History

Pseudonym Biography

Pseudonym is a one-man project. Paul Desjarlais (right) is one man. Coincidence? Nope. Well, yeah, Paul used to play in bands—in the ‘80’s, he played bass for a Boston University punk group called The Uncalled Four, which boasted the excellent skills of Walter Gustafson, the former Outlets drummer. The Uncalled Four rocked! They shared the 80's Boston hardcore scene with the likes of Gang Green, The Freeze, and The F.U.'s. Back then the Uncalled Four were considered the biggest band in town, measuring 6’5", 6’4", 6’3" and 6’1" in descending order.

Paul recalls one particular UC4 gig at a UMass Amherst dorm party: a roomful of drunk collegians were dancing their brains out as a UMass band played lame Police and Stones covers. Then, the Uncalled Four came on. "We cleared the room within two songs! Except for one lone punker who was slam dancing with himself. Clearly, we were well ahead of our time." But the UC4 would break up soon after, due to not being able to afford a practice space.

After that, Paul hooked up with local guitarist john and formed a pop band with a cello player that went through about 27 name changes, and twice as many drummers, before finally losing the cellist and becoming Haberland. With new drummer Daren Follower (formerly of In Case of Jerome), Haberland played every crummy low-paying weeknight gig they could get their hands on in the early ‘90’s Boston post-punk-pop underground. "We played solely for the love of the music," claims Paul, who by this time had a decent day job and could afford to be philosophical.

The real strength of Haberland, however, would be revealed in the studio. Obsessive and prolific recorders, they produced at least 5 or 6 albums worth of material, both as Haberland and as their side-project alter-ego, The Wallflowers (before Bob Dylan’s son came and stole the name). They formed their own label, grasshopper records, and self-produced everything. As the quality of the recordings got better, the novelty of playing out live "for the love of the music" wore off, and eventually the band broke up to pursue individual studio projects.

Paul’s first solo effort was a cassette release called Pabz, which got absolutely great reviews from all the fanzines. Not only did Paul’s friends and family love it, but people he never met did, too! The current album, Pig Tail World, released on CD under the new name Pseudonym, is even better. The quality and variety of the songs really shines through. This self-written, self-performed, self-produced recording is at times both smooth and rough; it’s made with intelligence and feeling and a style that you’ve definitely never heard before. It’s different. You should listen to it.