Chris Collins (aka Johnny Gotham) : keyboards,vocals,programming,bass,guitar,samples :

A native of Philadelphia, Chris relocated to New Orleans in 1995 to escape cold weather, a large stack of parking tickets, and a bitter depression about watching a once-thriving original music scene in the city go to shit and the subsequent take-over of the crappy cover band clones from hell. While based in Philadelphia, he was a member of the legendary, barnstorming funk-rock-ska hybrid band Chef Eddy(1991-1995), and before that an integral part of the pop-rock group Shades of Blue(1986-1990). Chef Eddy’s 1995 Hairy Eyeball Records release “Well, It’s About F%*^#in’ Time !” was the darling of fans and music critics alike, thanks in part to the inclusion of hard-core pornography with every CD.

Chris has no formal musical training at all, except at the age of 8, he did take one organ lesson from a man who claimed to be one of Jim Croce’s guitar and accordion teachers. The Collins family was fortunate to have an old baby grand piano in the house for a young Chris to abuse that was a remnant from one of the long-closed big band halls that his grandfather owned in the 1940’s. He was drawn to keyboards, and synthesizers in particular, from an early age while soaking in the music of Yes, ELP, Pink Floyd, Talking Heads, Parliament Funkadelic, Jean-Michel Jarre, and many others. Chris has been involved in a number of musical theatre and variety show projects, as well as writing music for student films. He was also featured (physically not musically) in the very first two episodes of the “Girls Gone Wild” video series, which he hopes his family never sees. Electronic artists Chris digs include Lords of Acid, Hybrid, BT, Everything But The Girl, Nine Inch Nails, Squarepusher, 808 State, and Meat Beat Manifesto.

Chris has shared billing with artists as diverse as Barenaked Ladies, Johnny Winter, Dred Zeppelin, Flock of Seagulls, The Toasters, and many others. For the past 10 years, he has also performed and recorded electronic music under the names “Liquid” and “Gotham”, and has had the pleasure of playing for audiences around North America. Chris and Charlie have kicked around the idea of ElectraVibe since meeting in 1996 at the legendary Funky Butt jazz club in New Orleans. At the Funky Butt, Chris was the managing partner of the club, and also served as the sound engineer, stage manager, and did the booking, for the majority of shows between 1996-2001, at which point he left the club to put more time into his own projects. The first song Chris ever learned on guitar was “Horse With No Name” and on piano, “Sympathy for the Devil".