Steve Honoshowsky, a New Jersey native, crazed musical genius, and percussion pioneer, has never stuck to the confines of "traditional percussion/composition". All this shows in his most recent group, No Use For Humans, a group that consists of three people, but unless you are watching them live, you'd think you were listening to a nine-piece band. From a very early age, Steve has been a forward thinker, while most of us were rocking out to Poison, Steve would be in his room, first thing in the morning, practicing his rudiment while listening to a huge variety of music, old and new that generally doesn't seem to interest younger kids. Steve has pulled influence from everything from: jazz legends like Miles Davis, metal bands like Slayer, funk like ChakaKahn, R&B, pop, and progressive like King Crimson. With such profound influences, his open mindedness, all the years of practice on his little dinky drum pad, and all the experience playing in various groups of various styles Steve has become one of the most versatile, precise, and creative drummers around. -Steve Dans
Sean Wegeler - Keyboards, samples
Pianist extraordinaire, Sean Wegeler was born in a small village outside Turkey. He was born mute and his biological parents left him on the doorstep of a man named La Francis, who lived in a shack and was exiled from the village. La Francis was exiled for being a Rastafarian. It was here that Sean gained his obssesion with Reggae music from the first time he heard it at age three. As Sean got older, he started heading down the dark path of hustling, robbing, and running away after pulling fire alarms. Eventually, he was sent to a Turkish prison, where he made several friends and was first introduced to the piano. Soon, he became synonymous with the piano and started performing at the prison. After finishing his sentence, he went to the United States to meet Steve Honoshowsky, Sean's penpal from his incarceration. He learned to say some words in English, and thus their musical collaboration was born. The rest is history. This is all true.
Alicia Testa - Keyboards, flute, vocals
Alicia Testa began studying classical piano at age four. At the age of 13 she began playing flute and guitar, and started writing her own music. When she became bored of solo ideas, she began experimenting with other musicians. During the N.J. ska and punk scene that raged during the mid late 90's, Alicia joined a ska band based out of Middletown, NJ, called Left Foot First. The band only stayed together for a year, until it's musicians took interest in other things.
During her second year in high school, Alicia fled the ska scene and began picking up solo writing again. She joined a jamband based out of Freehold, NJ, and itroduced some of her songs to the act. The band eventually began to fall apart due to a general lack of motivation, and Alicia began focusing on teaching piano in Middletown, NJ.
Group endeavors managed to find her even at work, and she began playing with other teachers in the back room of the store. This band eventually became her first backup band for solo song writing, and they appear on her first demo, "Storybox", recorded in the spring of 2002. The demo features three songs written on guitar, three on piano, two with the entire "music store" band, and one, seemingly out of place, electronic song.
In the fall on 2002, Alicia attended Ithaca College in New York State to study music education. During this year she attended many festivals, made a habit of drum circles, and met a diverse group of musicians both in and outside of the music school. After two unsuccessful semesters as a music student, and a year in the midst of the jamband hippy culture of New York State, Alicia left Ithaca and transfered to Rutgers University.
In the fall of 2003, Alicia reaquainted with an old friend from Ithaca. Together, with two other friends, they formed the Accidents. This 4-piece punk/indie rock band based out of Highland Park, NJ played local gigs and recorded two demos. Though the band began to show moderate success, Alicia became bored of the sound, and eventually felt unchallenged, uninterested, and unmotivated.
During one gig with the Accidents at the Brighton Bar, Alicia was stunned by the opening act. Two guys, tons of wires and equipment, complex rhythmic patterns and melodic experimentation...it was unbelievable. It was new. It was exciting. And she wanted to be part of it.
The Accidents performed after this opening act, No Use For Humans, and before Alicia even got a chance to approach the members, they approached her with a proposition to add vocals to some of their existing songs. In the spring of 2005 she did, and later began adding vocal effects and other instrumentation to the mix. The music became an eccentric, conglomerative attempt. And it worked.