The GREAT brain consisted of Michael Conroy (bass/guitar), Daniel Kiely (drums), Charan Ranganath (guitar), Brent Ritzel (guitar/bass). The Chicago-based quartet got their start in 1994 when Ranganath, then a graduate student at Northwestern, responded to a flyer put together by Ritzel, who published the influential Chicago music zine Tail Spins. The two guitarists developed a style of songwriting initially influenced heavily by Archers of Loaf, Polvo, Pixies, and Sonic Youth, as evidenced by their early singles, Ray/Half Decayed (Faye Records) and Satan Superman/Dotbuster. However,…
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