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The best kept secret in music

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"Austin Chronicle"

". . . Here [is one of the] reasons Austin is still a better music town than wherever you live . . . Lone Casio-keeper wards off impending robotic invasion with sci-fi disco, but a beguiling backward-looped break steals his eyebeam-shooting heart."
- Christopher Gray


"park slope courier"

"This post-9/11 opus comes at a time when we need heroes like Toof. This new EP from Monkey Boy Records in Austin, Texas blasts playful, yet rocking, tunes that run the gamut from fat sleeping dogs to laser-beam shooting robot co-workers. Don't ask me what it all means, but I like it! ...and yes ladies, he's single!" - kelly saracino


"Live Show Review"

Audience: "Do a solo!"
TooF: "This whole fucking thing is a solo! This whole show is me standing up here drinking a beer."

Toof is a guy who plays bass and keyboards while vocalizing. His back up band is a CD of electronic beats and synth melodies and other stuff that he has written and recorded. I believe this set up is designed to keep from being fucked over by the sequencer. Very wise. I know from experience that just because a sequencer is an inanimate piece of electronic equipment, that does not mean that it will not get drunk at the bar, head over to the green room to get stoned, come on stage and completely fuck up all of the songs. You think I'm kidding but I'm not. Contrary to common assumption, a sequencer is only about two shakes more reliable than your average stoner drummer boy.

Anyway, Toof is awesome. His sound is fairly bizarre. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to describe it without using some kind of comparison to other more widely known artists. Well fuck it. In the interest of saving space I'll make the professional faux pas. He's the bastard child of Les Claypool and like, I don't know, Squarepusher? (I'm sorry I did that man. I'm sure you get comments like that all of the time.)

His lyrics are awesome. Mostly very goofy and at times hilarious. "Fuck the strangers" resonates particularly well with me. Though there is something about his lyrics that I suspect makes girls go "Aw, he needs a hug. Lets go give him a big hug after the show." (To which I suspect he would respond, 'There were girls at the show?')

My only comment from strictly a live performance perspective is this. (Out of respect, I am going to switch to the second person pronoun now, so sit tight and don't get tumped over.) Because of the nature of your setup, the vocals sound really separate from the instrumentation. Kind of like a guy singing along with a CD. I don't know what the answer is. I do know that the vocal mix is discorporeal and definitely an area ripe for the type of sonic creativity that you've applied to the rest of the instrumentation. But make no mistake; I dig your warbling seesaw singing. I'm just talking about getting it to sit in your live mix a little better. These are just my humble opinions. I bow deeply to your fine fine craftiness sir.

"Bumble bees, juicy fruit, tight sweaters, gogo boots."
"Applebee's, Bennigan's, Olive Garden, Italian men."
"Sit Ubu sit. Good dog." - August 2004 Rank and Revue - by Daniel Crandall


"toof Interview with Rank and Revue"

toof drives west into the Austin sunset in his rattling, banana-colored Citroen SM, talking about life�s simple pleasures.
Unfortunately, said pleasures, such as smoking crack with prostitutes and sacrificing puppies to the Dark Lord, are also dangerous and contractually forbidden when he�s working, which is most of the time these days.
�You hear of musicians getting arrested and it shuts down the whole tour,� he says. � I don�t want to go back to that place, period.�
Toof speaks with a Brooklyn-Texas and a soft Svengali deliberateness. His eyes seem more vulnerable than trustworthy, a highly cinematic affect not diminished by sunglasses (bronze Yves Saint Laurents, which he wears off and behind the Citroen�s shattered windows).
His lanky frame, toned recently by what he calls the Nicki Sicki workout, (i.e.; staying up for days playing video games) specializes in the sort of languid, almost feral movements, sliding out of the driver�s seat and prowling into Jeffries like a sensitive sociopath.
We are quickly seated at the toof table where he lights a cigarette (toof is the only person allowed to smoke at Jeffries), slams a drink called an Oatmeal Cookie and crows, �I have arrived!�

R & R: The Big Story: You once said that writers are less and less inclined to take on the big story. What is the Big Story?

toof: Um, actually, I don�t think I ever said that� but I guess the Big Story would be that my new album, �Jennifer Love Handles� will be coming out this spring on Propeller Records. That seems to be a big story in my world. I�m also going on tour in late March for a few weeks.

R & R: That sounds neat. Moving along, please bust a freestyle rhyme about tsunamis.

toof: �Well, my name is trey and I�m here to say
I don�t like tsunamis because they are gay
And not the good kind of gay like the guys who sell X
But the bad kind of truckstop bathroom loitering gay.�
How�s that?

R & R: What struck you most about stardom when you arrived?

toof: My break up with Kate Moss was pretty rough. I didn�t like my name being dragged through the tabloids like that. Also, I was surprised at the amount of fan sites that popped up on the internet. But I have to say, the most striking thing now about stardom is the difficulty I have getting hand jobs at lingerie modeling studios. It used to be a whole lot easier before I was rich.

R & R: Tell us about going to your High School Reunion dressed as a homeless guy...

toof: Oh, you heard about that? Actually, I hadn�t slept in 8 days because I had been on a real nasty speed binge. Also, all my clothes had been soaked in urine because I had been living under this bridge and that�s where I had found them. Despite all that, I decided to go to the reunion because I thought it might be great to see one of my old girlfriends and maybe rekindle that flame. But things didn�t work out really like I expected. She had really changed. Apparently, having a husband means you can�t awkwardly dry-hump an old boyfriend from high school anymore.
R & R: Let�s do some �Either/Or� questions. Number 1: Peter Sellers or John Belushi?

toof: the dead one.

