BIO

COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE TWILIGHT GARDEN:

DETAIL FROM THE OLD DAYS (1987?-2007):
 
I began writing lyrics when I was a kid – maybe 13 or 14 (probably 1987 or so). My best friend at the time had written some lyrics, and that inspired me to try writing myself. My first efforts sucked, but I had heard some bands I loved a lot, and I was inspired by them... OMD, New Order, Simple Minds, When in Rome, A-ha, Depeche Mode, etc. Anyway, I kept writing and filled many many pages over many of my teen years with terrible poetry... but I learned a lot during that time about writing and rhyming and rhythm and images and how to make it all work.
 
I also began writing music around that time by myself on my synthesizer... I used to make huge numbers of demos that were unfinished. I never finished them because they never sounded good enough to me. I literally had like 40 disks with 20 demos each at one point (saved on 1.44mb floppy disks for my Korg 01/W FD keyboard) - a GIGANTIC amount of raw material... even though few of them will ever see the light of day, it was during this process that I really learned to hear music and I learned how to write and arrange. Some of the latest demos were "near" complete, and so I put some of those on a little compilation CD I put together called "Project Nostalgia". It was a collection of a few of my favorites from this early period. It wasn't much to speak of, but the the music was all written maybe 1990-1992 I'm guessing? The CD was assembled in maybe 2001? Some Project Nostalgia CDs are probably knocking around here somewhere, but very few were ever printed... maybe some day I'll share some of the tracks. A little later after this early synthesizer period, I started getting really into The Cure, and a friend of mine taught me my first guitar chord. Once I learned, I was hooked and I started learning as many chords as possible so that I could play the songs I loved so much. After these formative years, eventually I decided to have a go at being in a real band for once... I don’t remember how old I was for my first official "band" - maybe like 18? I know I wasn't old enough to play the bars back then, but somehow, the guys always managed to sneak me in a back door or something - somehow they'd get me in so I'd be able to perform.
 
Bands
 
The Trucelent (guessing 1993 or 1994?) - The Trucelent was me on guitar and vocals working with my friend Jennifer (bass guitar)... I think this might be my first band. We didn’t have a full length album – just a few songs, and they never got fully produced. If any demos are still in existence, I have no idea where they are. Maybe Jennifer has some, but I haven’t heard it in so many years I can’t even remember what it sounded like.
 
The "Jerry" band (1993-1994 maybe) - there was another band I was in between the time of The Trucelent and Spiderhead that didn’t really have a name, and all I did was play guitar for him - a guy by the name of Jerry. I was just a beginning guitar player, but he was a good guitar player/singer, and he tolerated me, and allowed me to spend a lot of time noodling and playing leads to his stuff. It helped develop my ear further and develop my guitar playing ability a little bit... and I started getting better at improvisation. A lot of other musicians came and jammed with us during that time, and eventually, a bass player came to play with us that I really clicked with - Chuck Hwang. Chuck and I started jamming on the side so I was in both bands for a time. A friend of mine from school Rusty Skinner was a drummer, so somehow we hooked up with him and formed Spiderhead.
 
Spiderhead (guessing 1993-1995?) - At first it was just the three of us- me on guitar and vocals, Chuck Hwang on Bass, and Rusty Skinner on drums. Then we added another guitar player - Jonathan Smith. We called him Johnny Demo :-) I saw him a few years back - it was really fun to catch up again. He lives in Shanghai China now but he comes back to town every once in a while. Anyway, we eventually went to Insight Sound Studio in Loveland to record, and we put out a self titled EP and released it on CD... it said Spiderhead EP on the cover. I think I still have some of these in storage somewhere... I know they’re around here and there. We started playing shows locally in Colorado mainly - and I think we played probably 80-90 gigs or so over a few years. Chuck was a great bass player, and in addition to that, he was great with people. He was very motivated on the business side - so he did the vast majority of the booking and promo stuff - he really pushed Spiderhead much farther than it could ever have gone without him there. Do not underestimate these kinds of guys in your bands people!!! He was a huge help to us both musically and business-wise... and when he eventually departed, we lost a ton of steam. Anyway, we would rehearse constantly back then - overkill really, but it was great practice for all of us as musicians, and we were very tight live. We had written another album of material – some of which was recorded as a demo work, but it never got officially released or put on CD. After some time, Rusty Skinner departed, and we picked up Dave Parkin on drums. Dave played with us for a long time, and we had a lot of fun... Eventually though, Chuck took a job in New Orleans, and when he left, a lot of the energy in the band disappeared. We replaced him for a while with a friend of mine - bassist Paul Fonfara... but eventually the band kind of fizzled out... or I did (I was having a personal identity crisis or something around that time. I was trying to find my voice, and I had a bunch of people telling me I hadn't found it yet). That led to a loss of confidence and interest (along with some other things going on in my life at that time)... but due to all of it, I quit the band... despite that, I do still have many fond memories from that period. There were some tough times too, but mostly I remember the good times...
 
