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Biography
The true story behind Toby Dammit leaves some dizzy-headed, but the fact is this fella has worked his ding-dang butt off. Originally left on an East Tennessee doorstep to wander the wacky world of Appalachian orphanages, he found the trusting care of the most significant Tympani instructor in the American South. Tutored for ten years as a tympanist, he transformed into a symphonic terror in the Southeastern U.S.A. as a teenager. Mere sight of his arrival at regional percussion competitions left many an ambitious stick-whacker grinding their teeth on the trail back home.
However Toby’s duration in the grown-up symphonic world didn’t last. He canceled another year of stuffy attitudes and puffy conductors - turning to teenage punk rock nightlife and local bands. As the Tennessee walls closed in, he realized he’d have to leave, perhaps not to return. By 1986 he’d fled to California to live and work with Greg Ginn, founder of Black Flag and SST Records. His trail led him into the notorious cow-punk band Tex and The Horseheads for a year. He then fatefully met organist Luther Hawkins and together they performed with Paul Roessler of The Screamers. During this period he also made an album with producer Lou Adler (producer of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, Mamas and Papas, and Cheech and Chong). But his life changed dramatically at the age of 22 when Iggy Pop claimed him for his own in 1990.
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