Three of the four members of My First Earthquake attended Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh,
but they didn't collaborate musically until they each separately moved to San
Francisco. Rebecca Bortman started out singing in a psych-metal band called Ice
Queen. Chad Thornton was playing the accordion and phasing out of rock. He'd played
in several bands with Keith Murray of We Are Scientists, but since Chad stayed
in SF when they moved to NYC (and on to stardom), he figured he'd had his chance
and lost it. Chad and Rebecca became friends through an acquaintance. After hearing
some tracks of Rebecca singing over electronica beats and hearing about the sheer
ridiculousness of Ice Queen, Chad convinced her to quit the band and start a project
with him. During their first songwriting session, Rebecca experienced her first
earthquake. They liked the sexual / geological double-entendre, and after some
debate (other contenders: Sleep In The Sea, Tufte, Teenage Girlfriend, EXACTO),
the name was deemed destiny.
They found drummer Andre Salcido in an ad on Craigslist. Without a practice
space, they forced him to audition on electronic drumpads in Chad's bedroom.
For a while they rehearsed as a trio. After auditioning a few guitarists, they
remembered their friend Dave Lean. He started playing shows with them, and they
recorded their first EP, Tremors shortly thereafter.
My First Earthquake Band Bios:
• Rebecca Bortman sings and writes My First Earthquake's lyrics. She's
worked with electronica artists such as DJ Amplive, DJ Howlermonkey, The Amazing
Rolo, and Mercury Rev's Anthony Molina. She is a proud Pittsburgher. During
the day, she's a visual designer, so she also handles the art for the band and
is art director for the Disposable Film Festival.
• Chad Thornton plays keyboards and bass. He's played in a number of bands
with We Are Scientists' lead singer Keith Murray. He was designer at Google
for a number of years and designed that chat feature in Gmail.
• Andre Salcido plays drums. He's the oldest member of My First Earthquake,
and grew up in the Bay Area playing in a number of punk and rock bands. Prior
to My First Earthquake, he played in the 'trucker punk' band Crosstops, a lesser-known
but locally notorious group who's played with GWAR, Royal Crown Revue, and toured
Europe. Andre spends his days at an auction house, where he serves as designer,
IT support, and occasional auctioneer.
• Dave Lean primarily plays guitar, but also fills in on bass and keyboards.
He leads his own band, Sir Salvatore, and has remixed a number of My First Earthquake's
songs. He was an engineer at Apple for a number of years — you can thank
him for some of the high-quality materials that make up the iPhone and iPod.
He's also a semi-famous, but totally anonymous music blogger. No, we can't tell
you. Sorry.
Recent My First Earthquake Career Highlights:
• The video for "Fa La Freezing" was selected by YouTube's music
editors for the home page of YouTube over the holidays. It's had over a quarter-million
views. Not bad for a song that was written, recorded, and videotaped in less
than a week.
• Three of their songs from the first My First Earthquake EP Tremors were
on the popular 'Indie / Rock Playlist' torrent over three consecutive months.
• My First Earthquake is only band to appear on the popular tech blog
'Techcrunch' — once as part of PopCuts.com's launch, then as part of Google's
Friend Connect launch. Yes, we're early adopters.
• Playing consecutive months at Bottom of The Hill — one of the
best-known indie rock clubs in SF.
• Courted by seminal 80s LA punk producer Geza X for production and development.
• CD release for Downstairs at Cafe Du Nord, headlining a Saturday night
show.