Music school (1995-1999?) - during this time, I was going to music school and studying music (and playing in Removed and Decanonized which are detailed below). In addition to my general music history and theory studies, etc, my specializations while there were recording engineering, and also piano performance. I was playing mainly classical stuff - mostly Beethoven and Chopin were my favorite... I wasn’t using my keyboard skills at all in the bands I was in, but I was developing and changing as an artist due to all of these influences. During school I had to perform on stage in front of the school many times for recitals. The pieces I still remember performing during those years were the 3rd movement from Beethoven's Apassionata piano sonata, Chopin's Nocturne Op27 no1, various Chopin preludes - one of his Mazurkas, Chopin's Fantasie-impromptu, Saint-Saëns - Piano Concerto No 2 in G minor (1st movement), Op 22 (my piano teacher Zoe Erisman played the orchestral parts on a 2nd piano for my recital of this piece), Liszt Transcendental Etude - No.6 'Vision', a few Bach Preludes, tiny bit of Mozart, one of the Rachmoninoff preludes... I know there were some other things, but that's all I can remember right now. I've played tons of other pieces since then, but those are the ones I remember performing back then.
 
Removed (guessing 1995-1996?) - after Spiderhead broke up, Paul Fonfara and I stayed in touch. Even though Paul had played Bass in Spiderhead, in Removed, he switched over to Guitar (I played mostly rhythm guitar stuff and did vocals, and paul did mostly lead type guitar work). Paul knew a couple guys that were interested in being in a band – Tom Hagerman (bass), and Brian Temple (drums), so we formed Removed. Removed probably had enough songs for a full length album, and we recorded a bunch of stuff in studio, but it never got properly mastered or released. I was never very happy with my vocal work on it though - I was so insecure back then about everything... I think I have some recordings on my computer and the guys may still have some of the old demo tapes... we didn’t play many gigs – maybe 10 shows or so I’m guessing? We rehearsed/jammed a lot, and everyone in the band was a really good musician (we were all music students at Colorado University), but none of us were really putting a huge amount of work into business side of things. Because we weren't doing much promoting and/or booking, it always felt to me like there wasn't a lot happening. I did enjoy making music with those guys though, and I've stayed friends with them over the years. Near the end of this band, I started playing in another band (Decanonized) as a guitar player simultaneously. Decanonized was playing a ton of gigs and doing very well in the local scene... so it kind of took over, and because Removed wasn’t doing much at the time, I decided to quit and focus on Decanonized. Right after I left Removed, Tom and Paul joined "Devotchka". Devotchka went on to a long and successful career. That was exciting to see... Tom and I stayed friends over the years, and we still work together on projects sometimes. I mixed and mastered his solo record "Water Music" (maybe 2010 or so?). I also did some of the recording (the rest of the recording was done by Xandy Whitesel at Mighty Fine Productions), and I did all of the mixing and mastering (together with Tom) on his "Post Truth Serum" record entitled "Modern Victims". Tom did all of the arrangements, and in studio he's good too - he's got a great ear, so we spent a lot of time putting this record together. Check it out as it's now available!
 
Decanonized (guessing 1996-1999?) - it was Jim Misa on drums, Talea Harmon on vocals, Chris Cheeseman (everyone called him Cheese) on Bass Guitar, and Dave on guitar - I can’t remember Dave‘s last name. I don’t remember why, but Dave had left the band for some reason, so I replaced him as guitarist. The band had already written a bunch of songs, but when I joined, I rewrote the guitar parts with my own style, and then we went into studio and recorded an EP called Tunnel that was released on CD. It had their songs on it along with my rewritten guitar parts. Anyway, we played a ton of gigs in this band – I’m guessing probably 60 or 70... we wrote a bunch of new material, probably almost another full length album, and we recorded some of it, but it never got released on CD or publicly. I don’t actually have any of the newer material that we wrote together, but a few of the guys in the band may still have some of it. After some time, Cheese left the band... so I sequenced all of his bass guitar parts on my keyboard so it could fill in for him (I also added a bunch of extra synthesizer parts turning the songs into more full arrangements), and we played one gig without him this way. Then, Chris Kutz joined as keyboard player to perform the synth parts I had written live, and we resumed gigging for a while. Eventually the band kind of fizzled out and broke up. Chris left to focus on his studio (Psyonic Labs - which he still does has today along with his custom cable work business - He’s also a dealer now for a bunch of music equipment so if you need anything give him a call.), and Talea‘s boyfriend Jeremy joined as keyboard player... but we started having musical differences. I was more into the punk high energy thing we had been doing... and I think those guys wanted to do more Celtic type stuff - which may have been interesting, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do at that time in my life. I was pretty rude and irritated by it, and I missed working with Cheese... so I was a little belligerent, and I think I technically got fired out of this band... hehe... seems funny looking back on it now, but that’s how it all went down.
 
