Mat Hutt, Dave Thomas, Matt Lyons, and Mike Jaimes had been jamming in the Mott Street Studio during the wintery months of early 1992. Somewhere along the line, for some obscure reason lost in the smoke-rings of time, it was decided that the nascent ensemble still required the presence of a lead singer to complete the picture.

The band got a timely tip that one of the door men at Wetlands was someone worth talking to. His lead singer potential was readily apparent: possessing a throaty roar, a mastodon-like physique, the longest mane of hair in all humankind, and one of the most rock-star-sounding names, ever — Anthony Balsley.

Despite being more than a bit dubious about the entire project, to his great credit Anthony joined us, and we quickly set about working up new songs to accommodate his style. Anthony was listening to a harder brand of rock than we’d been playing heretofore, but we quickly fell into the new spirit he brought to the table.

The addition of Anthony gave us the chance to rock, and rock we did. The tracks you are about to hear sometimes reach a furious level of rocking. The band was veering closer toward the sound of, say, Alice In Chains, and who knows how things might have gone had he stayed on.

Oh yeah… Anthony, in his brief reign, gave the band something else of great worth — a name. It was Anthony who dubbed the band Native, and that appellation would stay in place even as he departed in December.

But we wrote some great tunes in the preceding months. Here’s four of them:

1. The Sea
   
2. Blue Room
   
3. Balloo
   
4. Kin
   

Next week: Mat Hutt, Ascendant.