A wizened veteran of a small handful of Boston bands including Bulkhead (Shimmydisc) and Betwixt (Archenemy), singer/songwriter/guitarist Tom Devaney arrived in NYC in 2001 in search of, among many things, a musical direction. Or perhaps, as it turned out, Devaney was hoping a musical direction would find him.
After a three year hiatus from music due to a series of conditions beyond his control, including 9/11, a horrible job which came with a god-awful commute and an unwelcome high level of stress, Devaney began writing short instrumentals on his trusty 4-track recorder in his Queens apartment. In January 2005 he recorded a few of these pieces with ex-Turkish Delight/Betwixt drummer Dave Nelson in Nelson's frigid Providence basement. These rough drafts saw the light when Devaney was summoned by playwrite James Christy to compose and perform live music for Christy's play "No Change" which premiered in NYC in January 2006.
In February 2006, after having slogged through a series of harrowing solo open mic nights, Devaney managed to secure a regular gig at the now deceased CBs 313 Gallery based on the 4-track recordings. The shows at CBs Gallery enabled Devaney to shape and develop the material that would eventually find its way onto the twelve tracks on Vis-�-vis. After a year of performing, Devaney felt the itch to return to a "real" recording studio environment and record a cd. On a whim, Devaney, a long-time Pere Ubu fan, sent a demo to Tony Maimone (ex-Pere Ubu bassist) at his Studio G recording studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (www.studiogbrooklyn.com). As it turned out, Maimone was enthralled with the demo and told Devaney that he wanted to record his record. And the rest, as they say, is history.
