ONE MAN BANDS – The Series

    by Mike Baron

            There have always been guys who did it all themselves, sometime in a studio, sometimes in their garage.  However the computer age, and greatly improved and compact recording equipment, have made it much easier for the lone genius to record his own album playing every instrument and singing all the parts.

            Stevie Wonder and Tommy Marolda are among the one-man-band pioneers.  Wonder ignited a thermo-nuclear bomb with his 1972ng-of-age release Music Of My Mind, playing every instrument including drums, save for a handful guest artists, including Jeff Beck.  Tommy Marolda’s The Toms is an even more impressive achievement when you consider that he was working out of a home studio.

            Here is a partial list of one man power pop bands:  Rob Stuart – Broken Promise Keepers, Well Wishers, Josh Fix, Roger Klug, Jason Falkner, Ed James, Greg Pope, The Toms, Andrew Morten, Lamar Holley, Gary Ritchie, Roger Joseph Manning III, Dave Dill, Joe Adragna, Andy Bopp and Stephen Manning, to name a few.

            I have interviewed several of these gentlemen and will eventually interview them all.  What’s it like maintaining inspiration through the tedious process of overdubbing, editing and mastering?

            We begin this series with one of most important pioneers in this realm and an artist known well by most fans of power pop, Tommy Marolda of The Toms.   Click HERE to read about The Toms.