Solo period (maybe 2000-2003?) - during this time, I left Colorado and moved to Indiana where I worked at Sweetwater Sound as a sales engineer. While living there, I wrote a song called Venus (this song appears on the Twilight Garden single Reconcile), and another one called "Machine" for a CD compilation that my Sweetwater buddy Brendan Murphy was putting together (this song would later be released by Velvet Acid Christ on the album Lust for Blood in 2006) . Brendan is still at Sweetwater in Sales, so you need anything he's at x1287. I can’t remember the name of the compilation CD he did, but it was released probably in 2003 or so?
 
The Farthest Shore (maybe 2004-2005?) - after leaving Indiana to come back to Colorado, I started a band with drummer Jim Misa (he was also the drummer in Decanonized), bass player Wes Magyar, and myself on vocals and guitar. We wrote a full length album intended for release on CD. While working with them, I also met Bryan Erickson of Velvet Acid Christ (maybe 2004 or so). I started working with Bryan on Velvet Acid Christ simultaneously with my work in The Farthest Shore. The CD we were intending to release never happened because I broke up the band to join Velvet Acid Christ... Bryan didn't like The Farthest Shore, so he was really harsh on it, constantly whispering in my ear about it not being good enough. Maybe it wasn't - I don't know... but either way, I wanted to be successful in what I did, and at the time, Velvet Acid Christ seemed the better path... Notice this common trend of me breaking up bands and abandoning things I had built (I recognized this trend eventually and realized it needed to end - I think sticking with things would have been a better route - but the past is hindsight... oh well). Anway, The Farthest Shore had some great songs (in my opinion). In fact, I sent them to Terry Manning in the Bahamas (a producer friend who’d worked with ZZ Top, Lenny Kravitz, Shakira, Led Zeppellin, etc). He liked the songs, and we were going to lock out compass point studios for a month to work on the record if I could come up with the money... but I panicked. I didn’t believe in myself enough and thought I should just invest the money into equipment and try to produce myself. I think this would’ve been an amazing experience working with him down there and sometimes I wish I had gone ahead and done it, but I didn’t. Anyway, the CD got pretty much finished, but never released. I have all of the songs still on my computer.
 
Velvet Acid Christ (maybe 2005-2009?) - After The Farthest Shore, I was in Velvet Acid Christ. I worked on 1) remix on the reissue of "Calling of the Dead" - VAC LP, 2) "Lust for Blood" - VAC LP, 3) "wound single" from the VAC LP - (figurehead cover), 4) VAC remix for Emily Autumn's "dead is the new alive", 5) VAC remix for Brain Leisure's "resistance", 6) VAC remix for Darker Days Tomorrow's "zeitgeist", 7) VAC remix for Mortiis's "gibber", 8) Last "Toxic Coma" LP (VAC side project), 9) "The Art of Breaking Apart" - VAC LP, 10) "Caustic Disco" single from the VAC LP. I found working with Bryan easy creatively, so we did a lot together which was nice. I'm proud of the work we made together... some of these songs did really well. I remember when Lust for Blood came out, it was #1 on the national German charts for like 8 weeks or something crazy like that... I liked the record - it was intense, and far-out. It was fun to make. After Lust for Blood, we did a bunch of other stuff - including working on the full length LP The Art of Breaking Apart, but I had moved to Boulder, so working with Bryan got a lot tougher (it was a pretty long drive from my place in Boulder to his place). Also, I had started working on The Twilight Garden simultaneously while in VAC, so it was taking quite a bit of my time and energy. Unfortunately, at the very end of 2009, I had a falling out with Bryan and my time in VAC came to an end. We didn't speak to each other again until mid 2012.

