I first became acquainted with The Art Gray Noizz Quintet through the infamous Johnny Scuotto, a bandmate of mine in One Prayer One Sin. He was playing a scrap metal school desk in the band which I had salvaged from a trash heap in Brooklyn, mounted a variety of springs and metal tynes, and miked up with Cryptic Carousel’s contact microphones. The group was loud, obnoxious, and abrasive with Ryan “Skeleton Boy” on bass, “Bloody” Rich Hutchins on drums, Andrea Sicco on electric guitar, and front figure Stuart Gray, aka Stu Spasm. The first show I saw AGNQ play, Johnny had to go to the hospital after rupturing his ear drum during the set. That was 2015. Around that same time period Johnny had also recruited Rich Hutchins to play percussion in One Prayer One Sin.
I didn’t join The Art Gray Noizz Quintet until the summer of 2016 after I had left One Prayer One Sin. It was around that time AGNQ was booked to do a show at Kung-fu Necktie in Philadelphia when they realized that no one in the band had a valid driver’s license, nor did they own a van. I had been to many of their New York City shows at that point and knew the guys pretty well. So, I promptly offered to drive the band if they could get ahold of a vehicle.
They borrowed a van from The Electric Mess, we loaded up and I drove them – tossing my trombone in the back just in case. That night I joined AGNQ on stage for a rendition of a Lubricated Goat classic called “In the Raw” and after that I continued to play with them at every show.
Soon after we added Nikki Agostino on the tenor saxophone and the final line-up was set.
Yes, we were six members in the quintet, but who was counting anyhow?
Currently, I have relocated to Stockholm, Sweden so even though I’m still a member of the band I do not currently tour or play with them. Andrea Sicco has left the band as well and Grace Berger has now joined on electric guitar. The quintet is currently active as a five-piece in New York City. artgraynoizzquintet.com