Jason Sidney Sanford Mark William Pearson Daniel Paul Boucher
Past members
Gregory Kenney Douglas Last Darryl Blood Carl Wieting Jessica Rylan Malcolm Felder Adrianne Jorge Adam Scotto Christopher Huggins Joel Hamburger Justin Kaiden John Douglas Manson Mary Staubitz Kenneth Wagner Linnehan Farhad Ebrihimi Kevin Emil Micka Martina Rossi Jesse Gallagher Justin Earl Kipp David Gerhard Utzinger Regina Greene
Neptune is an experimental / industrial noise rock band originally hailing from Boston, Massachusetts. Throughout its 30 year history, the band has largely operated as a collective, not only by employing a rotating membership, but also often collaborating with other musicians and artists both live and on record. They are noted for having built their custom-made instruments out of scrap steel and other found-object and recycled materials. The instruments themselves can be heavy and foreboding "self-made from antiquated machines and scrap metal, forged at extreme angles like props from a German expressionist film."[1] A reviewer once said of the band: "Neptune really do accurately approximate in their music the tragic and violent desolation of the auto graveyards from which they draw their raw materials."[2] While another wrote: "Neptune’s closest comparison could only be themselves."[3]
Band history
Neptune's origins trace to 1994[4] as a sculpture project by Boston artist/musician Jason Sanford, who forged the band's haphazard guitars and reluctant drums from scrap steel and found objects. Over the years the instruments have evolved to incorporate oscillators and other electronic devices as band "have integrated some really smart looking industrial class synthesizer gear"[5] into their noise-making arsenal. Twelve (+) lineups, Thirty-three releases[6] and hundreds of instruments later, the band continues to wrench its sound spatter on self-built instruments to often confounded audiences around the world. As of 2024, the band has played over 700 shows,[7] with a recent US tour in June 2023.[8]
As of 2020, Neptune consists of Sanford along with long-time Neptune collaborators Mark William Pearson and Daniel Paul Boucher.
Personnel
Current members
Jason Sidney Sanford – guitar, baritone guitar, bass, violin, gas can ukulele, electric thumb piano, electronics, foot-controlled synthesizer, bass lamellophone, spring harp, percussion, feedback organ, tupperphone, radios, vocals (1994 - present)
Mark William Pearson – guitar, baritone guitar, 4-string slide, bass, electronics, large electric spring, percussion, amplified drums, tape machine, tape manipulation, push-button telephone, vocals (2002 - 2015, 2020 - present)
Daniel Paul Boucher – drums, amplified metal toms, found object percussion, saw blade xylophone, oscillators, electronics, violin, gas can ukulele, washboard, vocals (2000 - 2010, 2015, 2020 - Present)
Rotating members
Kevin Micka – recording engineer, live sound engineer (1997 - present), drums, guitar, electronics, backing vocals (2006 - 2016)