2008-2010:
The Twilight Garden began in 2008 as a solo project by Todd Loomis while still a member in the electro industrial act Velvet Acid Christ. I completed the entire album "a world we pretend" while also working with Velvet Acid Christ on "The Art of Breaking Apart". In early 2010, The Twilight Garden's debut album entitled "a world we pretend" was released on Projekt Records. It received mainly good reviews and opened doors for The Twilight Garden with DJ support and club play. During the summer of 2010, Twilight Garden was invited to play the Projektfest 2010 in Philadelphia. A tour of the northeast United States was booked.
2010 (summer - TOURING) - Lineup:
Todd Loomis - Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals
Patrick Hogan - Keyboards, Bass
Chris Kutz - Drums

2011-2012:
In early 2011, Todd began working on the songs for what would become the 2nd full length album for The Twilight Garden. The new album "Hope" would ultimately take over a year to complete. During that time, The Twilight Garden signed with Metropolis Records. "Hope" was released on November 27th, 2012. Reviews were generally positive, and the buzz for the album helped push Todd Loomis to consider touring again. When The Twilight Garden signed with Metropolis (summer 2012), Bryan Erickson of Velvet Acid Christ heard about it through various channels, and called Todd on the phone to congratulate him. After speaking a while, they both realized that neither of them really cared anymore about what they had been fighting about in 2009, and that they still had much in common. They quickly made amends. This would ultimately lead to a reconctructed friendship - and later, touring together.

2013 (Springtime - TOURING):
In the Spring of 2013, Todd teamed up again with Bryan Erickson of Velvet Acid Christ, and both bands toured the west half of the United States together - Lineups as follows:
The Twilight Garden:
Todd Loomis - Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards
Bryan Erickson - Keyboards
Chris Kutz - Drums
Velvet Acid Christ:
Bryan Erickson - Vocals
Todd Loomis - Guitars, Keyboards
Steve Bird - Keyboards
In addition to performing as drummer for TTG, Chris Kutz also did sound mixing for Velvet Acid Christ live. Dave Rollins was enlisted as well to sell merchandise for both bands and to help move equipment.

2013 (Summer - TOURING):
The Twilight Garden and Velvet Acid Christ both performed live at the Wave Gotik Treffen 2013 festival in Leipzig, Germany. Lineup:
The Twilight Garden
Todd Loomis - Vocals, Guitars
Bryan Erickson - Keyboards
Chris Kutz - Drums
Velvet Acid Christ
Bryan Erickson - Vocals
Todd Loomis - Keyboards/Guitars
Chris Kutz - Keyboards

2013 (Early Autumn - TOURING):
Feeling a need for improvement to the live show, Bryan Erickson and Todd Loomis invested into a lighting rig that would allow for customized lighting for each song. Also, due to life issues Chris Kutz could not join us live - so the new lineup became:
The Twilight Garden:
Todd Loomis - Vocals, Keyboards, Guitars
Bryan Erickson - Keyboards
Velvet Acid Christ
Bryan Erickson - Vocals, Keyboards
Todd Loomis - Keyboards, Guitars
For this tour, Jeramiah Saint was enlisted to do live sound. Jeramiah is also a musician/writer/artist. Check out his stuff HERE! In addition, David Rollins joined us again to assist with selling merchandise.

2013 (Mid Autumn - TOURING):
Jeramiah Saint was unable to tour with us again for the 2nd part of the Autumn tours, so Christof Krztov was enlisted to help, and Dave Rollins joined us again to help with equipment and merch sales.
The Twilight Garden:
Todd Loomis - Vocals, Keyboards, Guitars
Bryan Erickson - Keyboards
Velvet Acid Christ
Bryan Erickson - Vocals, Keyboards
Todd Loomis - Keyboards, Guitars
Christof Krztov - Keyboards

2014-2017:
I was working on a new album in 2013... but I decided to take a long hiatus away from The Twilight Garden. During this time, I started learning a bunch of my favorite songs on piano, and singing along with them. I was doing it really just for fun... but then after some time had gone by, I realized I had a huge number of songs that I'd written piano arrangements for and I was singing along with... so I figured I'd play a show. I booked one Gig in Denver at the Mercury Cafe, and I played for maybe an hour or so. I got cut off for another performance coming after, but I literally had like 4 hours of music memorized and ready to go for that show. Some of them were favorites of mine, and some of them I learned because I knew my family would be attending and I wanted to have something to play for everyone in the audience. Well... actually I think I loved at least "something" about every single song I played or I wouldn't have done them. It was a good setlist I think... some pop stuff, and some pretty underground stuff... a pretty diverse mix. I've probably forgotten how to do most of these by now as a pianist/vocalist... but I'm sure it would come back quick with a little effort. I enjoyed learning these - it was cool to see how the songs were put together... to see the way they put the chords together, and which melodies were critical, etc. I don't remember the specific setlist from that night... I just played whatever I felt at the moment (pulling songs from the list below).
 
