"Despite the music industry's celebration of all things 'youthful,' there are certain benefits to being older," claims One Good Meteor bassist Gene Sobczak. "After you reach a certain age and find yourself still engaged in the creative process of making music, you develop not only a clear vision of what you hope to accomplish, but also-and perhaps more importantly-what you are no longer willing or interested in doing."

For the original members of One Good Meteor that meant from the outset the abandonment of any notion or ambition of achieving commercial success through the music they were setting out to create with their new group.

"That was an immensely liberating force on the development of One Good Meteor," relates Gene. "Although all of us are fans of popular music — whether that be The Beatles or Beethoven — the music that inspired us most over the years regrettably, yet understandably, was never popular with a large audience. Mingus and Meredith Monk. Lou Reed and Lou Harrison. Orb and Eno. Aphex Twin, Steven Reich and Dead Can Dance.

"Nothing terribly obscure as far as influences are concerned," adds Gene. "But nothing that a record company executive or the record-buying public would get too excited about either."

Key to the construction of the group's early charter was their resistance to be held to conventional duties or expectations. "What that essentially meant was that we didn't want to write songs," continues Gene. "We didn't want to have to rehearse with amplifiers, which would have required finding a suitable rehearsal studio and working around other bands' schedules. Instead, we would gather at each other's homes, plug our instruments into a mixing board and monitor our playing through headphones. At that time, we didn't even want to work with a drummer; instead we programmed our own drum patterns and loops."

Following a year of living abroad in Melbourne, Australia, Gene returned to Los Angeles in 1994 and contacted former bandmate and keyboardist Eric Marin, who expressed "absolutely no interest in playing in a band again," recalls Gene. "Our group, Four Cuts Deep, was based in the rock and roll tradition of Lou Reed, Bob Dylan and U2. Members had certain creative leeway, but essentially we were tied to a very conventional structure. Although I was the principle songwriter in that group, I agreed with Eric and felt that we both would be better suited in a less predictable environment."

Before One Good Meteor made the transition, however, to composing and performing only instrumental music, the group wrote and recorded a couple of songs with former Four Cuts Deep vocalist, Dan Ybanez. "Aside from being a great talent, Dan was one of the few singers whom I had worked with who could improvise like a musician," recalls Gene. "Our few sessions with him bridged the song-oriented tradition of Four Cuts Deep with the more stylistically diverse material that we were beginning to compose with One Good Meteor."
Although the union was brief, One Good Meteor did record a few demos with their vocalist. The song "Sad Sweet Serenade" features lyrics by Dan Ybanez and a musical arrangement that the group had developed over several evenings of improvisation — much like how they would eventually composed all of their material. Sad Sweet Serenade (MP3 excerpt) (01:35)

Guitarist Scott Krakoff, a recent friend and business associate of Gene's, rounded out the original membership of One Good Meteor and, from the start, the three musicians forged a partnership that was not based in or limited to a single musical tradition. Although all three held similar artistic interests and influences, what ultimately bound and defined their unique musical sensibility was a shared background in the visual arts. Band members included a filmmaker (Eric), a graphic designer (Scott) and a writer and photographer (Gene).

"The music we create has a visual orientation that transcends classification," states Gene. The band, indeed, draws from a broad palette of sounds in marking its musical canvases. At times, sounds and textures are used as springboards to greater invention and, at other times, they become the very bedrock of new compositions. "Scott utilizes a Roland GR09 Guitar Synthesizer to transform his rhythm and lead playing into an endless array of new musical characters," states Gene. "Eric, with his electronic keyboards, sequencers, samplers and processors, also brings a wide range of sonic elements into the mix.