I was with Salamander from 93 to 96. I knew Justin Cayou and Brian Sullivan from high school – as well as the semester I spent at Washington State University. While I was still in the army, stationed at Fort Lewis, I started coming up to Seattle and seeing old friends. One weekend, someone invited me to a house party where Salamander was playing – and I went. I was so taken by the their sound and had a revelation while listening. It was more of an aural hallucination during which I could “hear” flute cascading and flitting on top of the sounds they were making.

After they were done, I said Hi to Justin and Brian, and introduced myself to Ryan Link, Bennett Keasey, and Donovan Curry. I tried to explain my vision to them, but neglected to mention that it was the flute I was hearing. Justin and Brian rightly assumed I was talking about the keyboard. Rightly, because that was my primary instrument at the time. Short story long, it took several weeks before I was able to convince them to let me sit in. I rather foisted myself upon them, hijacked even, at a house party in Latona I think. Just grabbed my flute and went up to the microphone while they were playing.

Enough memory, more music…