Jellyfish Manning attended
Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton in the 1980s. There, he met drummer
Andy Sturmer. After graduating, Manning moved to Los Angeles and enrolled at
USC to study musical composition. He involved himself with the local scene and began auditioning for various bands. In August 1989, a year after
Atlantic Records released Beatnik Beatch's eponymous debut album, Jellyfish released two albums:
Bellybutton (1990) and
Spilt Milk (1993), whose combined sales totaled over 269,000 copies. During this era, Sturmer and Manning worked with
Ringo Starr, for his 1992 solo album
Time Takes Time, and
Brian Wilson of
the Beach Boys. Wilson and Jellyfish had one songwriting session and it was unproductive; Manning described the experience as "utterly surreal". and in May, the
San Francisco Chronicle reported that Jellyfish had disintegrated due to "creative differences". Afterward, Manning formed the short-lived
glam outfit
Imperial Drag with ex-Jellyfish guitarist
Eric Dover. On stage and in their promotional materials, the band donned space-suit disguises that were similar to outfits worn by another emerging electronic duo,
Daft Punk. This was reportedly only a coincidence. Music journalist Brian Chidester commented that the band "yielded solid overseas sales amidst the retro-obsessed landscape of
Pulp Fiction, the Swing revival and thrift shop mania. The duo even ... found a small domestic audience attuned to similar electronic psych-pop coming out of Europe by bands like
Stereolab,
Mouse on Mars and
the High Llamas." Initially, the trio did not intend to record; rather, they wanted to have small writing sessions. Eventually, though, they wrote and recorded twelve songs, which are being spread across 3 EPs (titled
Vol. 1,
Vol. 2, and
Vol. 3) through 2020 and 2021, with the releases being joined by singles from the EPs. Session drummer
Jeremy Stacey joined to augment the trio on the recordings.
Andy Sturmer, however, wasn't invited to work with them due to his reluctance to work within the music industry.
Solo In early 2006, Manning released his first solo album in Japan only:
Solid State Warrior. He credited it under his full name to avoid confusion with the folk musician
Roger Manning. In 2019 Manning co-wrote and performed background vocals on the song "You'll Never Guess What Happened Today" with internet pioneer
Jaye Muller, aka "Count Jaye" for his 2019 album release. ==Discography==