1996–1999 – Car Go Zoom
I first met Jim Chefero in 1990 at Maxwell’s Mix, the bar and musicians’ hangout near Yonge and Sheppard in North York, just across the road from where I was living at the time. Maxwell’s held regular jam
sessions that attracted some excellent Toronto musicians.
Jim was singing and playing drums one night when I got up to play bass. We immediately seemed to connect musically, and that chance meeting eventually developed into Car Go Zoom, one of the most productive original-music projects of this period of my life.
Jim and I wrote, arranged and produced our own material, combining conventional instruments with the MIDI sequencing and recording technology I had become increasingly involved with during the 1990s. Rather than simply being a band playing other people's music, Car Go Zoom gave us an opportunity to create something entirely our own.
Our collaboration eventually resulted in two independently produced CDs: Crazy, released in 1996, and Fetish, released in 1999.
Car Go Zoom – Crazy (1996)
Produced by Hylton Reiff & James Chefero
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Chris Perry at Silverbirch Studios, Toronto, Canada.
Additional musicians included Karen McLain – backing vocals, Andy Krehm – guitars, and Chris Perry – guitars.
Crazy was our first completed collection of original material and represented the culmination of a great deal of writing, arranging and recording. The album contained nine tracks and gave us the opportunity to turn the music we had been developing into a professionally recorded release.
Listen to the complete album below.
Car Go Zoom – Fetish (1999)
Produced by Hylton Reiff & James Chefero
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Andy Krehm at Silverbirch Studios, Toronto, Canada.
Additional musician: Andy Krehm – guitars.
Three years later we returned with our second release, Fetish. By then our writing and production had continued to develop, resulting in another collection of original Car Go Zoom material.
Together, Crazy and Fetish document nearly a decade of musical collaboration that began with a chance meeting at a Maxwell’s jam session and ultimately developed into two independently produced recordings.
Listen to Fetish below.
In the Studio
The photographs below were taken at Silverbirch Studios in Toronto in 1996, while we were working with Chris Perry on the instrumental tracks for Crazy. They provide a rare behind-the-scenes record of the recording process and the technology we were using at the time.
