Lo Faber plays guitar, sings half the songs, and writes a lot of the songs for GSW. Here in his own words is...

All About Lo

My earliest musical experiences came about as a result of my mother, Ellen Faber, being in a bluegrass band; this was in the mid-Seventies when I was about seven to eleven years old. They worked about five nights a week and often my brother Tony and I would be brought along to watch the gigs when we couldn't find a babysitter. We also accompanied the band on several tours of the festival circuit. The band also rehearsed directly under my bedroom and I remember many night when I couldn't sleep all night for listening to them practicing their harmonies and learning new tunes. So there were always a lot of musicians and musical instruments around the house and I just sort of casually started learning to play things. I started out on banjo when I was about ten, and learned bass, guitar, mandolin, and piano over the next few years.
When I was about 13 I got into rock music instead of country for the first time, but living in rural New Jersey without alot of friends my own age I was pretty much limited to my mom's records as far as what I listened to--basic stuff like the Beatles, Stones, the Dead, James Taylor. I took up electric bass in order to join my first band when I was 13 and played bass in all my various high school bands until Tomo and I formed The Lucky Charms when we were 17, when I got to play guitar in a band for the first time. By that time I was into a lot of other music--I listened to the Sex Pistols and the Ramones when punk was first happening, and I went totally crazy for the Talking Heads when "Remain in Light" came out.
In 1984 I graduated high school and took a year off. A lot of that year was spent working for the family business, Eberhard Faber Inc., (yes, the pencil company), and getting to know my dad better whom I hadn't grown up with. I was pretty miserable wearing a suit and selling pencils though, and finally decided to enroll in NYU and go to college. I also started getting into jazz around this time, first by listening to Steely Dan (the ultimate jazz-rock band) and then by buying the Real Book and tons of straight jazz records and learning things by ear.
My jazz education continued when I met Dan in 1986 and we transferred together to Manhattan School Of Music the next year to study jazz. I had (and still have) mixed feelings about studying music in an academic environment, and I eventually dropped out of MSM when God Street started getting a lot of gigs. But I did learn a lot there, about theory and arranging, and I had the chance to write big band arrangements and hear them played which was quite a treat. I also learned that straight jazz wasn't exactly what I wanted to do, musically; it just got dry after a while, and there didn't seem to be much of a career in it.
I've always been interested in a lot of different kinds of music and I think that shows in the many phases and styles that GSW has experimented with over the years. I love pure pop songs and the Beatles are still my all-time idols. I also like more involved "art-rock"--Pink Floyd, Zappa, King Crimson, and nowadays, Phish. Then there's jazz, of course, and the country and bluegrass that I grew up on as a kid. I also played quite a bit of reggae with Tomo when we were truants in high school--not just Bob Marley but all the obscure stuff you have to search for. Finally, I also like words--like those of Bob Dylan, another idol, and great songwriters like Elvis Costello and Joni Mitchell--and those from literature, like Shakepeare, William Blake, sci-fi authors Philip Dick and Stanislaw Lem, and storytellers like Raymond Carver.
I feel very lucky to have and to have had the opportunity to be a part of a musical organization like GSW that lets me indulge any and all of these interests, to perform in front of people, to write songs and hear them played, and to have a great time and make a living while doing it.

Height: 5' 5"
Weight: 130
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown/Blonde
Date of Birth: 5-20-66
Astrological Sign: Taurus
Where you were born: Wilkes-Barre, PA
Where you grew up: Belle Mead, NJ
Nickname: L.G.

What was the strangest God Street Wine show ever?
I think our first show ever in Telluride, CO would have to be up there. The power for the whole town blacked out literally as we were just about to go on, so we joined the audience in banging on percussion instruments by candlelight for the next two hours, and then played one of our wildest shows ever when the power came back on. There are many other weird ones, like the horn section show at the 712 Club where one of our trumpet players started having a bad acid trip onstage, which manifested itself first in his switching instruments to a small plastic bagpipe, then in his attacking the rest of the horn section with a ball peen hammer. What else....playing behind chicken wire at an SLU frat party....playing in the snow for Earth Day in Burlington, Vermont in '92....any of the shows in Paris.

What do you like to do when you're not thinking about music?
When am I not thinking about music? Well, sometimes I just like to go out to dinner with my girlfriend. Sometimes I like to play golf. I am also an avid poker player. Sometimes I write vast descriptions of an imaginary world for a D&D campaign run by my brother. Once in a while I need to hang out in a bar and drink a lot of Irish whiskey. Mostly I hang out at home and my girlfriend and I stare at our cats, and discuss them for hours on end.

Who did you look up to as a kid?
My dad; my stepdad; the Beatles; Bob Dylan; all the older and more popular kids at PDS.

What is the best thing about being in God Street Wine?
You get to play music and get paid for it, you get to travel the country in a tour bus, you get a lot of free beer, you get to hang out with Tomo (which I understand is most people's ultimate goal), and you get to think of a new nickname for Aaron on an almost daily basis. You generally avoid growing up and becoming an adult, and instead you spend a lot of time working on vocal harmonies. Plus occasionally you get recognized in public, which really impresses whoever you're with.

