[close]

phase one:

In the beginning, Borrowed Time was a spin-off of a band called The Difference. Largely unheard of, it was a clever enough band in so many ways - perhaps in too many ways for the Mpls music scene, however. The members of that band were Melne Murphy (guit/vox), Zel (nee Phil Schuster - guit/vox), David Hartman (bass), Tim Sexton (keys), and Ginger Kaufman (drums). Zel, Ginger, and I had worked/played together previously in The Sacred Version, and I was recruited as a sound engineer for The Difference. Tim Sexton left the band to pursue his own goals (which led to the formation of Gotterdammerung) and the remaining members of The Difference rechristened themselves as the first incarnation of Borrowed Time, keeping me on as a sound engineer. In January 1983, I mixed and mastered the first Borrowed Time cassette album, with the help of Colin Mansfield, who had produced the first Hüsker Dü single, "Statues". Featuring cover art by Melne, the group's self-titled 12-song debut featured cover versions of "Books", by Echo and the Bunnymen, and "The Ocean", by U2. The songwriting credits for the group's own material were evenly split between Melne and Zel, each contributing five of their own compositions.

 

Borrowed Time; the first cassette-album
[illustration © Melne Murphy]

 

During this time, Melne and I worked together on a number of projects outside the group, many of which would have a long-lasting impact in terms of redefining the group's direction. A brief glimpse of this occured at a Mpls. loft party, when I left the soundboard to join the band for an encore, an improvised song called "Jerry's Kids". I had found the lyrics scrawled on a napkin at the bar (credited to "The Creamettes"), Melne had a bombastic guitar theme just dying to become a song*, and since the crowd wanted an encore after the group had played their entire repertoire... we figured we'd have a bit of fun. We had no idea it would become indicative of the group's future sound - or just what exactly that would entail.

[* that particular theme would eventually become known as "Law Of The Land", which became a staple of latter-day sets, and something of a theme for the final incarnation of Borrowed Time.]

 

The Last Dance
[painting © Kevin Johnson]
(trivia fact: Kevin Johnson was the brother of two members of the band Run Westy Run!)

 

phase two:

Chalk it up to a combination of overzealous ambitions and imaginations, with a good dose of soap-opera melodrama, too many cooks in the cauldron, and a name cribbed from a bus stop shelter, and you still wouldn't even begin to imagine what kind of a band this was. Even we didn't know. Suffice it to say that it was more of a lifestyle choice than entertainment - the phrase "art for art's sake" never rang so true. In less than two years, the group produced no less than seven cassette albums (and an eighth label release featuring solo material from the individual members and their friends), boasting almost as many personnel changes, including Zel - guitar & vocals, Dave Hartman (who went on to join Machinery Hill, where he resides to this day) - bass, Joe Casual (we never did learn his real name) - bass, Jim Meyer - drums, Win Patrick - bass, and various other friends who joined us on stage. And, our trusty Dr. Rhythm drum machine, of course.

 

Fair Warning cassette sleeve
[design/layout © Melne Murphy/J. Free]

 

phase three:

After playing musical chairs for about a year, the group seemed to form itself, as though of its' own volition, and by 1984, it seemed at last we had a definitive line-up: Melne, IDB (nee Ward Harper, RIP), Bill Wilson, and myself. Together, we channelled a plethora of indulgences and influences that blurred the lines between each of our individual fascinations with sound. In the collective mode, it almost seemed... cohesive, if not just a wee bit cathartic. The impression we left on people seemed to be largely favorable, which in retrospect is kind of amusing, as the attitude we projected might have appeared to be a mix of utter hopelessness and angry frustration. After a show at The Yukon Club in Mpls, a woman told Ward and I that our music made her question her own existence - that it made her feel primal, like she wanted to tear off her clothes and live in the wild, and feel the sensation of her teeth tearing into the flesh of another animal. Umm... really, I'm not making that up. A couple of young kids with big mohawks who used to come to all of our shows - dutifully purchasing every new release - once told Melne and I that they had been planning to start a punk band, until they saw us; they said our music made them realize they could express themselves in more creative ways then simply following a trend. (I just hope they didn't start a band that sounded like us!)

