Raised in Chicago, Statland first began learning piano as a youngster, before switching to guitar after being inspired by the Who. In 1989, Statland had relocated to New York City to attend college, where he met the future members of Thin Lizard Dawn, who would subsequently sign to RCA and issue a pair of albums, 1996's self-titled debut and 1999's Go. During his tenure with TLD, Statland also indulged in the lo-fi side project Low Flame, resulting in the releases Slave to the Party and a self-titled release (the latter a soundtrack to a film both written and directed by Statland), which has made an unlikely fan out of Philip Glass. 2001 saw the release of NYCSmoke's debut recording, For the Posers. ~ Greg Prato