He first surfaced in The Rain Parade whose first record, Emergency Third Rail Power Trip, still gets a regular spin in Casa Dunton. He left that band after the first record and shortly thereafter participated in the Paisley Underground happening record Rainy Day.
The next chapter teamed him with Kendra Smith from The Dream Syndicate forming the band Opal.
Their one and only album is a stunner
Opal - Happy Nightmare Baby (SST 1987)
If you can imagine a sound part T.Rex, part Velvet Underground, part Hendrix, part trippy Pink Floyd with a vocal by Nico, this is what you would get.
During a tour to promote this album opening for The Jesus and Mary Chain, Kendra Smith left the band. (Rumor at the time had her living in a cave. This was probably far from the truth, but I like to believe it anyway.) She was replaced by Hope Sandoval and the band was renamed Mazzy Star.
Mazzy Star went on to release a few more albums, but in my opinion, nothing could top Happy Nightmare Baby.
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