Fly Ashtray

Fly ashtray was formed in 1983 in the Bronx (New York City) by Chris Thomas, James Kavoussi, Eric Thomas, John Beekman and Mike Anzalone. See the discography for nitpicky details about recordings. At some point, Eric Thomas and Mike Anzalone left the band which put John Beekman from lead vocalist to bassist/guitarist and then James Kavoussi switched from keyboard to guitar. Oh, and the mighty Glen Luttman came aboard on drums. Here might be a good time to mention Spoog, the side project that resulted from impromptu gigs when one or another member of FA was out of town. Also should mention that Mike Anzalone and James Kavoussi also played in Uncle Wiggly with Wm Berger, although chances are if you've gotten this far you know that. And if you know that you also know that James also makes records as pHoaming Edison. Enough digressions. The line-up of Thomas/Kavoussi/Beekman/Luttman was stable for a good long stretch until Beekman's duties were taken over in 1998 by yours truly, Dave Abel, aka laziest webmaster ever.

In 2003, Glenn Luttman requested a leave of absence from Fly Ashtray, and in the same year Eric Marc Cohen took over drum duties. Filling the shoes of the mighty Luttman is no easy task, so if you see Eric and he looks tired, it is because he stays up to all hours of the night thinking about Fly Ashtray's intricate time signatures and rolly-polly beats.

The band released two records on Shimmy Disc and have revealing but hardly unique stories about working with Kramer.

The band's 10-inch record on Hemiola, Let's have some crate, is really excellent and hard-to find, but we can get you one if you contact us.

FA's old home is Dark Beloved Cloud and we found it to be a snuggly, warm kind of place. Thus far, we have two releases on DBC but we are looking for a label to release our new masterpiece.

What distinguishes FA from other bands is their tenacity and their unbelievably silly song titles.

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