Glenn Raucher’s first musical experiences were sampling his parent’s 8-track tapes in the privacy of his attic bedroom. Allmann Brothers “Eat A Peach,” Leon Russell’s “Carny,” C, S, N & Y’s “Déjà vu” and “Four-Way Street,” “Snoopy Come Home.” All the classics of the 70’s.
Always encouraged to seek out art and music, he eventually had one of those “magical Moments™” that all music-lovers have:
He was babysitting for a friend of his parent’s son, and, like many folks in the late 70’s/early 80’s, his parents and their friends were out late, sampling debaucheries unimagined. The friend always encouraged him to listen to any of his records, so Glenn flicked through cover after cover until finding a giant, red-faced orb making some strange hand gesture. He put the record on, heard the sound of wind and whistling and machinery, distinct, yet distant. then a moment’s silence, and then…
BOOM!
…he picked himself up off the floor, and heard:
“Cat’s foot, iron claw
neurosurgeon’s scream for more
at paranoia’s iron door
21st Century Schizoid man…”
This was something entirely different, and in a dark house, at 2 or 3 (or 4) in the morning, something that took on a talismanic, cathartic aspect.
After Crimson, there was Yes, Genesis, and other progressive rock luminaries. (Though for whatever reason ELP’s attraction always eluded him).
The first “true love” was Rush. Given their “Farewell to Kings” record by accident by a friend of a friend who thought a mid-summer camper’s party was a birthday gathering, he put it on and again was positively blind-sided by the sound. He dove deeply into Rush, being one of the first in his high school to become a fan (Carol Cohen and John McLaughlin the others!) So much so, that at a recent reunion, amongst all other memories, his Rush fanaticism was mentioned most often.
His first performing band was the late, unlamented Jacob Abbott, a source of friendship and pain. Never quite learning to play bass, he was in a band that mostly covered Rush and Black Sabbath. Not being motivated (or having the income), he did not take bass lessons, to the frustration of his band-mates, who eventually “turfed” him out of the band, breaking his bass with a screwdriver in the bargain. Unsurprisingly, he never picked up an instrument again.
At the end of high school, he and sometime Home to Henry drummer Clint Gascoyne formed Equilibrium, and for the first time played original music, with original lyrics written by both Clint and Glenn. The lyrics--Glenn’s at least--were dreadful. But as a fledgling composer, at least the seal was broken. Discovering, through Clint, Marillion, also drove Glenn to be more meticulous with his lyrics, and after shaking off many “Fish-isms,” he did indeed begin to write lyrics whose style and subject matter were definitively his.
He met the guitarists from the first iteration of Home to Henry, Deke Keener and Andrew Moss (of Seattle’s Evil Little Men) in Ithaca, but they only got together to write and perform once they all separately moved to Baltimore in the late 80’s/early 90’s. In College, Glenn’s musical horizons expanded exponentially, where the artists who truly inspire his own work emerged: Richard Thompson, Elvis Costello, The Band, Joni Mitchell…only a partial list of artists who moved him, and made him want to move people, too…
Before the Baltimore experience, he auditioned for, and after being passed over the first time, joined the Whitestone-based prog-rock combo Angry Men, who Glenn convinced to change their name to Ashes.
Ashes recorded a three-song cassette, and then disbanded in 1989. (Clint was part of that band, too).
In Baltimore, Glenn honed his songwriting craft with Keener and Moss, vastly improved his lyric-writing ability, and began to find his true voice as a singer. The Baltimore version of HTH recorded a full CD, but then both guitarists relocated, and the record was shelved.
After years away from New York, Glenn moved back in October of 2000, and in July of 2002, Jason Staal answered his ad in the Village Voice. They met, and more or less instantly began to write together. Both “Back to You” and “Feels Like Winter,” which appear on Home to Henry’s debut CD “Another Life” were written in the first month or so that Jason and Glenn wrote together.
Home to Henry has been an essential part of Glenn’s life since that summer. Seeing him through the travails of everyday life (work drama, divorce, family matters, good and bad, up and down), HTH has remained a refuge and a part of him that continues to give back much more than he could ever give to it.
Since 2002, Glenn and Jason have written nearly 50 songs, recorded 14 of them, taught 8 band members those first 14 (and a few others) songs, and have begun to attract a progressively larger audience for their tuneful, emotionally vibrant and intelligent rock music. With a (hopefully) stable line-up at the end of 2009, Glenn hopes that the band has only really scratched the surface of what they can accomplish.