What would you be doing if you weren't in God Street Wine?
I might be an economist, since that's what I was studying at NYU. I also might be an artist since when I was a teenager I liked visual arts just as much as playing music (girls like musicians better than artists though, at least in high school). I'd like to design games for a living since I love games of all kinds--board games, card games, computer games. I'd also like to be a history professor since I love reading history and I think I could make it more interesting than it's usually presented. Finally I'd like to be a baseball player, but there are currently no 5'5" players in the major leagues (although Florida's John Cangelosi, who is officially listed at 5'7", is probably in reality pretty close to my height).

What don't most people realize about touring?
Some people continue to think that God Street Wine is their local band, that we come from whatever town we're playing in (despite a tour bus being parked outside). Some people think all sorts of things about the band, in fact, judging by the rumours I've heard from fans and on the Internet. Some people don't really realize that our gigs are booked by an agent and are not always under the direct control of the band ("why aren't you guys playing Tuscaloosa this tour?") Some people don't realize that we generally have to leave town a few hours after the show ends ("you guys want to come to our frat and do bongs all night?") The worst for me is, some people don't realize how many towns we visit and how many people we meet in each town and how hard it is for me to remember everybody's names, and I would like to most sincerely apologize to all the people I've met over the years, whose company and conversation I've enjoyed, whose names I can't for the life of me remember.

What advice would you give to aspiring musicians?
Listen. Listen. Listen to as much music as you can and figure it out by ear; your ear, not your hands, is your most important musical tool. Concentrate on playing good music, not on getting a record deal. Play the music you like, not the music you think will be "commercial". Remember to have a good time. If everyone followed these simple rules there would be a lot more great music being made.

Favorite meals? Lobster; spaghetti carbonara; buffalo wings; western omelette.
Favorite beverages? Rolling Rock, Irish whiskey (Bushmill's or Jameson's), Grape Gatorade.
Favorite movies? Apocalypse Now, Hearts Of Darkness, Rear Window, Vertigo, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Magnificent Ambersons, Love And Death, The Apartment, Planes Trains and Automobiles, Blue Velvet, The Shining.
Favorite TV shows? The Simpsons, Twin Peaks, any baseball or golf.
Favorite books? Death In Venice by Thomas Mann, A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick, Amber series by Roger Zelazny, Lord Of The Rings by Tolkien, The Red and The Black by Stendhal, anything by Raymond Chandler, any mystery by John Dickson Carr.
Favorite philosopher? Voltaire was pretty cool.
Favorite albums (rock/pop)? The Beatles "Revolver", Bob Dylan "Blonde On Blonde", "Highway 61 Revisited", Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here", Grateful Dead "American Beauty", Frank Zappa "Apostrophe", Brian Eno "Another Green World", Talking Heads "Remain In Light", U2 "Rattle and Hum", Elvis Costello "My Aim Is True", Bob Marley "Uprising", Bunny Wailer "Blackheart Man", Jonathan Richmond "Back In Your Life", Prince "Arounf The World In A Day", Steely Dan "The Royal Scam".
Favorite albums (other music)? Any Beethoven piano sonatas played by Glenn Gould, any Mozart opera particularly Magic Flute, Debussy Etudies, Chopin Nocturnes, Miles Davis "Kind Of Blue", "Milestones", John Coltrane "A Love Supreme", "Crescent", "My Favorite Things", Oliver Nelson "Blues And The Abstract Truth", George Jones "Super Hits", Bill Monroe "Uncle Pen", "Blue Moon Of Kentucky", Flatt & Scruggs "The Columbia Years", anything by the Stanley Brothers, anything by the Lewis Family, anything by Gram Parsons.
Favorite GSW songs? "Into The Sea", "Home Again", "Run To You", "Mantoloking", "Made Of Blood", "Red & Milky White", "Feather", "Oklahoma", "Angeline".
Favorite bands (currently active)? Ominous Seapods (of course), Phish, Black Crowes, G. Love and Special Sauce.
Favorite sports team/athletes? New York Mets, Tiger Woods.
Favorite computer/video game? Civilization II, Resident Evil, The Need For Speed.
Favorite websites?

What do you wear to bed? Flannel boxers and T-shirt.
What is your worst habit? Smoking, I guess. I also like to drive fast.
What kind of car do you drive? Honda Accord EX 1994.
What pets do you have? 2 cats: Max (2 yr old male), Blue (1 yr old female, Max's daughter).
What medications are you currently taking? None. I'm big on Sudafed on the road though.
What kind of condoms do you use? Lifestyles Extra-Sensitive Spermicidally Lubricated.
What kind of animal would you like to be? A cat. Or maybe a "great cat": puma, tiger, cheetah.
What skills do you have that no one knows about? I can make a squeaking sound by rubbing my ear against my head. I can convincingly imitate Mr Burns from The Simpsons.
What do you eat for breakfast? Mushroom & cheese omelette, bacon, grapefruit juice, white toast.

Treat all people with respect, don't trust the government, and live long.
"Use men after their dessert, and who shall 'scape whipping? Use them after you own honour and dignity, and the less they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty." -Hamlet