The Anchovies were driven primarily by Travis and Jon, who wanted an opportunity to perform live, something impossible with studio-dependent IPECAC. Consequently, most of the music focused on keyboard (played by Travis and Luke) and sax (played by Jon, Allen, and Anand). Allen and Anand also took turns on drums, which gave the music a nice live feel.
Those were our main instruments. We also added cornet and mellophone during the Master Anchovies era, and electric guitar during the Dead Anchovies era.
Keyboards
Luke and Travis played the keyboards. We each had an amp. Sometimes we went through a reverb box as well. Usually we recorded the amps with mics, but sometimes we recorded directly into the four track or tape recorder.
The keyboards acted as our bass and chords. Sometimes we'd play melody as well, although that was usually the role of the sax.
Casio CT-310
- also called: Casio, CT-310
- used by: Travis
- note: see UNME - Casio CT-310 for more info
This and the Yamaha PSS-470 were my main keyboards for the Master Anchovies. It had full-sized keys, which made it great for performing live. However, it sounded a little cheap, and by the time I joined the Anchovies, I was already tired of its sounds. I ended up selling it, and switched to the Yamaha PSS-470 as my main Anchovies keyboard.
Yamaha PSS-470
- also called: PSS-470, Yamaha
- used by: Travis
This was originally Anand's little keyboard; I later bought it from him. It had mid-sized keys, which made it hard to play live. However, it was very portable, and had cooler sounds than the Casio CT-310. It also let you define your own drum patterns, which is something I used for Trex but not with the Anchovies (since we had real drums).
I stopped playing this with the Anchovies once I got my Yamaha SY55.
Yamaha DX21
- also called: DX21
- used by: Luke
This was Luke's keyboard. I think he got it for Christmas in 1988 or so. It was a pure synthesizer, with no sequencing capabilities. It sounded great, though. He tended to play bass parts on it which I played chords and melody on whatever keyboard I was using.
Yamaha SY55
- also called: SY55
- used by: Travis
- note: see UNME - Yamaha SY55 for more info
This was my main keyboard for the Dead Anchovies. I bought it in 1990 and used it in Tripecac from 1990 to 1999. I loved using it for the Dead Anchovies since it allowed me to split the keyboard between bass sounds in the left hand and chords and melody on the right. I also used it to sequence rhythms when we didn't have access to a drum set during our practices. We ended up using it as the only instrument in our final song, which was "Super Studs".
Saxes
We had 3 sax players: Jon, Anand, and Allen, and four different types of sax: alto, tenor, bari, and soprano. They usually played the melody for the song, which is how Jon and I handled it in IPECAC. I don't remember if we ever miced the saxes; we may have.
alto saxophone
- also called: alto sax, alto
- used by: Jon, Allen, Anand
All three sax players played alto; it was our main sax instrument. Jon played it in the school band, and I think Anand did too. I'm not sure if Allen had his own alto; he might have been borrowing Anand's when he played with us.
tenor saxophone
- also called: tenor sax, tenor
- used by: Jon
Jon got a tenor sax in 1989. I think he may have been listening to lots of John Coltrane as the time. I'm not sure which songs he used it on.
baritone saxophone
- also called: bari sax, bari
- used by: Allen
Allen played bari sax in the school band. He played it on some of the Anchovies songs. I liked it because it sounded funky.
soprano saxophone
- also called: soprano sax, soprano
- used by: Jon
Jon got a soprano sax in 1989 or so. This was back when Kenny G was popular. I always felt it was a "wimpy" instrument, although Jon might disagree. I did, however, like the way it sounded on IPECAC's Live at Carnegie Hall album.
Percussion
The third big component to the Anchovies was percussion. It was exciting to have access to real live drums! It sure beat the pots and pans of early IPECAC. Unfortunately, as the years rolled by, access to drum kits got more difficult, so we had to switch to drum machines. This cheapened our sound, which diminished our enthusiasm for the Anchovies.
drums
- also called: drum set, drum kit, drum
- used by: Anand, Allen
Anand and Allen both played drums and had their own drum kits. If I remember correctly, Anand's kit was slightly more elaborate than Allen's. They let me bang around on them a few times, although not for recordings (unless you count the instrument-swapping on Stand Up Anchovies). To me, the drums were the coolest-sounding instrument, and the main attraction of the Anchovies.
I think Anand sold his kit in the early days of college, so the Dead Anchovies used Allen's. When Allen's kit was unavailable, we used either a drum machine or my Yamaha SY55 for fake drums. The lack of drums eventually killed my enthusiasm for the Dead Anchovies. The final straw was "Super Studs", which was completely dependent on the Yamaha SY55 for drums and other music, and was heavily overdubbed, so can barely be considered "live".
anand's drum machine
- used by: Anand
Anand had a drum machine that he used in Master Practice 3. It had 4 large round pads which he hit with sticks. I thought it sounded cheesy, but it made his parents happy since it was quieter than the drums.
Roland TR-505
- also called: TR-505, drum machine
- used by: Travis
- note: see UNME - Roland TR-505 for more info
I had a programmable drum machine which I also used in Tripecac. I used it for a few songs in the Dead Anchovies when we didn't have real drums.
Horns
Travis played horn for school, and used to play it with the Anchovies as well. Quite horribly, if I might add.
cornet
- also called: trumpet
- used by: Travis
My dad had an old cornet from decades ago, probably back in his school days. He let me borrow it for school, and I later used it in the Anchovies (and my other bands). It was heavily featured on "All Blues". As you can tell, I was terrible.
mellophone
- used by: Travis
I played mellophone in the school's marching band. Basically, it's a cross between a french horn and a flugel horn. I used it in the Anchovies as well, though I don't remember which songs. It's hard for me to hear the difference between it and the cornet.
Guitars
electric guitar
- used by: Luke
Luke and his sister each had electric guitars, which I thought were so cool. One day Luke brought his electric guitar to a Dead Anchovies practice. It's too bad that the songs were so profane, because the guitar sound was great!
Voices
vocals
- also called: vox, singing, rapping
- used by: Travis, Anand, Allen, Jon, Luke
We were all horrible at singing! So we kinda rapped and chanted instead. We usually didn't have any effects on our vocals, except sometimes I think we fiddled with reverb.
talking
- also called: talk, chatter
- used by: Travis, Anand, Allen, Jon, Luke
We often chatted between (and during) takes, and I've kept almost all of it. The Party also has lots of audience noise.