The Silver Apples- Not a product of anything

And now from a product to something that no one had any idea how to sell.

Tonight I'm going to see the Silver Apples in concert at the Empty Bottle. This has been a good year for seeing bands that I never should have had the opportunity to see. I've already written about Roky Erickson. Now I'm going to get to see someone nearly as important.

The Silver Apples were a duo formed in New York in the late 60's. They were comprised of Simeon and Danny Taylor. Taylor played the drums. Simeon played...well...he called it the Simeon. It was a sort of keyboard that he built out of surplus military oscillators tuned to various frequencies. Simeon couldn't read music or play the piano, so he had them hooked up to color-coded telegraph keys and pedals. He made odd 'boops and bleeps' as he called them, while Taylor drummed like a robot.



Before we go on, perhaps you should hear what the very first song on their first album sounds like.

Silver Apples, "Oscillations," mp3

Their first show was at a music festival that the Fugs were also playing at. There were something like 10,000 people there in New York City, ready to listen to some groovy hippie music, and then this band comes on. I can only imagine what people were thinking. I hope at least a few realized that they were hearing an entirely new form of music being played in front of them.

They broke up after recording their third album. They reformed about eight years ago, and then Simeon broke his neck after their bus was run off of the road. Then Danny Taylor passed away.

Somehow Simeon is still playing tonight.

I'm psyched. Their music still sounds like it comes from the future to me.