JOONBUG – a.k.a. James Maloney (GUITAR) was the guitarist for Sonic Vimana (the pre-cursor to Naughty Fingers, along with Marcus), and has done session work with J. Boogie’s Dubtronic Science, Afro-Mystik and Michael Tello for Om Records, and released a solo track – “Auto Focus” (with DJF) on Revive the Soul Records’ Destination Lounge: San Francisco, as well as playing in a wide variety of Bay Area bands and projects for the past 15 years.
ELAINE – a.k.a. David Alt (SAX/CLARINET/TRUMPET) studied clarinet and composition at the Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, and with Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and Orchestra Musicians. David leads the trio Alt Tal (Original Jazz Combustion), plays with the superfunk megaband Action Jackson, was music director for Killing My Lobster‘s production KML Holds the Mayo, and produces original material at Flaming Hakama studios ranging from chamber Jazz, Latin Jazz and North Indian folk music with Devendra Sharma.
MARCUS HOGLE (BASS) cut his musical teeth in Arizona before making his way out to California, where he has been playing guitar and bass in jazz and rock bands, as well as studying flamenco guitar. Marcus is the primary song writer in the band, and also plays bass for Stiletto Ghetto.
HAKAN GUVEN (DRUMS/PERCUSSION) spent his youth learning from and collaborating with world-class musicians in Turkey and Australia before arriving in the Bay Area in 2001. He has since studied composition with great musician and teacher Rebeca Santana Mauleon and has worked and recorded with many local talents.
FLAGG – a.k.a. Randy Meuse (VOCALS) spewed forth his first fits of musical expression by singing and playing guitar for a 3-piece punk band called “Quadriplegic High Jump”, then graduated to front man/unreliable narrator for an Athol, MA-based 6-piece prog-punk band called “The Turkeys”. In 2011, he moved to the Bay Area and found employment as a mental health case worker before finding Naughty Fingers via Craig’s List. He maintains a solo project called “Drown Your Babies Elsewhere” for punk/electronic experimentation.
NAUGHTY HISTORY
Howdy Knuckleheads! Joonbug here…the following is an attempt at a Brief History of Naughty Fingers – told from my point of view. Here’s version 1.0: In October 2005, I answered a Craig’s List ad looking for a guitarist in San Francisco. When I arrived, I was greeted by Marcus Hogle (bass) and Matt Ricchetti (drums) – they played some music from their former project, “Trouser” for me, which quickly made their jazz roots evident – we tried out a few tunes together, and all agreed that we had something worth pursuing. I soon learned that while Marcus enjoys playing bass, his roots are based in flamenco guitar, and that this opened his music to some very interesting possibilities. I did my best to keep up and have something to contribute, but Marcus is a musical juggernaut…over the years, I’ve learned that the best you can really hope to do is hold on tight, grit your teeth, and practice – A LOT!!! This trio was eventually dubbed Sonic Vimana, and we worked hard over the following couple of years learning and embellishing upon the complex material Marcus was bringing to the rehearsal space. We played our last show together on May 24, 2007 at Grant and Green…the demands of a working band were taking their toll on Matt’s life, and he decided to part ways – we all remain friends.
Just before Matt’s departure, Lord Huckleberry (a well-known San Francisco event-planner and public figure) was perusing myspace, found Sonic Vimana, and loved our sound. He let us know that he would be bringing his roommate, Elaine (an accomplished sax, clarinet, and trumpet player) to our show at Grant and Green, which he did – this meeting led to Elaine rehearsing with us a few times – just before we disbanded….but Marcus thought of Hakan as a possible drummer almost immediately, and late in 2007. we all began rehearsing and recording together, which elicited the mp3s currently available on this site.
One day while Marcus was showing me the marionettes he had made, he introduced me to one named Mr. Knotty Fingers (so named because of his permanently interlaced fingers and sneaky grin)…I misheard Marcus, and thought he had said “Mr. Naughty Fingers”…so I suggested it as a band name. He thought the “Mr.” made it sound too much like “Mr. Bungle” (one of our top influences), so we agreed to drop the formality, and the band name was decided once we ran it by Elaine and Hakan.
About a year later – in the summer of 2008, due to circumstances which were largely beyond my control, I had to move to South Carolina. When I did, guitarist and friend of the band Jim Rivera stepped in to play 3 shows with Naughty Fingers in 2009 before discovering that he had to leave the country for work, which (unintentionally) left the band in limbo for a brief period.
It was January 2010 when my band in South Carolina, MALMUK released our 4 song EP. I let them know that I would be returning to San Francisco shortly before that recording session. That band was about good friends having a great time playing music – we’re far apart, but remain close.
After returning to the Bay Area, getting married, and finding work, I set myself to the task of contacting everyone, with intent to rekindle some musical mayhem. As one would imagine, there were apologies to be made, hurdles to be jumped, and immovable objects which required some irresistible forcing…but NAUGHTY FINGERS is rehearsing, recording, and playing shows in San Francisco again.
7/7/2011 – ADDENDUM – we auditioned Randy “FLAGG” Meuse for the vocalist spot last night, and all agreed that he is the ideal voice for this band…we offered him the gig, and he has accepted. We look forward to working with him and sharing our collaborations with you in the very near future!