 

from the In A New Land photo session: Melne, Bill, Ward, J.
[photo © Sean Smuda]

 

It was fun for a while, then all the usual pitfalls presented themselves before us: relationship dramas, misguided ambitions, and the ever-popular creative conflict: artistic differences. We were young, we didn't really know what we believed in, or what we wanted, but we were sure at least some of the time that we had something to to say, and that it might be important. All of those ideas gave birth to some pretty innovative music, while at the same time, slowly shoved the proverbial nails into the lid of the coffin. It couldn't have lasted forever, and I think everyone involved might have been more than a little grateful when it came to an end. Fortunately - considering the era during which all of this took place - we all came out in relatively good health, and some of us actually still talk to one another from time to time, although the prospect of a post-20-year reunion seems rather unlikely.

 

In A New Land album cover shot
[photo © Sean Smuda]

 

In early 1985, we recorded a couple of albums' worth of material at Pax Studios in Apple Valley, and performed our final show on 10 Febraury 1985. Even as we began drifting away from each other, we somehow managed to assemble and produce one solid album, titled In A New Land. I'm told that the finished studio reels fell prey to the ravages of time, but a clean cassette master from the original reels survived, and was carefully mastered to CD, as well as a couple of albums' worth of outtakes, so the ones and zeros of our brief but prolific past can outlive us all. Looking back, it was one hell of a rollercoaster ride, but a good deal of the music we made together is something I can be proud to have contributed to - even if everyone may have entertained serious doubts about my sanity at times. I guess I did live a little more for my so-called "art" than some folks might have considered "healthy" on occasion, but I wouldn't have been setting any precedents there. At any rate, the more people speculate about such things, the more interesting my life story seems to become.

 

The first - and last - studio album.
[cover design by Melne]

 

epilogue:

So where are they now, one might wonder? All things being relative, one might suppose more or less following the logical extent of the same urges which brought us all together in the first place. Melne (aka The World Famous Melne) has presided over the worldwide fan club of the Blue Oyster Cult for as long as I can remember, and has illustrated at least one of their album covers; she currently plays in a Bay Area group called Cover Grrlz. IDB has played with the cremé de cremé of the Mpls avant-garde music scene, including such notables as Exploding Head Trick], and is reported to be happily married, and raising a couple of sons. He is also to be blamed for the existence of a Borrowed Time MySpace page, as well as about one-third of the band pages on MySpace (seriously, I counted twenty pages of projects he has been involved with, and that's not even counting the fan pages...!). I'm not entirely certain, but I could have sworn I recently saw our former drummer Bill working in a local Realtor agency in Minneapolis. I refrained from stopping in, if only because I couldn't think of any previously unfinished conversations waiting to be picked up. Delving into the past can be like that at times, eh?

Me, I've traveled around the country for a number of years, along the way, carving out a niche as a music writer for publications in several states. In recent years, I've played and recorded with some of the sleaziest rock bands in the Twin Cities, (including The Pushrods, Panel Of Experts, The Summer People, and Demolition Factor, to name a few). I've also become happily married, and work as a web designer, but I still find time to make music in some fashion or another; in a parallel universe, it seems I have also become a four-time grandfather - how that happened, no one can really be sure.

So, there you have it. Fifteen minutes of history that left a much-longer-lasting impression on a handful of people than any of us might have expected at the time. Not bad in the long run, I suppose.

 

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addendum:

On Tuesday, 2 December 2008, idb / Ward Harper lost a long-term battle with a chronic condition.
He was loved by many, and will be deeply missed.

 

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Borrowed Time - the final show - The Whole, Mpls 10 February 1985
[photo credit unknown]

 

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