Artist description The BERT SWIZTER 1977-2002 CD is a compilation of my best musical performances with all the musicians and bands I have played with over the last 25 years. My first stage performance was with Henry Kaiser at Harvard University in 1977. That summer we rec orded our first record as Monster Island, which sold 3000 copies in the New York underground. Henry went on to worldwide fame, playing with Herbie Hancock, Richard Thomson, Greg Allman, Jerry Garcia, as well as recording over 15 solo CDs and over 140 CDs with other artists. = = = = After Henry left Boston, I joined The Destroyed, one of Boston's wildest punk bands during the seventies. Hated by the club owners, bouncers, other bands, and even the punk audience, The Destroyed were even banned from the notorious punk rock club, The Rathskeller. The band never rehearsed between performances. Instead, the rehearsal started when we hit the stage. Our big break came when we played to 12,000 people in Portland, Maine with the J. Geils Band. To get there, w e had to escape Boston during the Blizzard of '78 driving ban. We were the only car on the road. At the show, the crowd threw bottles at us. When we refused to leave the stage after our 30-minute limit, they pulled the plug on us. --- Since they could n't pull the plug on my drums, I started playing a wild solo, refusing to leave, until I was surrounded by security. As I left, I threw my drums all over the stage. We played our last show in August 1979 on Commonwealth Avenue for Boston University. At that point, we were so wild, on and off stage, there was no way we could have continued. The last song we played that day was "The End of Time." Joey was ripping his shirt off, screaming at the top of his lungs, "It's the end of time, baby, it's the end of your mind," and every time he did, Tony and I would rip into vicious guitar and drum solos, with Joey following, screaming out anything that came into his head. It was pure punk madness. That was the last show I ever played in public. The Destroyed never recorded professionally and all that remains are some cassette recordings, included on this CD. "In the Room" was a Joe Rainbow solo recording with me, Honor Havick, the bass player for The Destroyed, and my friend Alan Abruzzio on guitar. = = = = During the eighties, I rehearsed alone with the occasional jam. Included is one such jam, recorded on my old boom box in the basement of my Medford Street apartment in 1985, with 13-year-old Somerville guitarist Bobby Powers, in a performance of Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train." In 1993, I quit playing drums. = = = = In December of 2001, I started playing again. In May of 2002, I entered producer Bill T Miller's Headroom Recording Studios. Bill has recorded hundreds of bands and is one of the best. His bands, OBE and Kings of Feedback, have recorded several CDs. At Bill's urging, I recorded the two new tracks on this CD. On the track "Outside Reality," Bill plays guitar and bass. He co-produced both tracks, including "Out of the Straightjacket. Thanks for listening. Get in touch if you need a drummer. ==== Bert Switzer

Location Somerville, MA - USA

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