In the Summer of 1997, after years with bands such as Shane's Last Stand; Reverse Polarity; and The Gilmores, Phillip Andrew Friedman went into the studio to record his first solo album, Voltaire and I.  With Kenny Stamey (Falstaff, Rain) on drums and percussion, PAF recorded 17 songs (2  not on the album) that he had written between 1988 and 1997.  PAF played all of the bass, keyboard, and mandolin tracks, as well as sang all the vocal tracks.  He also played all of the guitar tracks except for lead tracks put down by Greg Wikle (Kilroos, Shane's Last Stand, Falstaff).  Recorded and engineered by Jon Best (Falstaff), Voltaire proved to be a learning experience for all in volved.

 

During the Fall of 1999 and Winter of 2000, PAF hooked up with drummer Andy Tyminski to record a second album of original  material.  Unlike Voltaire, the new album was recorded by PAF himself, on a four track recorder, and was made up of new, fresh material written by PAF in 1998-2000.  Once again, with Tyminski on drums, PAF played and sang all of the other tracks.  A friend of PAF's, Karissa Peckham, lent her spoken voice on the dance mix, Try. The songs were released under the Stork Twins title, and also as No Landmarks.

 

Mother Love's Traveling Freak Show, (an in-house nick name for ABC's Monday Night Football) was recorded, mixed, and mastered by PAF in 2002.  Once again, Andy Tyminski played the drum tracks and PAF played and sang the others. All of the songs were written by PAF in 2001 and 2002.

 

The fourth Phillip Andrew Friedman album, SPEAK, which again has PAF teaming with Andy Tyminski, was recorded in three different locations: Athens, GA; West Lafayette, IN; and Virginia Beach, VA.  It contains some of the most inspired PAF material to date.