Origins of a Reality & the Bay Area's Lack of a Scene

The process of rebuilding a band can be a long and painful journey. This group in particular began life in 2003 as a Detroit garage rock outfit in the same vain as The Stooges, and The White Stripes, with a bit of MC5. But then got smart and started making real music. Much love and respect to the bands mentioned above but the time had come for change. After several trips to filthy Los Angeles and many flirtations with filthy major record labels, things seemed to fall apart at the seams. With a huge following in Michigan and a now homeless lead singer who was being compared to Arthur Lee and Iggy Pop and a group of misfits with more talent in their left pinky toes than most people's perception of Jesus Christ things had to be going well right?

An opportunity came to record new material (after a previous evil session championed by the always classy Jim Diamond and his odd lawyer gave birth to a record that was at the time of its creation very with-the-times, maybe too much with the times) for a compilation record celebrating the exploits of everyone's favorite harlot Madonna. The song (a cover of Holiday) went well, it was critically lauded but......didn't make it on to the hard copy version of the album that would be titled Through the Wilderness : a tribute to Madonna. Instead it became an iTunes only download for the iTunes version of the album. This was also released as a digital only B-side to another song. These two new recordings were actually all done by one man and that would be the world weary singer/songwriter known as Marlon Hauser. Unfortunately circumstances did not allow the other members to participate in this new recording opportunity as time and money were huge factors.

This would also lead to a much ballyhooed performance at the famed Los Angeles venue known as Spaceland where a very short Spacemen3-esque set was performed by a makeshift Siddhartha featuring only two original members. This would be the fourth time Siddhartha would make a critical California appearance before imploding in 2007 and then rebuilding as a solo project for Marlon Hauser.

After what seemed like a year away from any significant activity, one in which Marlon would deal with blindness issues among other things, he would regain his sight and a few demos would emerge and eventually in 2009 an EP titled Where the Wild Things Grow. This five track EP included three new songs that were recorded in a public restroom in San Francisco while featuring the previously released tracks that appear on the iTunes only EP titled The Birth Book.What would occur next was a rebuilding process so slow and painful Mr. Hauser had to truly reconsider becoming a prolific artist and decide if that was better than living life in a more conventional way, and dying unhappy and unfulfilled. The midwest was calling...As it stands now, Siddhartha is the missing link between current Los Angeles psych/shoegazers and San Francisco's new wave of psych/shoegazers. There is not much of a scene as of 2009 in the Bay Area but there are many newer groups emerging and doing positive things. Stay tuned because Siddhartha is coming.......