The Suspects from Houston, TX

This is the ska band I was in back in Houston from 1994-1998. I personally appear on Ninety-Nine Paid (1995), How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Ska (1997), and Panic Button (2000). I think Panic Button was actually released before then because, as I stated above, I left the band in 1998 so that I could go to grad school at IU. Panic Button was out by that time. I contributed to some of the composition for Lost Along the Way (2000), and I performed some of those songs live, but I did not play on the recording of that album.

https://thesuspects.bandcamp.com/

On Ninety-Nine Paid: Some of the songs already were fully developed when I joined the band, and others were not. In some cases, I helped to develop the harmonies for three horns on existing songs with existing horn lines (The Nod, The Bad One, Right On Time, Caffeine, Freedom, The Dance, The Dub). Andy Hocker (alto sax) had already been in the band for 1 year. Chuy Terrazas (tenor sax) and I joined around the same time, and that’s when we worked out some harmonies. In other cases, I contributed to composing the horn lines (Charlie’s Creepy Song – I composed the horn line in the recording studio and wrote it down on a taco bell bag; Another Day Another Dollar). I also started to develop my own ability to compose from concept to full song (Sizzle).

On How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Ska: I wrote Chutney Song and Nut’n. I guess the other most significant thing I worked out was the melodic structure to Pancho Villa, which came in as a bass line jam from Charlie. I like my work on the horn lines on the bridge for Goodbye Brown Eyes.

On Panic Button: To my recollection, this EP was very collaborative between me and Chuy to create these horn lines. I feel proudest of the work on El Campo Slugger, which is extra weird because it is in the key of B natural. I guess this is not any composition credit, but I felt good about working out the horn lines on Metallica’s Seek and Destroy from the guitar line. This cover song was recorded and published on Panic Button but is not offered by streaming, presumably because we didn’t have a license to do so.