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What is it with these third-person bios? Let us dispense with imaginary
middlemen. Hi, I'm Timothy and this band is called Artichoke. I wanted
a noun, maybe something green and spiky.
We've made a few records since the fall of 1998. "Sing
in Traffic" exemplifies our early Canter's Kibitz Room sound,
and includes a song about Jack and the beanstalk. I needed an extra
syllable so I called him Jackie. After that came the full-length "Evaporation."
I tried out a range of writing styles on that one, from a narrative
of Noah and his regret at
not being able to save everybody, to a view of highway
signs as the small talk of the road.
A couple years ago my wife and I bought our house in Highland Park --
just up the street from my favorite club Mr.
T's Bowl. ("You can rock and you can roll, but you can't bowl
at Mr. T's.") I spent the past few years fixing the house, recording
the concept album "26 Scientists," and playing occasional
live shows around Los Angeles. The resulting first half of the project
is called "26
Scientists Volume One: Anning - Malthus," a collection of loosely
biographical songs, one scientist for each letter of the alphabet.
I played most of the instruments on "26 Scientists Volume One:
Anning - Malthus," but it's not a solo project. The following amazing
musicians gave the record life: Steve Collins - an actual scientist
at the Jet Propulsion Laboratories -- built his own theremin which he
plays on tracks 4 and 5. Sharon McGunigle -- performance artist -- plays
accordion on tracks 3, 6 and 7, plays toy piano on track 12, and sings
with me on 6 and 7. If you saw the Beastie Boys on their 2004 world
tour, you experienced percussionist Alfredo Ortiz, whose drums appear
on tracks 6, 7, 12 and 13. Drummer Gerry Porter steps in for tracks
1, 4, 8 and 9. Peter Kelly co-wrote track 7 and 13, and plays guitar
on tracks 6, 7, 12 and 13. Jeff Orgill co-wrote track 6. Ben Eisen plays
bass on tracks 6, 7, 12 and 13.
Our records can be heard with some regularity on LA's finest college
radio stations such as KXLU
88.9 FM, and with some irregularity everywhere else, from "Radio
Outback" in Australia to KCRW
89.9 FM, KROQ 106.7
FM , and Indie
103.1. For most of 2004, Artichoke rocked around the clock on East
LA's plucky pirate radio station Morbid Radio. Morbid Radio's 20-watt
voice was abruptly silenced in June, when police helicopters homed in
on Jon and his mother as they were sitting down for dinner.
The live Artichoke is starting to sound pretty good, if I may say so.
And since I've fired the imaginary middlemen that the other bands are
using, I have to say so. I don't need their sham objectivity. Who the
hell do I think they think they are, anyway?
Come see us sometime. And please buy our record.
(select a name to see bio)
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