http://www.that1guy.comIF YOU GO* What: That 1 Guy with The Cadillac Saints.* When: 9 p.m. Wednesday.* Where: Rhythm & Brews, 221 Market St.* Admission: $8.* Phone: 267-4644.* Venue Web site: www.rhythm-brews.com.* Related links at fyi.timesfreepress.com.WHAT’S NEXTMike Sellers, aka That 1 Guy, said he plans to work this summer on a movie project tied to his second album, 2007’s “The Moon Is Disgusting,” and record both new material and videos for songs off his January release, “Packs a Wallop!”
For a musician with such a unique performing style, Mike Sellers has perhaps one of the most unassuming names in show business.
Sellers, aka That 1 Guy, plays the Magic Pipe, a home-brewed conglomeration of steel pipes, strings, duct tape and electronics that, at first, seems to qualify as an instrument by only the most vague of definitions.
About 10 years ago, Sellers, a former jazz bassist, said he raided electronics and hardware stores to craft the Magic Pipe, which he hoped would fulfill stylistic needs a regular bass couldn’t manage.
Sellers’ musical Frankenstein recently has been given a son, a new version rebuilt out of custom-machined parts, and Sellers uses his entire body to manipulate it and a drum during his one-man shows.
“A big part of the idea behind the instrument was to create all these sounds you couldn’t create with other instruments,” he said. “It’s pretty much endless.”
“It’s very much a junk pile, in a sense, but it’s also superfunctional,” he added, laughing.
Sellers plays the almost 7-foot-tall Magic Pipe in a variety of ways, including bowing its two strings, slapping or drumming along its length and manipulating a series of built-in electronics.
The resulting performances look a bit like he’s attacking a piece of home gym equipment, but the sound is a spacey brand of funk/rock that’s been featured alongside artists like guitarist Buckethead and singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco.
People often approach Sellers to ask him to build them a Magic Pipe of their own, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all kind of instrument, he said.
“It would probably be a pretty awkward thing to play for most people,” he said. “(The bass) is already a very weird thing to play, and I wasn’t even playing it the way it’s supposed to be played.
“This thing is three steps removed from anything sensible.”
Sellers will bring the Magic Pipe to Rhythm & Brews on Wednesday.