Roger Moneymaker
From Memphis, Roger Moneymaker ( aka rolmo) cranked out some high quality instrumental rock and created some of my favorite guitar oriented tapes of the era. He released companion tapes on two different labels, “Spank”(1991) on audiofile and “Wank”( 1990) on Harsh Reality. He was also part of Chris Phinney’s jamband, Viktimized Karcass as well. Let me just say it, ooh ooh tasty. To me, Roger was an integral and important member of the so called “Memphis Mafia”, which included him, Chris Phinney, Mike Honeycutt and some others who created challenging and exciting electronic and improvised music.
a long time ago (1982 or so) i became aware of a sub current of musical expression that did not rely on major label patronization or mainstream critical acceptance….. my awareness was triggered by a double lp of beautiful sounds called: the elephant table album. not only were the soundz weird, radical, stimulating and ALIVE but….. the artists provided contact addresses! today this is de rigor but for a sheltered southern dude in the early ’80’s who thought worthwhile music only came from the local ‘head shop’ or college lp shop this was a revelation. i had no idea what was soon to come. pursuing those e.t. contacts brought me to Aeon (Kent in colorado), rough trade (whitehouse!), and the wonderful world of cassettes. fast forward to 1984: finally completed school, found a job with some regular dough coming in and my first post grad purchase: a fostex x-15. soon me and my buds were grooving on the ability to multitrack/overdub and indulge whatever the fuck we felt like. freedom was great. my pal Richard somehow got in contact with one of the lynchpins of cassette culture Zan Hoffman…… speak his name with admiration and let the vibrations in your room resonate in tribute to this genius/lunatic/proud parent. Zan encouraged me to trade tapes, name my ‘band’ (he chose the moniker swinebolt 45 from 3-4 choices i offered) and otherwise seek quality beer and CREATE!. i can’t begin to list the contacts i pursued directly, thanks to his tireless energy…. but one must be intoned: MINOY!! the only artist who could keep up with Zan. it overwhelms me to recall the feeling of opening my mailbox to find 6 -8 tapes offered in trade for the paltry 2 i had mailed a week ago to Minoy. best part was his mind scrape was done solely with 2 walkmans and a radio shack reverb….. + genius anybody in touch w/Minoy aka Keith? hope he is doing well. Zan and Minoy are the twin pillars of my early experience. along with Al Margolis, Dave Prescott, Chris Phinney, Mike Honeycutt, Carl Howard….too many to list. otherwise i traded numerous tapes for numerous tapes…. some brilliant, some shitty ….. most of mine were shitty but what the fuck….. pay your money, take your shot. the pros of ‘tape culture’ for me? learn to organize, create intention, and construct some sort of complete ‘album’. the cons? once i got past the initial explosion i found myself to be just one of thousands of people cranking out jamz maybe i/we should’ve KEPT TO MYSELF/OURSELVES. it’s all good tho’. these days i still make music for myself…… no interest in anything beyond. thanks Zan, Minoy, Don, and so many others for helping me conceive of my potential relevance to the ideas i could’ve easily never acted on. huh? exactly.