Mitch Easter

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Mitch Easter producing Game Theory's Lolita Nation. L-R, Mitch Easter, Michael Quercio (3 O:Clock) and Scott Miller (Game Theory). San Francisco, California 1986

Mitch Easter is a musician and producer, best known for his work with R.E.M., though he has worked with many other acts and was the frontman for the band Let's Active.

Born November 15, 1954 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Easter was deeply involved in music from an early age. He played in a number of school bands, some of them with his childhood friend Chris Stamey. The two eventually formed The Sneakers, who released a number of singles and an album in the late 1970s. Stamey and fellow bandmate Will Rigby eventually formed The dB's and moved to New York. Easter did likewise, but soon returned to Winston-Salem to set up Drive-In Studio in his parents' garage.

Drive-In Studio became an integral part of the local indie-rock scene, recording a number of bands at knock-down rates. It was at this time that Easter formed Let's Active with then-girlfriend Faye Hunter and drummer Sara Romweber. Around the same time, Easter worked with R.E.M. to record their debut single Radio Free Europe. This initial work led to a number of collaborations with the band, with Easter producing their debut EP and (with Don Dixon) their first two albums. Let's Active toured with R.E.M., which led to a recording contract with I.R.S. Records.

Weathering several line-up changes, Let's Active released an EP and three albums before splitting up. Easter had by then become known primarily as a producer, and worked with a number of artists, some of them perhaps because of his influence on the early R.E.M. His production credits include recordings by Pavement, Game Theory, Marshall Crenshaw, Velvet Crush, Richard Barone, Ken Stringfellow (of The Posies), and The Loud Family.

Easter's current studio is The Fidelitorium near Winston-Salem. He currently plays with Shalini and also under his own name. Both bands have the same lineup; they consist of his wife, Shalini Chatterjee (vocals, guitar, and bass), Eric Marshall (drummer, also in the last lineup of Let's Active), and Easter on guitar, bass, vocals, and a number of other instruments. Chatterjee sings and writes most of the songs in Shalini (a more straightforward Cheap Trick-style hard pop project), while Easter solo performs his new original songs, which reportedly continue in the tradition of Let's Active's more idiosyncratic material, along with covers of his older material. Easter, Shalini and Marshall briefly performed under the name The Fiendish Minstrels; when performing without Marshall, they went by the name Fiendish (Parlor) Minstrels. Shalini has released two albums, We Want Jelly Donuts and Metal Corner. The Fiendish Minstrels did not release any official recordings. Mitch Easter's first solo album in 18 years, Dynamico, was released on March 13, 2007.