Friends living in San Diego started playing music together in 2004. As the years went on, some friends bowed out or moved on, but still music was made by those left and willing. These are the ad-hoc groups that formed (and are still forming!), and some of the magic that was captured.
A more pronounced revival of Rusty Mic with added firepower, [Man Cave Jam](i.e. we could never decide on a name) is a drummer, his bassist brother, their tried-and-true axeman, and a variable mix of an additional, singing guitarist, and a keyboardist who sings and plays tambourine and harmonica.
Finally, more solid ideas for songs start to coalesce, and lyrics come into the mix after much vocal silence in earlier incarnations. Jamming that meanders all around still persists, but actual songs are much more easily attempted now.
What happens when a very talented percussionist gets behind his skins and plays off an experimental rock-blues guitarist's wildest whims? Inertia. Musical inertia that sometimes seemingly goes on forever. Riffs and beats are exchanged back and forth and synergy just kind of...happens. No words. Just an organic sound that's never quite predictable.
Take the often unwieldiness of Rusty Mic and ground it with some pop rock sensibilities and you get what can only be considered a unique garage band trio. Endless jams around one riff become more elegant and structured as purposeful songcraft is now possible.
The original grab bag of off-the-cuff recordings. Joining the garage band trio of Joe, Mike, and Russ is friend of Joe's, Brian. His guitarring skills are definitely up to par, and so a bit more string complexity was found during jam sessions. Sometimes it was just Joe and Mike, and even sometimes it was just Mike. Regardless, this is where the cooperative musical collaborations were first born.