Lawrence Fishberg

I always really liked the spirit of Lawrence Fishberg’s tapes. In fact, some of the essence reminded me of myself and buddy Greg Gray and our Yamaha autochord pop project, The Too Righteous Bros. Some may have called it cheesy or faux lounge but to me it was just a convenient way to express myself. That is how I saw Fishberg’s music as well. His glorious take on personal psychology, his laying it on the line for all to see was something I admired and wanted to do myself. To me, the beauty of home recording was to not try to copy the big studio, major label sound but to use what I had to produce something from my heart and soul. To me, that’s what Lawrence’s music was all about .

Lawrence Fishberg from New York

Malinformed by Lawrence Fishberg from 1987.

I joined my first band in 1985 as a lark and found that I could write songs.  I began to use cassettes, singing and playing into a portable tape recorder.  As the years went on, I was in and out of a few more bands, and for my own solo work, purchased a home four-track machine that was out in the late 80’s, early 90’s.  It was a frustrating item.  There would be skips, and pops, and something in the mechanism would always break.  When it finally broke down, I scurried back to the safe and secure arms of the portable tape recorder.
Today I use Garageband for my solo work and for a songwriter and someone like myself who writes quite a lot, it has proven quite wonderful.  However I still use a portable tape recorder and cassettes to quickly get ideas down.  I then get out the MacBook with Garageband to put them down properly .  I guess I am like a tennis player who simply can’t fully give up the old wooden racket.
Today I am in two groups FOAMOLA, which can be found on YouTube, and EL SONNY which has a site on Bandcamp.
I am also soon going to have a site for my own solo work on Bandcamp.
That’s it for now, back to work!