R & R: Will Smith or Johnny Depp?

toof: Will Smith.

R & R: Anna Nicole Smith or Anna Kournikova?

toof: Will Smith.

R & R: Okay, enough of that. Moving on.... Some Hollywood guys will ask their hookers for favors that would make girlfriends flee - name one.

toof: My favorite thing to do with a female hooker is to have her wear a baseball cap and a fake mustache. Then, I like to call her �Woody� and repeatedly ask her if I can have a free beer. That�s pretty hot.
Another activity I like to do is have a prostitute pretend like she books at Emo�s and then I will email her over and over again. But she won�t email me back. That�s also pretty sexy.
The last thing I like to do is what I call �Burning Every Bridge Possible.� That�s where I give her a disposable cell phone, call her up and then scream obscenities at her while referencing all the bad decisions I�ve ever personally made. I usually conclude the phone call with 20 minutes of crying and saying �I�m sorry� over and over again. After I fully release, I call her back as though nothing happened. That�s when she gets her money.

R & R: Have you ever had a hickey?

toof: Actually, I�ve never really even kissed a real girl before. Do you mind typing a sad face when you go to write this article? I think that would really drive the point home.

R & R: When do you feel sexiest?

toof: After I do a bunch of coke with a couple of transvestites and I stab one of them. I don�t what it is about that, but it sure makes me feel sexy.

R & R: Okay then, what's the craziest thing a groupie ever did to get backstage at a toof show?

toof: Oh wow, I�ve seen some pretty crazy things backstage at a toof show� But I guess the wildest thing I�ve ever seen a groupie do is ask me if she could have a cigarette and then she took one of my beers out of the cooler and just walked out. She was pretty good looking, too.

R & R: Wow, that�s not much of a story. So did you hook up with her?

toof: Kinda. Actually, she was with some really tall guy. And actually, she didn�t even really ask me for a cigarette. In fact, she didn�t even really talk to me at all. And technically, it wasn�t even one of my shows.

R & R: Thanks, toof. Wrapping up, who would win in a fight, a chicken or a catfish?

toof: a chicken would peck the shit out of a catfish
R & R: well, toof, you're wrong. i think a catfish would eat the hell out of a chicken.
toof: Well, maybe out on the open seas it would. But here's how you make it a fair fight. You put just enough water in a tank so that the chicken's legs are submersed and so that the catfish can't swim too deep. That way, the chicken could attack from the top and the catfish could attack from the bottom.
R & R: Well, then the chicken would drown trying to peck the catfish to death.
toof: well, then we could tie razorblade to the chicken's feet like they do at cock fights.
R & R: wouldn't that give the chicken too much of an advantage?
toof: okay, then we could strap a shank to the catfish to make it fair again. We could fashion the shank out of a piece of glass and some toilet paper. That would even it up again � wouldn�t it? ....

As toof continued to illustrate the subtleties involved with paring a Chicken and a Catfish, the wait staff at Jeffries performed their closing duties such as rolling silverware into napkins and putting the chairs on top of the tables. Eventually, he and the interviewer were asked to leave and the discussion was never quite finalized.

toof will be on touring the west coast in late March and Early April 2005. His brand new CD, Jennifer Love Handles will be out on Propeller Records in Late Spring�


- Rank and Revue - april 2005


"NOW Toronto - Critic's Pick NXNE - June 2005"

Trey DÂ’AmicoÂ’s mom thinks heÂ’s cool. You will, too. - Tim Perlich


"Austin Chronicle - Recommended SXSW 2004"

A spiritual cousin to Austin's Casio-addicted Pong, Toof comes across like early Beck after staying up all night reading Isaac Asimov. His entirely self-performed 2002 EP Bus Stop Style fires up the drum machine for a journey into a realm where killer starfish mutate into stoner-rock riffs and breakdancing robots shoot lasers from their eyes. - Christopher Gray


"NOW Toronoto - Critic's Pick NXNE - June 2004"

Austin beatmaker/bassist Trey D'Amico (aka toof) distills thoughts on topics ranging from LSD to pretty girls in his unique sci-fi disco... - june 2004


Discography

busstop style: 2002, monkeyboyrecords.org

jennifer love handles: 2005, propellerrecords.com

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

toof's subversive pop songs are typically about boobs, drugs, or the end of the world.

his live shows are marked with his musical dexterity and audience engagement.

toof has completed 2 tours of the US and Canada, and has been accepted to SXSW, NXNE and the Pop Montreal Music Festival.

His latest album, Jennifer Love Handles, can be found on cd baby, the itunes music store, waterloo records in austin, and end of an ear records in austin.

“Multi-instrumentalist and songsmith Trey D’Amico creates charming offbeat pop songs about robots, sleeping dogs, pretty girls and LSD.� - NOW Toronto

“What I like is the budding pyschopath vocals…� - The Big TakeOver Magazine

“…[toof] fires up the drum machine for a journey into a realm where killer starfish mutate into stoner-rock riffs and breakdancing robots shoot lasers from their eyes.� - Austin Chronicle