After I graduated from the University of Missouri in August 2001, I knew I wanted to form a band to play psychedelic rock music. My good friend, Jeremy Freeze, who had been playing in bands and recording music since he was a young and wild child, moved to Columbia and we formed the duo Rocket Drone. We played a handful of shows and took over a couple hours of airtime on KCOU 88.1fm and piqued the interest of several likeminded goons in town. Dan Browning, Keith Wood, and Gabriel Wallace all followed the same lysergic muse that inspired Jeremy and I and we started practicing together as a group. When I announced my plan to start a solo project called I HAD A PYSCHOTIC REACTION TO LSD, it was decided that we should use that name for this new group, instead, which was convenient because I could never pull off any band by myself.
We exclusively gigged in Columbia, MO, not by choice but by limitation. We had no tour vehicle. Luckily, there were many opportunities to set up local shows with some of the best psychedelic rock bands in the USA at the time (Oneida, Kinski, Oakley Hall, Comets on Fire, and more). We spent a lot of time jamming in the basement, interspersed with frequent trips to pawn shops and thrift stores around Mid-Missouri in our endless quest for functioning equipment. We were once called “the most pretentious band in Columbia,” an honor we happily accepted.
The jam contained within this Dismal Niche/Hitt Records cassette release was a spontaneous birthday celebration for our friend, Chris Mathis, which is touched with just a little bit more magic than our typical improvised bashing, in my opinion. It was originally released in a CDR format by Digitalis Industries, who also released the earliest recordings from Keith Wood’s HUSH ARBORS project. The name FAMILY LSD was something we came up with to describe jams and meditations that featured members of LSD and our extended family and friends. I am consistently amazed and humbled when I think about the creativity and talent of the people I was lucky enough to collaborate with during the heady days of the early 00s. This release is dedicated to ALL OF THEM.
–Sean “Trip Maker” Witzman October 2015
A collection of tracks from the singer and multi-disciplinary artist's 111 collaboration series, featuring KMRU, Laraaji, and others. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 25, 2024