‘The Static Hour’

‘The Static Hour’ was a bi-weekly radio show hosted by Don Kurtz. With the title borrowed from an episode of The Twilight Zone, it’s no surprise that the ‘Hour regularly features guests from facets of the entertainment industry as well as musicians and published authors.

When Don contacted me in the fall of 2010 to discuss the creation of an introduction piece, he made it clear that the piece should be ‘punchy’ and ‘upbeat.’ Instantly I started working on guitar and drum parts. After hearing that one of his first guests would be Matt Barton, co-author of Vintage Games, I wanted to make sure the piece had a bit of a retro feel to it.

There is no finer retro-throwback sound than the tones produced by the SID 6581 or 8580. Featured in the Commodore 64, the SID microchip has gained new-found popularity with products such as the Elektron SID Station and the MIDIBOX project. Last winter I built a SammichSID, a MIDIBOX kit designed by Wilba. The SammichSID brought plenty of retro-feel to the tune and really fleshed it out.