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The Casiotones were an improvisational music ensemble. In the beginning, we were using only Casio made instruments, later we ditched that parameter and incorporated other electronic instruments, later still we began to work with acoustic instruments and non-musical objects as sound producers. We were more of a sound art group than a noise band, but we certainly invaded noise territory on occasion. We had a reputation as a clean-up band - we would play last, and we would slowly ramp up the intensity of our performance to repulse the bulk of the audience. We were damn good at that.

We played around the South Bay, occasionally venturing Downtown or to Orange County. For a significant period of time, we ended up as the house band at Sacred Grounds, backing up the poetry readings and following that with a performance. We also participated in an ongoing event in Long Beach called the Zirkus.

We stopped doing shows in ‘99 or 2000, I think Raindog and I felt at the time that we were spinning our wheels a bit. We’ve talked about performing together again, but we really haven’t taken any steps to make that happen.

Members and Lineups

We had a variety of lineups - we were interested in playing with different people and seeing what they could contribute. The original lineup of the band was myself, Raindog and David Holmes. Raindog would play the Casio sax, I was on the SK-1 and CZ-3000 and I cannot remember what Dave was playing, other than it was a crappy Casio with a “DJ wheel” on it. That trio was pretty steady for about a year and a half, but Dave had a breakdown that drove him to religion(s) and he dropped out of the lineup. Following Dave’s departure, keyboardist Steve Strellich filled in for him on a few shows on the CZ-5000, and we were in a bit of a limbo for a while, not knowing what to do. Dave’s departure made for a rotating group of Casiotones, most notably percussionist Peter Sims, vocalist Stephanie Serna and Casio guitar player Phillip Ginder. We were joined by several other artists sometimes, including poet Scott Wannberg who worked with us on several occasions and Shelly RuggThorp, who joined us as a vocalist for a while.

I think our best sounding lineup was myself, Raindog and Pete Sims. We were really practicing a lot then, as Pete had a studio we could practice in, and he was a really competent percussionist. During the early shows with Dave, we were all too green to really be at our best, especially live. Pete was a really good balance between my keyboarding and Raindog’s sax playing. Pete had a persistent injury that forced him to have to give up playing percussion and he had to leave the band, unfortunately. After Pete’s departure, Stephanie stayed on for a while providing vocals and Phillip Ginder joined us on guitar. I’m sure I’m forgetting someone - we played with a lot of people.

• Marshall Astor - Myself, keyboardist, in all lineups, playing Casio SK-1, Casio SK-60, Casio CZ-3000 and Oberheim OB-8.

• Raindog - Sax player, in all lineups, playing Casio DH 100 & DH 200 MIDI horns.

• David Holmes - Keyboardist, in original lineup, playing unknown Casio keyboard.

• Peter Sims - Percussionist, joined after David Holmes’ departure, left due to injury, playing hand drums, various children’s toys and tape measure.

• Phillip Ginder - Guitar player, joined after Peter, present in final lineup, playing Casio MIDI guitar.

• Stephanie Serna - Vocalist, joined after David Holmes’ departure, present at most later shows.

• Steve Strellich - Keyboardist, joined immediately following David Holmes’ departure, played with us for only a few shows, playing Casio CZ-5000.

• Scott Wannberg - Poet, played with us sporadically, reading & improvising poetry.

• Shelly RuggThorp - Vocalist, played with us while we were playing at the Zirkus.

Recordings

I’ve got no idea how many recordings there are of us. We only released a four that I know of on tape/CD, and only one of them was a “studio recording” and all of the live recordings have issues, as we were the victim of sound men with crappy ideas about reverb and echo - a lot of our performances were severely mediated by hippy dippy sound guys looking to make our music more “spaced out”. I think there may be other “extremely lo-fi” recordings that Pete made when we were practicing at his place. I’m not sure if I even have any of these on tape or CD. If I do, I’ll upload them and you can do whatever you like with them.

• Lung Candy - First recording, featuring David Holmes, Raindog and myself. Recorded in Raindog’s studio behind Vinegar Hill Books in San Pedro. Permanently fucked up, but no less listenable due to the B side having two tracks running backwards. It’s probably better that way. I know that Circus from the Shapeshifters sampled this album on some of their tracks, which is about as cool as things get. my favourite recording of ours. I believe this exists in a 1.0 and a 2.0 version. I think the 2.0 version just has more stuff.

• Bridge of Size - I think this is just a live set that we did at some club in Orange County when we were on a bill with Instagon. The lineup on this recording was Raindog, Phillip Ginder, Stephanie Serna and myself. This exists in a 1.0 and a 2.0 version. I can’t recall what’s on the 2.0 version.

• Live at Al’s Bar With the Casiotones - A live set from a show we did with Instagon and Frank Moore’s Cherotic All-Star Band. Playing at Al’s bar as a teenager was cool, and playing with Frank Moore was a dream come true. This recording features Raindog, myself, Peter Sims and Phillip Ginder. At the end of the evening all three bands merged - I’m not sure if that’s on this recording. Frank Moore has a page for this show on his website - you can see a picture of me in a vinyl maid’s dress and blond wig there, if you’re into that sort of thing.

• No Dead Air - The Casiotones on KXLU - I dread hearing this. Apparently the broadcast sucked like no other. It was done as part of the all too short lived show Egg City that Bret Berg somehow got into the prime time KXLU radio schedule. I think we were having an awkward night, being stuffed in this tiny room, with a substitute sound guy. We sounded great in the room, but I heard that the sound guy threw an insane amount of reverb on us to make us “spacey”. I don’t know if this is recorded from the signal going into the booth or the signal coming out. We followed up this performance by having a celebratory midnight dinner that we invited the general public to come to at the grand opening of the new Norm’s in Lomita, CA, which was about as exciting as it sounds.

Raindog sells Live at Al’s Bar and No Dead air on CD through his venture, Lummox Press, if you’d like to order a CD, the relevant page is here.