• Toxin (1998) 5:42 8.1 meg - on this tune you can very much feel the Ojas influence from Andy and I. And I never heard Jessica so spiteful.
• Melodies That Matter (1998) 6:27 9.1 meg - I think on this tune we fully achieved the right mix of prog rock and piano soul. My favorite thing we ever did. There are two little things I'm especially proud of; the tremolo guitar on the bridge (?) section, and the harmonization on the "splashing and winding..." line.
• Stairwell (1998) 4:55 6.9 meg - this demanded an awful lot of rehearsal to pull off live. The "you're so naive" section is SO CREEPY.
• Mrs. Curious (1998) 6:20 8.9 meg - what a strange tune, it could have been a joke but it was pretty successful in the end. The opening guitar riff was extremely satisfying to play.

Lifespan: 1997-1999

Personnel:

• Jessica Hicks - vocals, piano
• Andrew Johnson - bass, vocals
• El John Nelson - drums
• DS - guitar

High Point: Successful show at Cafe du Nord.

Low Point: Playing at the Cocodrie (a rather low-rung club) and getting chewed out for not bringing enough crowd.

Story: In the last year or two of Ojas, Jessica (who'd I'd known since Berklee days) talked to me about putting together a band behind her solo piano/voice compositions. I'd been planning on spending my time away from Ojas as a fill-in guitarist for the great Charming Hostess, but upon hearing Jessica's songs, and wonderful voice, I decided to go with her instead. Andrew Johnson signed on to play bass; I think both of us were tired of the lack of reception we'd encountered for Ojas and were ready for something more palatable to general audiences.

Jessica had a serious soul jones, but also a taste for prog, which Andrew and I encouraged, perhaps even a bit too much. The earliest compositions weren't very comfortable for Jessica to play and sing, and our performances were a little stilted. Gradually, her love of Stevie Wonder started to seep in, and the arrangements started to coalesce.

I really liked recording with this band. Everyone knew what they were doing and had good sounds to work with, and also had a taste for the unusual, so I was free to try a lot of different things on guitar. I'd never before worked much with layering on contrasting guitar parts, but I explored that a lot and found it a lot of fun.

Eventually, I started doing some writing with Jessica, which led to my realizing that I wanted to explore writing again, for my own purposes. After a few years together, some great shows and good demo recordings, I told Jessica that I wanted to pursue my own thing, and started writing in earnest for what would become Maxwell Horse in 1999. Two years later, I'd ask El John to take over the drum chair for that band.