Adam Siegel (born March 9, 1969)[1] is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, producer, actor and graphic designer (he has provided artwork and design for several releases by L.A. groups[2]) from Venice, California, United States. KISS, Black Sabbath, Sweet, Jimmy Page and the Sex Pistols are the musicians he cites as main influences.[3]

Adam Siegel
Adam Siegel on stage with Excel on tour in Netherlands in 1989
Adam Siegel on stage with Excel on tour in Netherlands in 1989
Background information
Also known asTorg
Born (1969-03-09) March 9, 1969 (age 55)
OriginVenice, California, United States
GenresHeavy metal, crossover thrash, skate punk, funk metal, alternative rock, grunge, indie rock, glam rock, dance-rock, power pop
Occupation(s)Musician, singer-songwriter, actor, producer, graphic designer
Instrument(s)Guitar, bass
Years active1983–present
LabelsSuicidal (1985–1988; 2000)
High Speed (1987)
Caroline (1987–1989)
Epic (1991–1994; 1996)
Capitol (1996)
DreamWorks (2001)
E Works (2002)
Middle Class Pig Records (2002;2004)
Teenacide Records (2003)
Secretly Canadian (2008–present)

He is a founding member of the crossover thrash band Excel, and subsequently was the lead guitarist for the Suicidal Tendencies side project, Infectious Grooves and the group Eagle, who became The Blondes after receiving a cease and desist letter from Don Henley's legal counsel. He founded the power trio My Head with Excel former drummer Greg Saenz and played the bass in the indie rock band Eels.

Between 2005 and 2007, he lived and worked as engineer and producer in the Glassell Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Currently, he is the Music Go Music guitarist and sporadically works as producer. He appeared in the movies Encino Man and Zelimo.

Career

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Siegel was born and raised in Venice, California. At the age of 13 years he bought a guitar, and went to live with his cousin for a few months. There he met Dan Clements, who was living with his cousin. Dan recorded a tape to give to Adam and started talking about forming a band. The group was called "Chaotic Noise" with Evan Warech on drums and some temporary bassists during 1984, they played a lot of shows around L.A. with different bands of the same scene like No Mercy, Suicidal Tendencies, Beowülf and Cryptic Slaughter. They became very good friends of all those musicians and adopted each other as early influences. A few months later, Rickey Pallamino took over the four strings and Chaotic Noise recorded their first Demo. They also became close friends of a graffiti crew, Kings Stop at Nothing, specially with a boy called Shaun Ross, Adam and Dan learned to paint with him and included the graffiti in the style of the band. When Pallamino left Chaotic Noise, there was no one better than Shaun to replace him, then they changed their name to Excel, name that was created by Shaun Ross when he was in Kings Stop at Nothing. A few weeks later a new drummer joined the group: Greg Saenz. They recorded 3 more demos between 1985 and 1986 (Sonic Decapitation, Personal Onslaught and Refuse to Quit), editing their first studio album, Split Image in 1987 (the recording was paid by Mike Muir and distribution was conducted by Caroline Records), the second one, The Joke's on You in 1989, and a tour in Netherlands the same year with that line-up.

In 1990, Siegel left Excel to join (as lead guitarist) the Suicidal Tendencies side project, Infectious Grooves to record their first studio album: The Plague That Makes Your Booty Move...It's the Infectious Grooves. In 1992 he came back to Excel to record their fifth and final demo: Third album demos. The May 22 he appeared in the movie Encino Man with the Infectious Grooves.[4] Then he definitely left Excel to form his own power trio (called My Head) with Greg Saenz on drums, the former Bad Radio member Dave Silva on bass and himself on guitar and lead vocals. However, this project was interrupted for Adam's participation in the second studio release by Infectious Grooves, Sarsippius' Ark, released in February 1993, and again in 1994 for their following album, Groove Family Cyco. On January 16, 1996, Siegel recorded various tracks for the first Mike Muir solo album: Lost My Brain! (Once Again). Then My Head signed a record contract with Capitol Records and released their first and only album Endless Bummer, the song "Humbucker" became their only single and music video.[5] The sound of this album left the heavy metal music that Siegel had been playing earlier in Excel and Infectious Grooves to approach to styles more similar to alternative rock and grunge.[6] The band broke up the January 1, 1998. Later that year, Siegel became the Eels bassist (this was the first time he played the bass on a group).

The song "Souljacker part I", performed with Siegel was included in the album Souljacker in 2001 and a live version in the live album Electro-Shock Blues Show, released in 2002. A few months later he created the band Eagle (who would become "The Blondes" in 2000) with Bill Dusha (ex-Sacred Hearts and Sexy Death Soda) on guitar and vocals, Jimmy James (ex-Coma-Tones and The mansons) on bass, Autumn de Wilde (also graphic designer and art director; her photography and paintings have been used for releases by Beachwood Sparks, Beck, Neal Casal, Eels, Lilys, Elliott Smith, and other artists) on keyboards and back vocals, Byron Maiden (ex-Possum Dixon and the Liquor Giants) on drums and himself on lead guitar and vocals.[7] They did some shows around L.A. and suffered several line-up changes. In 2000 he returned for fourth and last time to Infectious Grooves to record their fourth studio album: Mas Borracho released the August 29.

 
Adam Siegel (left) and Gala Bell in 2009.

