Phantom Ratio is a “sci-fi, ’50s, black-and-white” band whose debut full-length Bring Us Your Young was released in 2012.
Frontman/bassist Brad Davidson, 48, played bass in a Portland trio called the Wipers from 1981 to ’89 and appeared on five Wipers albums. Kurt Cobain, Mudhoney, and the Melvins have also cited the proto-punk Wipers as an inspiration.
In 1992, Davidson did a one-year stint as a “hired-hand” bassist with the Jesus and Mary Chain, while he was living in England. He played Lollapalooza with JAMC, but Davidson says he wasn’t right back then. “I never settled down. I probably partied a little too hard.”
He was not an official Mary Chain partner. “They paid me musician-union wages. I got paid on a scale.” He says the hourly rate differed if he was in band practice or on tour. “I had to keep track of the hours.”
After moving to San Diego, Davidson took a job as a machinist in El Cajon and founded Phantom Ratio with with attorney and former Night Soil Man guitarist (1987–’90) Eric Stene and drummer Scott Taylor, who MCs skate demonstrations for Tony Hawk.
Phantom Ratio opened several summer 2012 Jesus and Mary Chain shows, including the Fillmore in San Francisco (June 14), House of Blues in Las Vegas (June 16), and the San Diego House of Blues on June 17.