HOFFABUS 2017-2018

In this project I played and recorded every instrument except the drums (played by longtime collaborator and Northwest rock staple Mike Musburger.) Martin Feveyear (Queens of the Stone Age, Presidents of the United States of America) mixed and mastered the album on Vashon Island, WA.

“Hoffabus is a unique juxtaposition: classic rock elements with a strong undercurrent of melancholy synthesizers, buoyed by relentless pop hooks. Naubert’s intoxicating voice is the narrative through-line, weaving tales of longing and nostalgia, of searching for home and grappling with profound loss. His wordplay is wickedly clever, but he never hides behind it. He pulls no punches here, singing fearlessly and playing guitar like it’s his last stand. The result is dreamy, dark, provocative, and yet somehow edifying.”

RUSTON MIRE 1998-2007

Ruston Mire was formed in Seattle in 1998 from the ashes of my music dreams, with me as primary songwriter, singer, and guitarist. The line up was always in motion, but at times included members of The Posies, Flop, Pop Sickle, The Fastbacks, Muzzle, Faster Tiger, The Dharma Bums, Coffin Break, Sister Psychic, Nevada Bachelors, and The Model Rockets. Ruston Mire released two CDs in the early 2000s, produced by me and engineered and mixed by Martin Feveyear (Kings of Leon, Queens of The Stone Age) and Jon Ervie (OK Go, P.U.S.A.). We enjoyed heavy rotation on KEXP for both records, headlined the best clubs in town on weekend nights, played Bumbershoot, had Death Cab for Cutie play our release, played live on KEXP, landed on TV (local and a song on MSNBC), and generally were the picture of independent rock and roll in the early oughts.

Tube top 1996-1998

Tube Top was born in 1995 when prominent Seattle songwriter Gavin Guss recruited me to help put together this pop project. The rhythm section from the Posies joined us and soon we were a very buzzed-about band, recording for Columbia Records, opening for The Cure at the Gorge, flying all over the country for music festivals like Bumbershoot, CMJ, SXSW, NXNW, headlined the best clubs in town on weekend nights, and playing with bands such as Cake, Death Cab for Cutie, Wilco, and The Bay City Rollers. We released our full length record Three Minute Hercules on Laundry Room Records, produced by REM’s Peter Buck, engineered by Tom Smurdon (Soundgarden) and mixed by John Auer (Posies, Big Star) and Jon Ervie (OK Go, P.U.S.A.), and landed on compilations and 7”s for many prominent record labels. I was featured in Guitar Player magazine and we played the Live Room on KCMU (KEXP) several times, and then, like most bands in history, we imploded.

pop sickle 1993-1995

Pop Sickle was a Seattle pop-punk supergroup formed in 1993 by members of Coffin Break, The Gits, and Alcohol Funnycar. The band was originally a recording project on CZ Records (Built to Spill, Hammerbox) produced by Jack Endino (Nirvanna, Soundgarden). I was recruited while playing in a recording studio for another band and was very quickly catapulted into a new world of ambitious pop-punk band-dom, including national tours, tons of press, radio play, headlining the best clubs in town on weekend nights in the musical hotbed of Seattle, and playing with the likes of Green Day, Weezer, Everclear, Superchunk, NOFX, Jawbreaker, Sunny Day Real Estate. Pop Sickle released multiple LPs on CZ Records (Self Titled produced by Mike Mogis: Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley, Cursive) landed on compilations and 7”s for many prominent record labels, and signed a publishing deal with Sony. I slept in a sweltering ambulance (our tour vehicle) with two non-showering guys, lived on $5 a day, played to ONE person in NYC, appeared on Bill Nye The Science Guy, lived in The Descendents’ house for a year, and performed other unthinkable feats of faith and endurance.

good gravy 1992-1994

Good Gravy was formed in Tacoma in 1992 as part of the burgeoning Northwest Rock Scene. Good Gravy was a hybrid of prog, grunge and new wave, and was my early education for dealing with recording studios, booking agents, photographers, and desperately flyering telephone poles. We had a good run filling clubs in Tacoma, until I ran off with another band under cover of the night. See: Pop Sickle. They stayed together after I left and then added Ted Bundy’s brother on bass.

yellow snow 1984-1988

Yellow Snow was formed in Tacoma in 1984, revamping Shell Shock with a musical theater devotee named Pat who remains to this day the best singer I’ve ever worked with. The band had a truly original sound, earned a bit of a local following, and ended up recording 10 four track “LPs” over four years. I learned the power of creating a brand identity--which I plastered all over the region. We had the honor of opening for Nirvana in their first stage performance ever. This was at The Community World Theater in Tacoma in April, 1987. A Nirvana historian interviewed me and used my quote to begin his book, and that era has been immortalized on a compilation CD released on a London label and Yellow Snow has seen airplay in Seattle and Portland recently for some strange reason.

shell shock 1983-1985

Shell Shock was formed in Tacoma in 1983by me and two other twelve year old boys. After warming up with a few AC/DC and Judas Priest songs, we soon had an interesting set of Tacoma and/or Nuclear Apocalypse themed originals like “I’m a Pud”, “Pac Ave” and “Rivethead”. I hand-drew and silkscreened all of our posters and t-shirts. We played talent shows, basement parties, several Medieval Faires and a 6th grader party in which the girls screamed like we were the Beatles. I was hooked.

the galaxies 1963-1966

My dad was in a seminal garage rock band called The Galaxies. Formed in Tacoma in 1962, they recorded on Etiquette Records with The Sonics and The Wailers. With these colleagues and other bands such as Paul Revere & the Raiders and The Kingsmen, this Northwest scene forged sound that inspired grunge, punk, and modern garage rock. I was fortunate to play in the band for a while when they reformed in the mid 2000s.