Fibonaccis -

Fibonaccis were an American new wave/art-rock band from Los Angeles, named after the Fibonacci numerical sequence where each digit is the sum of its two preceding numbers (0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,etc). They made two 1982/83 indie EPs and the 1987 album Civilization and Its Discotheques.

Members: Magie Song (vocals, percussion), Ron Stringer (guitar, bass, vocals, percussion), John Dentino (piano, mellotron, keyboards, vocals), Joe Berardi (drums, percussion, vibraphone, cello), Tom Corey (bass, mandolin, guitar)

Background

The Fibonaccis formed in Los Angeles in winter 1980 when keyboardist John Dentino, guitarist Ron Stringer, and singer Magie Song started the trio SmellBrain around a Yamaha Portasound Dentino bought on a Tokyo trip with Song. Dentino came from Stockton, Calif., and supported himself in Los Angeles as a substitute teacher. Stringer grew up in New Jersey; his father, Ronny Graham, worked as a comedian and actor. Song grew up in Los Angeles after Korean parents immigrated to the United States on student visas.

Dentino and Stringer met in 1978 at a Fear show inside Brendan Mullen’s second punk venue, The Other Masque in Hollywood. The pair began rehearsing at home with Dentino on his grandmother’s upright piano and Stringer on his first electric guitar, a pawnshop Aspen. SmellBrain moved from parties to Janet Cunningham’s C.A.S.H. club in Hollywood, where Song sang and recited from handwritten lyric sheets. Performance artist Priscilla B booked the trio as accompaniment at the Whisky a Go Go.

Drummer and percussionist Joe Berardi joined in 1981 and completed the first four-piece lineup. Berardi already knew Stan Ridgway in the Hollywood punk circle and coined the name Wall of Voodoo in a conversation with the singer. The group adopted the Fibonaccis name from Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci and played the first show under that name at Al’s Bar in downtown Los Angeles on June 6, 1981, as a quartet.

The Fibonaccis recorded living-room demos that year and secured a release through Index Records. Philip Culp, credited as Philip Randal, produced the resulting sessions with engineer Chas Ramirez. The band issued the seven-song Fí-bō-nă-chēz through Index in April 1982 as its first record. The group played Carl Stone’s KPFK program in 1982 and continued club dates at Al’s Bar, Club Lingerie, and the Whisky. Filmmakers used “Sergio Leone” over the closing credits of the 1982 science-fiction film Android.

Tom Corey joined in 1983 as bassist and mandolinist. The Fibonaccis cut the three-track Tumor 12-inch with producer Craig Leon for Enigma Records. The band placed Joe Berardi’s “Looking for Eddie” on the 1984 compilation Film Noir: American Style and recorded the Jimi Hendrix staple “Purple Haze” with producer Ethan James for Radio Tokyo Tapes Vol. II.

Director Ted Nicolaou heard the group at Club Lingerie and contacted Dentino after Nicolaou’s wife suggested them for the TerrorVision soundtrack. The Fibonaccis cut five songs for the film at Music Grinder in Los Angeles in January 1985 with producer Ron Goudie. The group appeared at New Music America on Nov. 5, 1985, at Japan America Theater in Los Angeles.

The Fibonaccis spent the mid-1980s pursuing a full-length record as proposed label deals repeatedly stalled and lineup changes unsettled the band. Stringer remained a composer and guitarist on the album sessions alongside Song, Dentino, Berardi, and Corey. The Fibonaccis cut Civilization and Its Discotheques in 1987 at Juniper Studios in Burbank and Casbah Studios in Fullerton with engineers Steve Sharp and Charles Ramirez.

Discography: