Sort Of Quartet
June 17, 2006
This piece is by Greno whose current mood is: amused
About ten years ago, I was on a little tour of So-Cal with my band Patch. On a night off, Joel (our singer), our buddy Robb and myself headed off to a small dump in San Diego called the Velvet to watch some bands play. There were at least two bands playing that night: Truman’s Water (from s.d.) and Sort Of Quartet (from Palm Desert). Sort Of Quartet opened with the first track of the Kiss Me Twice, I’m Skitzo album . Drummer Rob Peterson lead the way with propulsive, polyrhythmic over-the-top drumming. From the first notes of the evening, this band hooked me big time. During the quartets set, there were at least 5-6 guys playing up on this tiny stage at the Velvet. The music was a mix of 70’s era Miles Davis, Frank Zappa, punk and too much more to mention. They fucking rocked big time. The Truman’s Water set was spastic, furious and fragmented. A good night of interesting music.
So, Joel ended up finding some Sort Of Quartet Cds, now out-of-print. The band released four records, three for SST. The first two albums feature drummer Alfredo Hernandez (Yawning Man, Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age). The two final albums feature drummer Rob Peterson, who I saw play that night in S.D. Each of their albums is unique, mostly instrumental with vocal shout-outs by guitarist Mario Lalli. After seeing the Sort Of Quartet and hearing their records, I wanted to know more about this group of musicians. Little did I know, there was quite a legacy in place.
It’s virtually impossible to find mp3’s. Go to Amazon for samlples. If anyone has a link to their music, let us know!
