Music

A well examined life is not a complete one if it isn’t enjoyable, and so I’m very conscious of maintaining personal traditions of enjoyment, including the playing of music for its own sake. I have played drums and guitar since I was 13, in the early years mostly for punk bands (Sacrilicious, the Human Beans, Chiavajina, Shotwell, and Ppavartaana/Hello Noisy), later on for one of my favorite ever singer-songwriters, Katy Davidson (Dear Nora), and for world fusion (Perranosperous), cow punk (Cow People), and noise rock projects (NRSZ). My last major band was Future Twin (I played drums).

From about 2003 to 2011 I released every year an album of my own creation/songs. Originally titled by my initials (AMMRA), those projects include:

Note: I hope to eventually get all these albums and more on my bandcamp page. In 2019 I made my first album in years, a ‘kid’s album’ of sorts, with/for my son. It’s available for free download here at my Bandcamp page. So the two more recent albums I’ve made are:

In 2008 and 2010, my birthday releases (so-called because I finish them on time to give out to my friends during my birthday celebration) were recordings of my newest band, People People. I’ll re-post those at some point…

I have also contributed to the musical efforts of others, such as playing drums for Dark Dark Dark, on artist Chris Duncan’s “The SUN” project, and for Tina Gordon’s “The Rambler“.

Besides playing drums and guitar, and singing in the all-male, Leonard Cohen cover choir The Conspiracy of Beards, I have also recorded and released musical efforts, including:

Manhaterrr (engineered)
Boomtown Compilation (recorded and released on CD)

My musical side did take a back seat, as I focused on being a father. But I just started renting a practice space and playing drums again with Gabe and Brian, and our new band Yoots played our first show on December 10, 2023.