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MU was a band formed by Jeff Cotton (aka Antennae Jimmy Semens) after he left the Magic Band in 1969. Cotton hooked up with friends Merrell Fankhauser, Larry Willey and Randy Wimer from his old band The Exiles. The band developed a subtle and mellow sound which was lifted above the average by Cotton’s fine slide work and some interesting rhythms. Their first single and debut album were released on very small labels and were not given the distribution and advertising they deserved. The band moved to Hawaii in 1973, Willey replaced by Jeff Parker on bass but the band fell apart the following yearRead More →

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This was Jeff Cotton’s first band which he put together when he was only 14 with Merrell Fankhauser, who’d had several surf hits with The Impacts, and fellow high school friends Greg Hampton and Jim Ferguson. They recorded a number of songs, influenced by Buddy Holly and the British Invasion groups, that became hits locally during 1964 and 1965 but much of their output has not been released until the last few years. Although Cotton definitely played on many of earlier The Exiles tracks the band developed into an ever-changing collection of musicians centred around Fankhauser during 1966 and 1967 by which time Cotton hadRead More →

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Jeff probably has the distinction of recording with a band at an earlier age than any other Magic Band member. He began his first band The Exiles when he was only 14 and they released their debut single within a few months. When this band fell apart in 1966 he played with several unrecorded bands – The Allusions, Blues In A Bottle (with John French, Mark Boston and later Bill Harkleroad) – before joining the Magic Band in 1967. An unfortunate incident resulted in Jeff quitting the band during 1969 after the recording of Trout Mask. When he’d recovered he hooked up with former ExilesRead More →