need a bass player, why not me? Nowadays Dale Kallman plays bass with them now and then too.

2004: The Gleam, Minneapolis
Zachary Kordusky; vocals and guitar
Tim Wreck; vocals and bass
Dickie Skins (Rich Mattson); drummer guy
Eric Gustafson; drums (2002-2004)
Butch; drums (2004-2005)
Bonson; drums (2005-present) I played drums for one gig..but I help produce their records..

Winter 2005-Present: The Prodigal Sons (of the Iron Range)
Mark Saari; vocals, bass and guitar
Rich Mattson; vocals, bass and guitar
Glen Mattson; drumber
Well, don't say it..(I've come full circle) This is my latest side problex, with my brother Glen on the drums, and cousin Mark playing guitars. We play "Goodtime Music". That is, if the crowd can't sing along, we don't play it.

Summer 2006-Present: The Bitter Spills
Baby Grant Johnson; vocals, 6 and 12 string guitar, resonator
Rich Mattson; vocals, 6 and 12 string guitar, harmonica. This is our traveling FOLK DUO.

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