This is sort of a history of my music and how it has evolved. Basically, I began playing guitar in 1991, teaching myself chords for the most part. I had so many things to express that I just wrote all these lyrics and made a pitiful attempt to put a single chord or two chords behind the lyrics. The recordings were pretty ugly, recorded onto a stereo microphone. 

Then I gradually learned more chords, and the music started to take on shape in early 1992. Some songs that have survived from this period include "Angry and Bitter," as well as "I'm Free." These two songs were enough to keep my drive going, even though there were many times that I almost gave up, throwing my tapes into the trash only to retrieve them again. In the summer of 1992, I got a Yamaha keyboard, and I was off to the races. Even though I couldn't really play, I learned some chords, messed around with the voices and drum sounds, and came up with some interesting stuff like "Weird Feeling" and U2's "With or Without you" which is a song that hasn't survived.

I tried to come up with several "band" names for my music. I was a one-man-band, so I figured I should come up with a name like any other band. The first of these was Hensley Muelenz, and then progressed to Curiosity Kills the Brain, and then Curiosity has Died. Then I finally decided on something rather obscure, The Socks. The Socks pretty much became my performing name from 1993 to 1996.

My early songs show a bitterness toward everything in general from politics to loneliness to death. Johnny Marr of the Smiths was my guitar icon, and all of the songs featured an accoustic tendency. Things started to come together in the summer of 1992, the greats "Don't ask me to Smile" as well as "Now I know why I Hate Other People" were written. These songs had more of an edge, and I think that I had an amp with distortion effects by this time, though I'm not really sure about that.

I had a karoake machine that basically functioned as a 2-track recorder for me. My sound production increased. I could drum to the songs and you could actually almost hear the drums, so I was happy about that. Anyway, 1993 featured my first attempts at live performance. The first series of these was what I called "The Spontaneous Concert Series of 1993." The first show was during the "Blizzard of 1993" on March 13. I performed it in my basement, for my girlfriend at the time. The next concert was a planned affair performed on July 1. It was supposed to be outside, but it ended up raining, and I had to do it in the basement. About 10 people were there. Looking back, I can't believe just how bad that performance really was. The sound must have been terrible! Here are some pictures from that "memorable" event!

The end of 1993 and the beginning of 1994 reveals that I worked with some poetry writers. I wrote music to their words and it worked pretty well. The songs became more distant and a little heavier. In fact, I think 1993 was the beginning of my industrial work. I recorded "How many Times Should I Roll over and Die?" which included a drum machine, heavy guitars and distorted vocals all pretty much for the first time. I was pretty happy with how this song turned out, and it became a model for the future.

I had another concert at my graduation party in 1994. It was a last minute sort of thing. I remember that at the performance, I felt like I hated everyone that was there, and I didn't care what anyone thought of the music, I was just gonna play, and ignore them.

Anyway, my college days forced a clear slow down in my music writing. Not having my electronic gear with me was a large part of this. But then again, I also feel that my college days have yielded my best music. I've had more time to let ideas sit with me for awhile. I'm able to take the time to put a greater form to my songs. I received a 4-track recorder and a modern drum machine which has made my music sound so much more professional.

AVMN formed around 1995 or 1996, and at one time was a real band under the name Pygmy Fluid. Mike Bauer was the lead singer, Laura Lee was the bassist and keyboardist, while I was the guitarist and music writer. This formulation did not last long, and soon it was once again a one-man-band affair. I changed the name to one of the Pygmy Fluid ideas, Animal Vegetable Mineral or Nuclear. AVMN did a few concert performances, usually very small one-person-audience affairs from 1996 through 1998.

In the Summer of 1999, AVMN rerecorded the Neil Diamond Tribute album, and it turned out to be one of AVMN's finest moments. Little did we know that Neil Can RRRROOOCCCK! :) Well, with the help of a drum machine and distortion anyway. In fact, AVMN's interpretations sometimes did not have a whole lot in common with the originals. In this way, the album was really original to me.

AVMN did finally perform to a large audience on April 13, 1999. With Donna Shelly on Bass and Brad on everything else, AVMN performed two songs at the Temple Law School Talent Show in Philadelphia. The crowd was immediately enthralled.

Ok, so HILDENE never materialized, and AVMN remained AVMN.  After a few live performances, AVMN has essentially gone back underground and has returned to a pure one man effort as of 2002. The use of computer multi-track recording will feature heavily in AVMN's future works.
 

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