Here's the list of songs I had prepared for piano/vocals:
 
Bauhaus - "All we ever wanted"
Beach house - "myth"
Stephen Bishop - "Time"
Beatles - "across the universe"
Beatles - I did a cover of the the Siouxsie & the Banshees version - "Dear Prudence"
David Bowie - "as the world falls down" (from labyrinth)
David Bowie - "within you" (from labyrinth)
David Bowie - "a space oddity"
Lindsey Buckingham - "Holiday Road"
The Cars - "Drive"
Phil Collins - "Against all odds"
The Cure - "cold"
The Cure - "all cats are grey"
The Cure - "the funeral party"
Depeche Mode - "walking in my shoes"
Duran Duran - "ordinary world"
Elvis - "can't help falling in love"
Echo & the Bunnymen - "Lips Like Sugar"
Eagles - "Desperado"
Foreigner - "I want to know what love is"
Garbage - "Medication"
Green Day - "boulevard of broken dreams"
Buddy Holly - "That'll be be Day"
INXS - "disappear"
INXS - "in the dark of night"
INXS - "Never tear us apart"
Chris Isaak - "Wicked Game"
Joy Division - "Atmosphere"
Joy Division - "Love will tear us apart"
Ladytron - "all the way"
Ladytron - "destroy everything you touch"
Henry Mancini - "theme to Romeo and Juliet"
John McLaughlin - "we all need saving"
Metallica - "The Unforgiven"
Morrissey / Audrey Hepburn / breakfast at Tiffany's - "Moon River"
Morrissey - "every day is like Sunday"
Motels - "only the lonely"
Naked Eyes - "always something there to remind me"
NIN - "a warm place"
Nirvana - "smells like teen Spirit"
OMD - "forever live and die"
Tom Petty - "Free Fallin"
Sinead O'Connor / Prince - "nothing compares to you"
The Police - "Invisible Sun"
The Police - "King of Pain"
The Police - "Wrapped around your finger"
Roy Orbison - "pretty woman"
Radiohead - "creep"
Radiohead - "exit music"
Radiohead - "house of cards"
Radiohead - "everything in it's right place"
Otis Redding - "Dock of the bay"
Kenny Rogers - "twenty years ago"
Kenny Rogers - “She believes in me”
Simple Minds - "don't you forget about me"
Siouxsie & the Banshees - I covered the Siouxsie version of "Dear Prudence" originally by the Beatles
The Smiths - “last night I dreamt that somebody loved me”
Bruce Springsteen - "Dancing in the dark"
Switchblade Symphony - "Sweet"
Tears for Fears - "Head over heels"
Tears for Fears - “The Working Hour”
Thompson Twins - “Hold Me Now”
U2 - "with or without you"
U2 - "where the streets have no name"
U2 - "still haven't found what I'm looking for"
Townes Van Zandt (I knew the Willie Nelson / Merle Haggard version) - "Poncho & Lefty"
Stevie Wonder - "I just called to say I love you"

2018-2020:
 
During this time, Todd was working to finish the new TTG album "Revelation". It was completed in late summer, and released on Friday, September 4th, 2020.

2021-now:
 
During this time, because the contract with Projekt Records on the first Twilight Garden record had expired, "a world we pretend" was no longer available for streaming. In order to change that, The Twilight Garden began working with an independent distributor to re-release the record, so it's now available for streaming again. In addition, Todd has been working hard and saving money to try to establish a more stable studio and/or working environment in order to continue making music. He hopes to have something in the near future, but worst case, he plans to just work in whatever tiny space is available somehow. The amazing Noise Radiation Studios setup was really quite the luxury, and nothing lasts forever... Maybe one day again. Until then Todd is singing, playing piano, learning songs, and considering what he wants to do with the future of The Twilight Garden. He has what he beleives are some great ideas, and he hopes for the opportunity to bring them to reality... but for now, it's just dayjob work, waiting, saving, planning, letting ideas grow and develop, and continuing to hope for a good future.