Originally left
on an East Tennessee doorstep to wander the wacky world of Appalachian
orphanages, he found the trusting care of the most significant Tympani
instructor in the American South. Tutored for ten years as a tympanist,
he transformed into a symphonic terror in the Southeastern U.S.A. as a
teenager. Mere sight of his arrival at regional percussion competitions
left many an ambitious stick-whacker grinding their teeth on the trail
back home.
However Toby's duration in the grown-up symphonic world didn't last. He
canceled another year of stuffy attitudes and puffy conductors -
turning to teenage punk-rock nightlife and local bands. As the
Tennessee walls closed in, he realized he'd have to leave, perhaps not
to return. By 1986 he'd fled to California to live and work with Greg
Ginn, founder of Black Flag and SST Records. His trail led him into the
notorious cow punk band Tex and The Horseheads for a year. He fatefully
met organist Luther Hawkins and together they performed with Paul
Roessler of The Screamers. During this period he also made an album
with producer Lou Adler (producer of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show",
Mamas and Papas, and Cheech and Chong). But his life changed
dramatically when Iggy Pop claimed him for his own in 1990.
Iggy showed Mr. Dammit the real ups and downs in the world of show
business, as they toured incessantly from 1990 to 1999. Despite
seemingly endless international tours and the thousand familiar blurred
faces in so many troubled places, life on the road proved Toby a
survivor. Gradually, that buried symphonic percussionist raised a
muffled head, as film score productions intrigued Toby. In 1997 Johnny
Depp invited Toby to accompany him up the red carpet at Cannes Film
Festival for the premier of his first feature film "The Brave," which
Toby had painstakingly worked on with both Depp and Iggy.
In 1995 Dammit joined the New York band Swans, relocating to New York
soon after. As word got around of his symphonic instrument collection,
he harnessed a mind-boggling schedule of productions as a sought-after
percussionist - notably scoring the short film "Apple Jack" with a
handpicked 21-piece orchestra. While working obsessively in France with
Iggy, he befriended French producer Bertrand Burgalat, who began
inviting him to Paris for productions. Soon came his invitation to
record a solo album at Tricatel studios and the official crowning of
his name, both which Bertrand owned! New York record store Other Music
released the "Top Dollar" sessions on their label Omplatten in 1999. A
French connection continued, as Monsignor Dammit toured and recorded
with French artists Paul Personne, Stephan Eicher and Keren Ann.
In 2000 he started a record label in Hamburg, Germany called Hit Thing
(English translation of "drummer" in German) with Guido Randzio, (who
partnered the EuroRalph label with legendary band of mystery The
Residents). They've since constructed an odd repertoire, combining
renegade lost re-issues and new productions of Toby's. Dammit reunited
with lifelong friend Luther Hawkins in Los Angeles to record together.
Working alone in Luther's house with Grammy Award winning producer Mark
Howard (Lucinda Williams, Tom Waits, Daniel Lanois, Emmylou Harris),
they created the mysterious instrumental album called "Karny Sutra".
Luther & Toby found warm receptions waiting, as American college radio
embraced the odd atmospheres of "Karny Sutra".
Bertrand came to New York City to perform with Toby in 2002. Toby
surprised his French producer, as he performed an all-percussion
tribute to Tricatel's roster of singers with an all-girl percussion
section! Burgalat invited Dammit to become musical director of his
prized Tricatel chanteuse April March. Toby redesigned Bertrand's
complex studio productions for stage with dynamite New York musicians
and they toured Canada, America, Switzerland and France. Bertrand
enlisted Toby and his bassist Dana Schechter (of Bee and Flower),
forming a trio to debut in Russia in 2003.
Berlin became a new source of inspiration for Dammit, since recording
the duet album "Morphosa Harmonia" with another lifelong friend; Bad
Seeds drummer, Thomas Wydler. In those pleasurable sessions he met
engineer Ingo Krauss, of Conny Plank Studios. In 2004 Dammit brought
Schechter's band Bee and Flower to Berlin to produce their second album
working with Krauss. Schechter's writing style beckoned a large
symphonic setting, and that's exactly what Toby designed. Bee and
Flower's relocation to Berlin actually conducted Toby's new future.
Inviting many fellow artists from his travels to come to Berlin to
work, his own relocation was inevitable.
