Perfect Trainwreck

This band started up as organically as possible. It is hard to calculate the exact time of conception, but one might say it was the night Jeff Berlin was called upon to sit in on a New Years' Eve gig at a local Vermont roadhouse. Bow and Jeremy go back to the days of Elbow and the bluegrass ensemble Jethro in the mid-90s along with Steve Mayone who also co-founded the twisted, old-timey sounding Benders.

In the wake of many incestuous bands and off-the-cuff line-ups, it basically came down to who was willing to swim upstream (I-93 to I-89) and play long gigs for short money. For a while it was just the Bow Thayer band and everybody in Somerville, MA was in it.

But alas, it was that 3-hour drive that filtered the line-up as it stands today. Jeff and his wife succumbed to the magical allure and raw beauty of central Vermont and moved into an old farmhouse in Banard, just a 10-minute drive from Bow's house, Quite a feat considering everything in Vermont is at least an hour away. Steve settled even further into the urban frontier of Somerville and Jeremy headed north from Rhode Island and made it as far as Uxbridge, Massachusetts.

So it is safe to say rehearsal is difficult or even non-existent, which is where the name "Perfect Trainwreck" comes into play. If you have ever been in a band—and it seems like everyone is these days—then the term "trainwreck" usually implies that a disastrous mistake has occurred due to the performers being unrehearsed.

Well, with these boys that shit just don't matter because there is a common musical language being spoken here that only comes with experience and grueling hours practicing the lack of discipline. So if you're at a show and hear something that doesn't sound like it does on one of the records—that's OK with us, in fact it's perfect.

Bow Thayer

vocals, guitar, banjo, ukelele

Singer, songwriter, playing a variety of stringed instruments. Cursed with the notion that he should be playing music to possibly benefit a failing society. Life philosophy: live, love, learn, and leave a good soundtrack.

Jeremy Curtis

electric bass, upright bass, vocals www.myspace.com/mosescurtis

Jeremy and Bow have been playing together on and off since 1995 in such incarnations as Elbow and Jethro. In that time he has played bass on countless gigs and sessions within the incestuous Boston/Cambridge scene along with Steve Mayone and Jeff Berlin. He has also toured incessantly with Pop Artist Howie Day and Avant rockers Twinemen and helped co-write the last Twinemen record “Twinetime”. In addition to playing bass for other people, Jeremy has penned quite a few songs with his rock band Sticky and released a self-titled solo album on HI-N-DRY records. He is happy to be playing bass full time with his favorite musicians/people and making a go at the music he has been close to for a long time. After renovating a 250-year old home in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, Jeremy and his wife Katherine are settling in to a life in the sticks and looking forward to good things.

Jeff Berlin

drums, percussion

Steve Mayone

guitar, mandolin, vocals www.stevemayone.com

Steve mayone sings and plays guitar, mandolin, lap steel and piano in Perfect Trainwreck. He met Bow in 1997 when he sat in with his nascent “newgrass” band, Jethro. (which also featured Jeremy Moses Curtis). He later was a co-founding member of The Benders. Steve has released 3 CDs of his own songs, all of which feature Bow on banjo and vocals. Steve's real name is Shortdawg.