Chris Gill

Chris Gill, Action Painter
Medium: Gouache And Watercolor On Paper
Article By: Ginger Coyote

circa 1978

Please enjoy this encore presentation of the very talented Artist and Musician Chris Gill

Chris Gill and I first met in 1979 in San Francisco. Soon after, Chris was playing drums in the band, Ultrasheen, with a mutual friend of ours, Charley Hagan, formerly of The Mutants. Chris and Charley had originally met in Junior High School in the burbs of Boston. They bonded over their mutual love for blues, soul and rock records. Their first band together, in high school, was Johnny Cool and the Groovedells, who were a whole lot of fun, playing old rock n roll before Sha Na Na did it. I got the Johnny Cool photo I have when I met Charley when he was playing bass for the Mutants. I got to know Chris better when he was drumming with Ultrasheen, who were one of my favorite bands at that time. Ultrasheen were the cat's meow for many. Recently, Chris and I started reminiscing about Charley and San Francisco. Chris is now living between Maine and Somerville, Massachusetts, where he does his wonderful artwork. He occasionally still plays drums with various musicians, but his current musical energy is mostly expressed through a spoken word and music recording project he is working on, called "Adventures in Punk Jazz." Chris is also excited about the upcoming vinyl record release of the Boston band, Vitamin, he played with in the early eighties, after he left San Francisco and returned to Boston. The release of the Vitamin vinyl L.P. (on which Chris plays drums) features both live, and studio recordings (produced by Roger Miller of Mission of Burma) from 1981. It will be released on Don Giovanni Records on April 16th, 2021. Vitamin was an eccentric Boston punk/noise art rock band from 1979-1983, featuring the then 15 year-old guitarist and singer, Jason Shapiro, who now plays in Red Kross... with Margie Politzer, formerly of The Girls on violin, organ and vocals... Michael McGlinchey on bass... and Chris, formerly of the San Francisco bands, Ultrasheen, The Alterboys and Frank Hymng on drums. Vitamin played in punk and rock clubs all around Boston in the days of the early Boston punk scene, including The Rat, The Underground, Mavericks, Cantones, Club Soda et al. They opened for Mission of Burma at the Paradise and The Channel, and also opened for Flipper and Black Flag. These days, Chris' main focus is on his art. I invited him to showcase some of his work. Below is a bit more information about Chris and his contact information:

Instagram: @chrisgillart
Website: chrisgillartist.com

Musical Bio: Drummer for Ultrasheen, The Alterboys and Frank Hymng in San Francisco, 1979-1981; and Vitamin in Boston, from 1981-1983.... And creator and multi-instrumentalist of the Primidonnatives, 2003-2010; Spoken word artist, as a member of Van Gogh Shadowtree, 2003-2007.

Aliases: Mo Digliani, Bill Gill, Jimbo Diddley, Puffy O'Tuffy

Day job: Psychotherapist