Christoph Mayer, a native from Göttigen (*1971), Germany, moved from Cologne ('91 - '93) and Berlin ('93 - '00) to Staten Island in 2000 in the process of his studies in Music Theory at the Humboldt University in Berlin. He eventually assumed the position of Management Assistant for the not-for-profit arts and technology organization ASCI (asci.org) where he stayed invloved until 2005.

Artists' Statement:

It seems that a new-islander sees the borough from a different perspective than a native resident. Especially coming from a different country, one often hears the question: “What in the world are you doing HERE???” The answer that one simply thinks, that this is a nice and beautiful borough, is often met with incomprehensibility. But as a matter of fact, we think that some of the rather unpolished parts of the north shore are beautiful in particular. Not yet fully gentrified, the neighborhood has views of abandoned Victorian mansions, with breathtaking sights of the harbor, steep hills, lots of trees and green and a nice mixture of people of various ethnic groups, living together and making this a vibrant and colorful community. Certainly lots of song material right there on the streets.

Coming from Germany, Christoph as musician could only bring a limited amount of equipment, like some more expensive technical appliances that allow us to record our material at home. But thanks to the various local thrift stores we could purchase instruments and stay loyal to the neighborhood, even in that sense. This combination, the fresh impressions of a new neighborhood, leaving behind your hometown, the urge to make music, the limited availability of instruments, all that helped forming our songs and sound. (On song #4 we’re actually using driftwood from the Hudson river and a saucepan as percussion instruments.)

Our song subjects are scarcely about the classic themes love and lost. They reflect stories and anecdotes about our immediate environment, about neighbors and stores, streets, the ferry, tourists, cats, raccoons, garbage and gardens. We stay very close to the real world and even include real characters and locations in our songs. At the same time, the country-style atmosphere of our music gives the songs a certain distance to the present, while on the other hand, refers to, and plays with Staten Island’s status as the forgotten and remote small-town-borough.

Some hints in our lyrics can only be understood and seen as funny or sad by the very locals. That doesn’t mean that the songs are exclusively for those locals. The music is entertaining in itself. But those that do understand the underlying meaning might feel a connectedness, to the music, and in the best case to their neighbor or neighborhood. We’re not on a mission though and we never aim to point the finger or insult. What we hope for is to encourage and inspire people to use their imagination and look at their very own environment from more than just one accustomed perspective. That can be revealing and it’s certainly entertaining.