Keith LeBlanc

"Before then I hated drum machines", he says dryly. "Then a guy named Reggie Griffin turned me on to the Oberheim DMX. I didn't like it at first, but as soon as I found out you could stretch it out of shape, I was hooked. I'd never program something into it that I could play myself as a drummer, but using it as another instrument was really what I was into.

"Onstage, LeBlanc triggers an Akai S900 from Simmons pads, Wimbush and McDonald play through a plethora of digital effects equipment, and Sherwood performs a live mixdown in stereo for every piece, quashing an instrument here, adding an impromptu sampled overdub there. Reception to the live Mafia has been mixed."

Today the record's equipment list reads like a catalogue of might-have-beens. But four years ago, it was state-of-the-art stuff: Oberheim DMX drum machine, Octave-Plateau Voyetra 8 synth, Drumulator...

Today the record's equipment list reads like a catalogue of might-have-beens. But four years ago, it was state-of-the-art stuff: Oberheim DMX drum machine, Octave-Plateau Voyetra 8 synth, Drumulator...

In this photo, Keith LeBlanc can be seen with a Roland SPD-SX Sampling Pad.