Jeff Mangum
Jeff Mangum (right) plays in Pittsburgh on October 18, 2008
Background information
Born	(1970-10-24) October 24, 1970 (age 41) Ruston, Louisiana
Instruments	Guitar, Drums, Bass, Organ, Vocals, Floor tom
Years active	1987–2002, 2006, 2008–current
Labels	Merge Records, Orange Twin Records
Associated acts	Neutral Milk Hotel, Circulatory System, The Olivia Tremor Control, Synthetic Flying Machine, Cranberry Lifecycle, The Apples in Stereo, Major Organ and the Adding Machine, Elf Power
Notable instruments
Gibson ES-125 Gibson SG

Jeff Mangum (born October 24, 1970^[1] in Ruston, Louisiana) is a musician best known for being the lyricist, vocalist and guitarist of the band Neutral Milk Hotel, as well as being one of the cofounders of The Elephant 6 Recording Company. Mangum, along with the other founding members of the Elephant 6, attended Ruston High School in the late 1980s. The friends shared a passion for acts of the 1960s, most notably The Zombies and Donovan, as well as an affinity for later alternative rock bands such as Sonic Youth and the Minutemen.^{[citation needed]} They reflected these influences in the tapes they recorded and shared with each other, forming the seeds of what would become the Elephant 6 Collective. He is married to Astra Taylor,^[2] known for making the documentary film Žižek! about the Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Žižek.

With Neutral Milk Hotel[link]

Neutral Milk Hotel was born after the end of Synthetic Flying Machine, with an original line-up of Will Cullen Hart and Bill Doss on guitar and bass and Jeff Mangum on drums. Around 1995 Mangum left Synthetic Flying Machine to focus on his own songs. A year of intensive songwriting (some of it accomplished, according to Mangum, while he was living in a haunted closet) in Denver, Colorado with Robert Schneider at his Pet Sounds Studio resulted in his debut album, On Avery Island, released in 1996, consisting mostly of Schneider and Mangum playing with friends. Mangum eventually expanded the line up of Neutral Milk Hotel and in 1998 released In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.

After Neutral Milk Hotel[link]

The relative success of the album in addition to the pressures of sudden fame took its toll on Mangum, who disbanded Neutral Milk Hotel in 1998 after a tour in support of their latest album. Mangum has kept largely out of the public eye since, only rarely playing acoustic sets and concentrating more on his recorded sound and music collages.

In March 2001, Mangum and Julian Koster (also formerly of Neutral Milk Hotel) contributed to an album called Major Organ and the Adding Machine. Other involved players were Kevin Barnes from the band of Montreal, Eric Harris and Will Cullen Hart of Olivia Tremor Control, and Elf Power's Andrew Rieger.^[3]

In the summer of 2001, Mangum released a compilation of field recordings of Bulgarian folk music called Orange Twin Field Works: Volume I followed by a live album on the Orange Twin label, Live at Jittery Joe's. The set was recorded by filmmaker Lance Bangs in 1997 and was put out to combat the exorbitant sums that Neutral Milk Hotel live albums were selling for on eBay. The CD features a QuickTime movie of the concert performance, featuring a backlit Mangum seen mostly in silhouette throughout the video. In 2005, Live at Jittery Joe's was released on LP by Isota Records.

In the summer and fall of 2002, Mangum hosted several radio shows featuring tape loops and other recordings on Jersey City, New Jersey radio station WFMU.^[4][5]

On September 19, 2006 it was announced that Mangum would contribute to The Apples in Stereo's new album New Magnetic Wonder. Mangum is reported to be playing "drums, cow object, backing vocals, handclaps".^[6] Mangum also contributed drums to the Circulatory System album, Signal Morning, released in September 2009.

Return to Live Performances[link]

In October 2008, Mangum performed the song "Engine" on several stops of the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour. Prior to these performances, he had not played Neutral Milk Hotel songs in public since 2001. At the Lexington, KY stop, Mangum, Scott Spillane and Julian Koster led concertgoers outside the venue to a nearby tree. Prior to playing Engine, the group surprised the audience with Neutral Milk Hotel's "The Fool". This was, effectively, the closest thing to a Neutral Milk Hotel performance since 1998.

In December 2009, Mangum contributed the song "Sign the Dotted Line" to a Chris Knox tribute album titled Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox.^[7] On May 6, 2010, Mangum played a 25-minute acoustic set at a Chris Knox benefit show at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC.^[8] He played: "Oh Comely," "A Baby for Pree/Where You'll Find Me Now," "Two Headed Boy pt. 2," "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" and as an encore, "Engine." It was also announced it was not the start of a comeback, but a one time performance to benefit his friend Chris Knox.

On December 4, 2010, Mangum played a 10 song set at a loft in Bushwick, Brooklyn including 6 songs from In the Aeroplane Over the Sea and Engine.^[9]

On April 20, 2011, Robert Schneider debuted a score composed by Mangum for the Teletron, an instrument Schneider had invented. It is unknown whether the composition will have an official release.^[10] On August 26, 2011, Mangum launched the website walkingwallofwords.com, where he is self-releasing a box set of Neutral Milk Hotel albums and unreleased tracks, as well as one-of-a-kind drawings and a radio show he curated.^[11]

On August 12 and 13, 2011, Mangum played full sets at Trinity-St.Paul's United Church in Toronto, Ontario. Both shows were opened by members of the Elephant 6 Collective. Mangum played very similar sets at the two shows, performing several songs from Neutral Milk Hotel's "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" and "On Avery Island". During the show on August 12, Mangum also played a cover of Daniel Johnston's "True love Will Find You In The End". Mangum performed "Engine" as an encore at both shows. On 30 September 2011, Mangum played a full set at All Tomorrow's Parties in Asbury Park, NJ - his first large show in many years.^[12]

On October 4, 2011, Mangum made an appearance at Zuccotti Park in New York City and played several songs to the protesters participating in Occupy Wall Street.^[13] On October 27, 2011, Mangum performed a benefit show for Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, New York.^[14]

On January 9, 2012 Goldenvoice revealed that Jeff Mangum would appear on the Saturday bill for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival alongside such acts as Radiohead, Bon Iver, and Feist.^[15] On January 10, 2012 Mangum's official tour site revealed additional West Coast dates leading up to and through the Coachella festival.^[16]

Mangum curated the 2012 ATP in Minehead, UK between the 9th and 11th of March. This marked the first time that Mangum, The Apples in Stereo and Olivia Tremor Control have officially all played at the same event.

Discography[link]

With The Olivia Tremor Control[link]

• California Demise (Elephant 6 Records; 7"; 1994)
• Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume One

With Major Organ and the Adding Machine[link]

• Major Organ and the Adding Machine (Orange Twin; 2001)

With Laura Carter, Eric Harris, Chris Jolly & Heather McIntosh[link]

• Curse Of The Seven Jackals (Perhaps Transparent Records; CDR; 2001)

With Neutral Milk Hotel[link]

See Neutral Milk Hotel discography.

As Jeff Mangum[link]

• Orange Twin Field Works: Volume I (Orange Twin; CD; 2001)
• Live at Jittery Joe's (Orange Twin; CD; 2001)
• Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox (Merge; CD; 2009)

External links[link]

• 33 1/3 series - Kim Cooper's book "Neutral Milk Hotel's 'In The Aeroplane Over The Sea'"
• Kevin Griffis, "Have you seen Jeff Mangum?", Creative Loafing, September 4, 2003
• Jeff Mangum discography at MusicBrainz
• Jeff Mangum discography at Discogs
• Video of Halloween 1997 Performance
• Video of Live at Jittery Joes Performance
• Jeff Mangum, Astra Taylor Married, Glorious Noise, January 9, 2008

References[link]

Guy Picciotto
Background information
Born	(1965-09-17) September 17, 1965 (age 46), Washington D.C.[1]
Genres	Punk rock
Occupations	Songwriter, Musician, Producer
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drum machine, Clarinet, Thumb piano, Percussion
Years active	1984–present
Labels	Dischord
Associated acts	Fugazi, Rites of Spring, Happy Go Licky, One Last Wish
Notable instruments
Rickenbacker 330

Guy Picciotto (pronounced [ˈɡi piˈtʃotto] or "Gee Pitch-oh-toe") is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, and producer from Washington, DC.^[2]

He is most widely known for his role as one of the guitarists and vocalists of Fugazi, as well as Rites of Spring.^[3]

Career[link]

Rites of Spring & Early Projects[link]

Picciotto's musical career began in 1985, with the group Rites of Spring. A part of the D.C. post-hardcore scene, Rites of Spring increased the frenetic violence and visceral passion of hardcore while simultaneously experimenting with its compositional rules. Picciotto, as the band's lyricist, as well as singer & guitarist also shifted hardcore into intensely personal realms and, in doing so, is generally credited with creating emo.^[4]

