Early career Silverman is a classically trained double bass player who attended the
San Francisco Conservatory of Music and developed a career in the progressive
jazz scene in the 1990s, performing live and as a studio musician. He started out in a funk, rockabilly, jazz band called "The Fabulous Hedgehogs" before he developed his own style of solo playing and gained a reputation as a one-man rhythm section, incorporating traditional and slap-bass playing with percussive elements using the body of the instrument. When he began to feel limited by his instrument and a heavy schedule of playing and recording for other people, he started to devise a new instrument that would allow him the range to create his own music. At first he sought out professional help in building his instrument, but decided to make it himself because of the projected cost. The end result was the Magic Pipe, a collection of steel plumbing pipes and joints, orchestral bass strings, and electronics.
As That 1 Guy Since then, Silverman has developed a career as a
one-man band under the stage name That 1 Guy, first playing his upright bass, and later singing and
beatboxing while playing his Magic Pipe,
musical saw, various percussive elements, and using digital looping and sampling to perform his songs. His musical influences include
Drums and Tuba,
Rush,
Frank Zappa,
Captain Beefheart, and
Dr. Seuss, both in terms of his lyrics and his quirky homemade instruments. He has also been influenced by
Tom Waits, and was invited to play saw (and subsequently bass) on tracks for Waits’
Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards album. He has a cult following in the United States of America, as well as in Australia, which he has toured several times, including performances at major festivals such as
Big Day Out,
Pyramid Rock Festival, and
Woodford Folk Festival. He has also played many shows alongside
avant-garde guitarist
Buckethead, with whom he released a collaborative album under the name
Frankenstein Brothers in 2008. He has received little mainstream recognition, but did garner attention after the use of his song "Buttmachine" (from his second album,
The Moon is Disgusting) on
Showtime's original comedy series
Weeds, season 3, episode 9. He started a tour throughout the United States of America in early 2009, and performed at festivals in Canada and France. ==Instruments==