Phono-Comb

Emerging as a surf and lounge-infused instrumental rock pseudo-supergroup, Phono-Comb first assembled to accompany Jad Fair of Half Japanese on the 1996 album Monsters, Lullabies...and the Occasional Flying Saucer. Drummer Don Pyle and bassist Reid Diamond, both formerly of Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, had already performed with Fair at the 1993 Toronto Film Festival during his promotion of a Half Japanese documentary. They brought guitarist Dallas Good into the sessions, and once the collaboration ended the three opted to keep the unit intact. Diamond moved to guitar while the Fifth Column’s Beverly Breckenridge joined on the same instrument. Their debut single, The Crass and the Switchblade, paired “Anarchy at the O.K.” with a cover of the Ramones’ “53rd and 3rd,” after which they tracked the full-length Fresh Gasoline alongside Steve Albini. Matching the high-energy character of Pyle and Diamond’s earlier band, the album also contained versions of Brian Eno’s “Here Come the Warm Jets” and the Ramones’ “It’s a Long Way Back.”