Points Of Friction formed in january of 1981, shortly after witnessing Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band perform live. Joseph Hammer, Damian Bisciglia, Tim Alexander, and Kenny Ryman were the core quartet though sometimes LAFMS (Los Angeles Free Music Society) founder Rick Potts would sit in, among others.
Their first recording was a spontaneous affair, the group members having no formal musical training (or even knowledge of “freely improvised music”) relied on their voices and whatever else was at hand – wire mesh, sheet plastic, an old guitar, etc. gradually the group acquired electric instruments, toy keyboards, multi-track tape recorders, pedal effects, etc. and moved towards a more processed sound direction, informed by groups such as Faust, Cluster, Nurse With Wound, Dome, This Heat, Can, Amm, Fripp & Eno, and Negitiveland.
By 1984 Points Of Friction had two cassette releases under their belts on LAFMS (Los Angeles Free Music Society) offshoot label Solid Eye. Their second release “Sackcloth And Ashes” was re-issued in 2002 on CD by Anomalous Records, and the groups first recording “1982” was re-issued on cdr in 2004 by the LA based Spagyric label.
After a 20 year hiatus Points Of Friction reformed in june 2004 and recruited LA native Mitchell Brown to the goon squad. “Afterlife Dna Finger-Painting”, their third official release, is the result of this reunion. They have since recorded more and have returned to occasionally performing live.” – Melon Expander.
