L O N E T R E E
Lone Tree was a band from Collinsville, IL just outside of St. Louis. The band approximately existed from 2003 until 2005. All 3 members were in their mid to late 30's, at the time. Rick, pictured above upside-down, married, dad of 2 now, 1 at the time, is a former member of Hatewave. A current member of Skarekrau Radio, also known as "Wiggpaw". Chris, pictured above right side-up, father of one, blues guitarist and liqour store clerk. Sean, not pictured, builder of the bands electro-acoustic instruments.
One of the best bands that I have ever seen live. The first time was in early 2003 while on an M Ax Noi Mach tour. St. Louis. The set started out with a GIANT, rock-venue sized strobe-light blaring. Sean then came out and played a fuzzy free-form buzz. Rick & Chris ran out moments later, naked, covered in mud and growling at the audience. They ran around the room like actual monkey-men primordially imitating each other and the audience, a crazy pre-man look in their eyes. They picked up two long wooden sticks that were plugged into amps. Each had one, that they'd knock on the ground and battle one another with. Rick would occasionally run back to his pile of electronics, changing the settings/sound. 15 minutes of total submergence into psychadelic extreme overload and room-morphing time reduction/travel. The evolution of man learning and hating, human flaws and/or beauties. The whole room felt wide-open and very free. Unlike, other confrontational bands, it felt very violent but unthreatening, less emotional and more natural. At the end, they disappeared as quickly as they came out.
I ended up doing a 4 day mid-west tour with them later that year. Before every set they would sit in a closet, dilapidated stairway or toilet-paper-less bathroom and cover themselves in mud that they had brought from home. They travelled with a big bucket of swampy mud found near Chris' house. The "sticks" were hollowed-out pieces of wood with piano strings that ran inside, from one end to the other. They were hooked up to amps and when bashed made sound. Other antics ensued: toe-sucking, salvia smoking, sleeping on cement floors, life-questioning, burrito eating and puking out of moving cars.
DISCOGRAPHY:
S/T CD-R - Sound of Tempora (2003)
split CS with M Ax Noi Mach - Breaking World Records (2004)
"Waxer Waner" CD-R - Alamagator (2004)
MORE PICS TAKEN WHILE ON TOUR 1104