Picciotto's early musical resume also includes the bands One Last Wish (1986), Happy Go Licky (1987–1988), Brief Weeds (EPs released circa 1991 - 1992), and The Black Light Panthers (ongoing sporadic project since 1982), the last two bands both being projects with Brendan Canty. He also created a record label called Peterbilt Records, which released limited-quantity vinyl record albums for the bands Rain, Happy Go Licky, and Deadline, then years later was involved in releasing the album 1986 by One Last Wish, along with Dischord Records.

Fugazi[link]

Though not in the original line up of Fugazi, Picciotto joined very early in the group's career, singing with them by their second show and appearing on all the band's studio recordings.

From the Margin Walker EP on, he also took up 2nd guitar duties, playing characteristically trebly Rickenbacker guitars. After seven albums (13 Songs, Repeater, Steady Diet of Nothing, In on the Kill Taker, Red Medicine, End Hits, The Argument), and several tours, Fugazi went on "indefinite hiatus" in 2003.

Side Projects & Production Work[link]

Picciotto has collaborated and performed with Mats Gustafsson, Vic Chesnutt, and members of the Ex among others. He co-produced Gossip's breakthrough record Standing in the Way of Control.

He also produced Blonde Redhead's Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons (2000) and Misery Is a Butterfly (2004) as well as The Blood Brothers final album, Young Machetes. Picciotto played on the Vic Chesnutt albums North Star Deserter (2007) and At the Cut (2009), and accompanied him on a 2009 Fall/Winter North American Tour. He co-produced the film Chain with Jem Cohen (who made the Fugazi film Instrument).

Equipment[link]

Guitars[link]

• Rickenbacker 330 - Picciotto's main guitars are a sunburst Rickenbacker 330 and 2 identical black Rickenbacker 330's all equipped with RIC HB1 humbuckers. He has also occasionally been seen playing a natural-finish 330. The characteristically trebly Rickenbackers allowed Piccotto to make use of sonic space not taken by Mackaye's chunkier, rhythmic guitar playing in Fugazi.^[5]
• Gibson Les Paul Jr. - During Picciotto's time with Rites of Spring and during the early days of Fugazi he could also be seen playing Les Paul Junior's.

Amplification[link]

• Park 100 Watt heads
• Marshall JCM 800 2203 heads
• Red or Black Marshall JCM 800 4x12 cabinets fitted with 75-watt celestion speakers

Effects[link]

• MXR Distortion+
• Vox 847 Wah or Buddah Budwah
• Echo Park Echoplex
• Diamond Memory Lane Delay (first edition)
• Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Plus
• Z.Vex Seek Tremolo
• Z.Vex Fuzz Factory
• Z.Vex Ringtone
• Frantone Cream Puff Fuzz
• Ernie Ball Volume Pedal
• Boss TU-2 Tuner

Misc[link]

• Guy uses Bullet Cables for all pedal and guitar/amplifier connections live and in-studio.^[6]

Personal[link]

He holds a B.A. degree in English from Georgetown University and is a graduate of the Washington, DC private school, the Georgetown Day School.^[7]

Discography[link]

Rites of Spring[link]

• Rites of Spring (1985)
• All Through a Life [EP] (1987)
• End on End (complete discography) (1991)

One Last Wish[link]

• 1986 (1999)

Happy Go Licky[link]

• 12" (EP) (1988)
• Will Play (live Compilation) (1997)

Black Light Panthers[link]

• Peterbilt 12" 82-97 (1997)

Brief Weeds[link]

• A Very Generous Portrait 7" (1990)
• Songs of Innocence and Experience 7" (1992)

Fugazi[link]

• 13 Songs (September, 1989)
• Repeater (March, 1990)
• Steady Diet of Nothing (August, 1991)
• In on the Kill Taker (May, 1993)
• Red Medicine (June, 1995)
• End Hits (April, 1998)
• Instrument Soundtrack (1999)
• The Argument (October, 2001)

References[link]

External links[link]

• January 1998 interview with Picciotto in Diskant
• Nude as the News interview with Guy Picciotto (October 2001)
• Pitchfork interview with Picciotto
• Picciotto interview on the Morphizm site
• Exclaim.ca September 2007 interview with Guy Picciotto
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