After four years, The Blondes finally released their homonym first studio work with their original formation.[8] In less than a half-year later they released their second official record, titled Swedish Heat. In 2004 they edited their third and final studio material, called Summer Strut, breaking up shortly after its tour. He retired as a musician in 2005 and became a producer and engineer in Glassell Park neighborhood of Los Angeles until 2008. Then he co-founded (as guitarist) Music Go Music, the dance-rock and power pop side-project to Meredith/Gala Bell (vocals) and David/Kamer (keyboards and vocals) Metcalf's band Bodies of Water, in which Siegel had participated in their second studio album "A Certain Feeling". In addition to these three members, the group is accompanied in concerts by various musicians who play several instruments. They came as long ago talking about writing something together, in May 2008, Siegel joined them to the studio to record their first single,[9] "Light of Love" and a second one, titled "Warm in the Shadows " the January 20, 2009. In August 2008, they released an EP which included three tracks called Reach Out and he began using the nickname "Torg". The October 6, 2009, they edited their debut studio album: Expressions, as the two previous singles and the EP it was released by Secretly Canadian.[10]

Discography

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See also: List of Excel demos

Year Album Band Type Credits Label
1985 Welcome to Venice Excel Split album Guitar on "Enforcer" and "Conclusion" Suicidal
1987 Thrasher Skate Rock 5: Born to Skate Excel Split album Guitar on "Insecurity" High Speed
1987 Split Image Excel Studio album Guitar Suicidal/Caroline
1989 The Joke's on You Excel Studio album Guitar Caroline
1989 Live at the Nighttown, Rotterdam Excel Live album Guitar Self-produced
1990 Live in Philadelphia-PA Excel Live album Guitar Self-produced
1991 The Plague That Makes Your Booty Move...It's the Infectious Grooves Infectious Grooves Studio album Guitar, artwork Epic
1993 Sarsippius' Ark Infectious Grooves Studio album Guitar Epic
1994 Groove Family Cyco Infectious Grooves Studio album Guitar, artwork Epic
1996 Lost My Brain! (Once Again) Cyco Miko Studio album Guitar, except tracks 1, 9 and 12, cover photography Epic
1996 Endless Bummer My Head Studio album Guitar, vocals, artwork Capitol
2000 Mas Borracho Infectious Grooves Studio album Guitar, keyboards, cover art Suicidal
2001 Friends & Family, Vol. 2 Suicidal Tendencies Compilation album Guitar and vocals on "Chain of Hate" and "Ultra Drown", artwork Suicidal
2001 Souljacker Eels Studio album Bass guitar on Souljacker part I DreamWorks
2002 Electro-Shock Blues Show Eels Live album Bass guitar and backing vocals E Works
2002 The Blondes The Blondes Studio album Guitar, vocals Middle Class Pig Records
2002 Summer Strut The Blondes Studio album Producer, vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion Middle Class Pig Records
2004 Swedish Heat The Blondes Studio album Bass, engineer, guitar, producer, synthesizer, vocals Teenacide
2008 A Certain Feeling Bodies of Water Studio album Guitar, mixing Secretly Canadian
2008 Reach Out Music Go Music EP Guitar, bass, producer Secretly Canadian
2009 Expressions Music Go Music Studio album Guitar, bass, producer Secretly Canadian

Other works (not as a musician)

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Year Album Band Type Credits Label
2007 Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink Bodies of Water Studio album Mixing Secretly Canadian
2009 Yamerarena-i Pixeltan EP Mixing DFA Records

Filmography

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Year Title[11] Producer Notes
1992 Encino Man Yes
2005 The Perfect Man Executive
2007 The Seeker Executive
2008 Wanted Executive
2009 Face the Ace Assistant producer, co-producer game show, episodes 1 and 2
2010 Cop Out Executive
2010 Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Executive
2010 Charlie St. Cloud Executive
2011 Drive Yes
2013 Evidence Executive
2013 2 Guns Executive
2014 Lost River Yes
2014 Mockingbird Yes
2015 Ricki and the Flash Executive
2016 Grease Live! Yes TV special, live broadcast
2017 A Christmas Story Live! Executive TV special, live broadcast
2018 Hotel Artemis Yes
2018 Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert Executive TV special, live broadcast
2019 Rent: Live Executive TV special, live broadcast
2021 Thunder Force Yes p.g.a.
2021 Oslo Executive
2022 Dear Evan Hansen Yes p.g.a.
2022 Better Nate Than Ever Yes
2022 Babylon Executive
2023 Scott Pilgrim Takes Off Executive animated series
2024 Players Yes

References

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  1. ^ Archived October 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "The Blondes | Music Biography, Credits and Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
  3. ^ [1] Archived September 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Encino Man (1992) : Full Cast & Crew". IMDb.com. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
  5. ^ "My Head – Humbucker". Artistdirect.com. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
  6. ^ "My Head – Myspace". Myspace.com. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
  7. ^ "The Blondes by The Blondes @ARTISTdirect". Artistdirect.com. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
  8. ^ "Blondes, The – The Blondes (Vinyl, LP) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
  9. ^ "Exclusive Q&A and Video Debut: Music Go Music – Flavorwire". Flavorwire.com. September 22, 2009. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
  10. ^ "Music go Music | Listen and Stream Free Music, Albums, New Releases, Photos, Videos". Myspace.com. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
  11. ^ "Adam Siegel". IMDb.com. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
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