PREMIER INSTRUMENTS

Rita: MARK SANDMAN played a two-string Premier bass, but I’m interested in finding out each musicians’ premier instrument. Lolita, get out there and gather info on the first instrument that each of our friends owned. Look, there’s Roger, go grab him quickly before he does another reunion tour without MARTIN SWOPE (x-Mission of Burma/Birdsongs of the Mesozoic). ROGER C. MILLER (Mission of Burma/ Alloy Orchestra): I had a $25 Harmony acoustic guitar in the seventh grade. The action was so high it’s amazing I didn’t quit playing guitar then and there. *** JESSE VON KENMORE (the New Alibis/ the Marvels): My first drumset was a gorgeous set of trash cans that my mom gave me when I was about six years old. They didn’t match or have cases, but they were loud as fuck, easy to tune and a huge influence on Kurt Konk. *** WILLIE ALEXANDER (the Boom Boom Band/ the Persistence of Memory Orchestra): I used an old suitcase for a drumset by standing it up and playing it with one hand, the other hand I used a clothes brush for cymbal effect and whanged the base of it with my foot kinda sideways for a bass drum while I held it between my legs. It worked pretty good. That was in junior high playing along with 45s. Later in high school I bought a used set of real drums and a conga drum. *** KAREN DeBIASSE (Girl on Top): When I was seven I bought a basic Yamaha acoustic guitar for around $120 with case. I loved my acoustic and would play it all the time. A year or so later I found a stray dog that I fell in love with. At first my mother would not let me have a dog in the house so I kept it in an enclosed kennel outside. I used to bring my guitar out to play for my newfound friend. One day I couldn’t find my guitar. Weeks later (we had since brought the dog in the house) I went out to the kennel and inside was my first Yamaha guitar bent in a semi circle from warping. *** SHAUN WOLF WORTIS (Gato Malo): ’Twas a mid-’60s (‘65?) Gibson Melody Maker—a double cutaway with one single-coil pickup. Cherry finish, mostly worn away by the time I got it in 1976 or so. I eventually traded it in for a Hagstrom big body jazz guitar, which I later traded in for a Hamer Custom circa 1982. Years later I ended up removing all the paint from the Hamer and kind of butchering it, (then gave it to Izzy Maxwell when he was a wee teen). I sure wish I kept the Hagstrom though—that was a beaut! *** CHUCK U. ROSINA (WMBR/ WMFO): Well, as I am more of an “audio artist” rather then a musician, I don’t really play instruments in the traditional sense any more. But I did take accordion lessons as a kid, and even had two years of classical training on piano in college. So the short answer would be an accordion. *** KIER BYRNES (Three Day Threshold/ Super Time Pilot): I bought my first guitar in junior high with earnings from my first job. Problem was, I spent the other half of my paychecks on beer and other illicit materials. At the end of the summer my parents wanted to see how much I saved (which was zero). I couldn’t tell them I had blown it all on booze so I choose the easier route, I told them I spent it all on the guitar. It was promptly taken away from me, which ironically only made me want to play music more. *** JOHN POWHIDA (…International Airport): It was a black Fender Musicmaster short scale bass. (I was still a short scale fella). It was Christmas 1980, the place: Triads Music in Glens Falls, NY. This little music shop had an autographed photo of Utopia circa the RA tour hanging on their wall. Utopia drummer Willie Wilcox hailed from Glens Falls, N.Y. I was sold. Mom shelled out the cash, which I’m sure she couldn’t really afford and I started practicin’. Thanks, Mom. Didn’t get an amp for another coupla years. I used to place the headstock of the bass against the wall in my room to make it louder. *** PAUL PHILLIPS (Paul Phillips Band): I was born into a musical family and there were always instruments around—a trumpet, two pianos, a flute, a uke or two, an accordion, etc. The first instrument I called my own was a knockoff Harmony P-bass I bought at a pawnshop with all the dough I was able to save up. I took it home and learned Zepp’s “Ramble On” that night. An ambitious first tune having never played the bass, but my love for that instrument was instant and my affection for that specific guitar remains. *** LIZ LINDER (Liz Linder Photography): A small, black plastic Kodak instamatic camera (I don’t count the flute, as an instrument is only an instrument when it’s properly used). *** BRIAN KING (What Time is It, Mr. Fox?): The first instrument that was truly mine was a mini Yamaha keyboard with 99 voices on which I wrote my first dance hit “Like A Vampire” (which is probably disintegrating on a Certon cassette in a landfill somewhere.) *** RAY MASON (Ray Mason Band/ Lonesome Brothers): My first “real” instrument (as opposed to a plastic Magnus Chord Organ, toy snare drum, and the obligatory recorder) was a Sears Silvertone electric guitar. It was the single pickup model with the amp in the case. I can still remember how great it smelled! My Grandmother bought it for me when I graduated from 8th grade in 1964. There’s a picture of me (from 1964) with it on the cover of my forth CD Castanets. You can even see a copy of TV Guide (with the Flintstones on the cover) on a table next to me. Of course now I’ve graduated to a 1965 Silvertone! Lolita: Ray has always been connected to that old blue scratched up guitar.