It’s time for another installment of “My First Time,” an interview series that asks some of my favorite bands to recall some of their musical firsts. This time we’re joined by the eclectic band Au, who were kind enough to answer some questions. Their record Verbs is currently available everywhere fine records are to be bought.

MP3: Au – RR vs D

My First Time …with Au

First record you bought
Michael Jackson’s Thriller. The spread on the inside of that record is still solidly implanted in my memory. Also was the first time I both adored and was seriously frightened by the same person after seeing the Thriller video on TV. I also owe my first dance moves to this man.

First record that changed your life
John Coltrane’s The Major Works of John Coltrane (specifically Kulu Se Mama). I remember sitting with my best friend in high school listening to this in his bedroom and grinning, grimacing, and all together overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of what was coming out of his speakers. A sort of exercise in expansion, or at least a calisthenics of attention.

First concert that blew you away
When I was 17 I wandered down to Northampton, MA to go to a Robert Fripp show at the Iron Horse. At that time King Crimson was one of my favorite bands and I used to fall asleep to a few of Fripp’s solo records. I just remember walking in to the venue and seeing his space ship style setup he had on the stage. First time really experiencing such technologically extended music. What sealed my sense of wonder and solidified the myth of the man was meeting him briefly while waiting to go to the bathroom. Nothing glamorous, just an incredibly kind man asking if he could cut the line as he was about to play. Somehow stepping into the same bathroom seconds after he had emptied his bowels struck me as relevant prior to seeing him play this music that at the time seemed impossible from a guitar. Lord only knows why that stuck with me, but I remember walking out of there in quite the daze.

First time playing live
I took piano lessons at a very early age so at some point after 4 or 5 I gave my first piano recital. Though my first official live show with a band was in high school. It was out in the woods of New Hampshire and the stage was my friends parents back porch overlooking a very beautiful sloping yard. I specifically remember one of my friends in the audience asking for the Charlie Brown song, one of the left over gems from my piano lesson days. Plus thinking I had no idea what the fuck I was doing.

First tour (horror stories, unexpectedly great shows, etc)
I guess my first official tour was in 2002. I was playing in this band called the Wherewithals back at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. I was only two years into my schooling but the rest of the band was graduating and wanted to move west. I left school and hit the road with them that summer to wander the states for about 2 months and scope out a good place to live on the West Coast. Shows were booked along the way and primarily composed of impromptu house shows and whatnot. To kick off the trip we all shaved our heads- simply to keep things simple and as a sort of silly ceremony to initiate our travels. We quickly realized the error of our appearance as most people thought we were a traveling band of Krishna’s. This culminated itself in a gorgeous day in Seattle when I was attacked by a raving lunatic who his own language of hatred, saying it was his task to rid the world of _______ (insert jargon here)- meaning me, or what he assumed me to be. I walked away unscathed by remembering some of the karate I had learned when I was younger. We quickly left Seattle and headed down to Portland, which quickly became my new home.

First instrument you learned and/or first piece of equipment you loved
The first instrument I fell in love with was the accordion my mother gave me in high school. It was purchased from a friend who played it in a Vermont middle school back in the 60′s. Seemingly what is now the standard of recorders was once accordions. When I first got it it had LUCILLE written on it in plastic lettering. A few months of playing and the ILLE had fallen off leaving only LUC. This officially sealed the partnership as a match made in heaven.

I was also super into being able to play standing up as I had always been stuck behind a piano on a bench. Eventually after a few years of playing it I went to have it serviced. The guy who was checking it out told me it was basically a toy accordion worth nothing, with a tone that was quite horrible to his trained ear- thoroughly hurting my feeling in the process. I’ve since bought and sold several different accordions, but will always hold onto this one.

First band you were a part of
I moved from Ohio to New Hampshire at 15 and after a few months of sitting by myself at lunch a stranger approached me and asked if I’d like to come play keys in his band. At the time I had no idea how he knew I played piano (most likely a guidance counselor told him). From there I began learning how to play music without sheet music and joined my first band, called Thee Whelkgnomes- which was pretty much a Grateful Dead cover band that liked to dip as far as possible into the psychedelic world as our young little minds could manage. Met my best friends in that band and learned the ways of improvisation along the way.

First awesome thing that happened solely because you were in a band
Most certainly quiting my day job to go on tour. Not sure if this is what you were looking for but by far the greatest thing about being in a band is finding it at certain points to be your job.

First musical obsession (band, song, singer, genre or otherwise)
Once again Michael Jackson. My mom used to be an aerobics instructor and was still leading classes while pregnant with me. I spent the first few years of my life in the day care at her studio and was thus fully immersed in late 70′s/early 80′s dance music. Michael’s music always grabbed me the most and I think the combination of his age and popularity had me thinking I could attain the same in a few years if I really went for it. I also remember the first time I was able to do his dance move where you spin around and then go up on the tips of your toes- a damn fine feeling for sure.

Au on Myspace