Miscellaneous Band Facts

Biographies

Jordy Mokriski

Jordy grew up in Hopewell, NJ, a tiny, old Central New Jersey town near Princeton.  He went to Vassar  College and graduated in '92 with a film studies major.  Then he worked in NYC and LA as a video and film editor, a carpenter, and other odd jobs.  He didn't settle into music until he moved out to L.A. for a year, hung out with a music crowd, and started writing songs.  He came back to NYC to form the Gloss.

After the band stopped performing, Jordy went back to full-time film and video editing in LA and NYC and has worked on a couple of films and many television shows.

Verena Wiesendanger

Verena is the daughter of a Swiss(?) father and a Chinese mother. She spent much of her childhood in Paris and is a native French speaker.  I believe she also speaks Spanish and Portuguese, at least I know she can sing in these languages.  She also attended Vassar where she and Jordy met, although the musical relationship didn't start until after she graduated and was living in New York City.

Since 2001, Verena has sung with two faux-French bands, Les San Culottes, and its legal offshoot, Nous Non Plus as her alter-ego Céline Dijon.

I don't have bios on the other band members.

Drummers

Finding a good permanent drummer has always been a problem for the
band.  Circumstances were never just right and consequently they now play gigs with a couple of different drummers, including their original drummer, Henry Baum, and their latest one, Dave Berger.  Drummer Jason Harmon left the band in the spring of '97 because of diverging musical directions.

Henry Baum is considered the "official" Semi-Gloss drummer in soul
and spirit, but his schedule makes it difficult for shows.

David Berger drummed from mid '97 to the end of '98, but does not play on the lastest album, and has commitments with his other group,  NYC jazz band "The Flying Neutrinos".

Album Notes

     Teenie EP

The Teenie EP was recorded in an old church in the historic Amish-country town of Columbia, PA. The studio is calledThe Churchbox. I must admit it is an odd place to have a studio that specializes in new music. 

Verena plays a muted marimba on Tiny, using the mute pedal after striking each note. It was fascinating to watch. 

She also played her own beautiful little red accordian on Who's Gonna Be Your Man. They tried a couple of other instruments for the solo, including the church pipe organ, before realizing that the accordian lent the nicest sound to the song. 

Morning Takes The Night is a tribute to Daniel, a very good friend of Jordy's who died too young. He was a great guy and his death was a tragedy for his friends.  All who knew him will miss him, including myself. This track was not recorded at Churchbox, but was taken from the demo tape and remixed. 

Jason Harmon played drums on this EP. 

     Semi-Gloss

This self-titled album was recorded in Studio .45 in Hartford, CT. The studio takes it's name from it's location. The old Colt Manufacturing gun works has been converted to a multi-story artist's space and the studio is located in the section where Colt .45s were assembled. The ".45" is read as "45 caliber." The building is a large, red brick L-shaped factory building with a huge blue onion dome in the center. The dome, just like you see on Ukranian churches, was a gift to Colt Manufacturing from the Soviet Government for help with a project. I don't remember what the project was, unfortunately. 

Morning Takes The Night was newly recorded for this album, using a bit more of the band later on in the track. 

Eight Million Strong on this album is a remix of the recording done at Churchbox for the Teenie EP. 

Yes, that's actually Verena whistling her way through Whistling Girl. 

Don't you love the way Jordy rhymed the English lyrics with the French on A Reason Why? 

Jason Harmon also played drums on this record, but Dave Berger played drums on newly remixed versions of Late Night Stroll and another song (I'll find out which) for the second pressing of this album. The liner notes were not redone so he is uncredited for this work. Thanks, Dave! 

By the way, the album cover design was inspired by a 1956 Blue Note recording by Sonny Rollins - "Volume 1".