Robert Rolston (aka Mr. Quintron) has described his organ playing as a cross between the stylings of cartoonist Raymond Scott and jazz organist Jimmy Smith. Aside from his organ playing, Rolston is a multi-instrumentalist who performs on traditional items like guitar, drums and trumpet, as well as homemade inventions such as the Disco Light Machine - an attachment for drums where light is triggered by sound, the Spit Machine - a drum machine powered by saliva and the Drum Buddy, which contains five oscillator circuits that create drum sounds when exposed to light. Rolston has always kept his life very guarded from the press, granting interviews only on rare occasions. Since this has resulted in many unanswered questions about his life, he is viewed as a modern day enigma. He has been known to pull such stunts as showing up for interviews in wheelchairs claiming he suffered injuries from falling out of a roller coaster, such was the case in a 1996 interview with the Times-Picayune newspaper's Bill Grady. Although Rolston is somewhat of a mystery, his general disdain for the press is well-known. The truth is, Rolston was born in Germany roughly around 1972 while his father was stationed there for military service. The Rolstons didn't stay there very long though, and were soon relocating to Mobile, Ala. in the United States. After a brief stay in Alabama, the Rolstons packed up their belongings once again and set off for St. Louis, Miss. At the age of 17, Rolston parted ways with suburban St. Louis and set out for Chicago. The reason Rolston left for Chicago wasn't in pursuit of a particular music scene, but a particular drama troupe by the name of Theater Oobleck. Upon his arrival in Chicago in 1989, Rolston wound up enrolling at DePaul University, where he got involved with the school's drama department. He also joined the cover band Idol Chatter, who performed everything from the Talking Heads to Chicago blues. Rolston soon lost interest in the structure of college and opted to leave after completing three semesters. By 1990, he was playing drums for the indie band Math and founded Wicker Park's Milk of Burgundy club. After four years of performing together, Math broke up. Rolston took the opportunity to start a one-man band, where he played all of the instruments. He dubbed his new project Quintron, after the name of the company where his dad was employed as an electrical engineer. He recorded his first album, titled I.F. 001-011, for the Ypsilanti, Mich. label Bulb records. The album was a foray into the sounds of Rolston's homemade percussion. He followed the release with a tour of the United States. One of the stops he made was at the Pussycat Caverns, which was located in an old theater in New Orleans Ninth Ward District. The venue was operated by Panacea Theriac (aka Miss Pussycat), with whom Rolston became instantaneous friends and lovers. Theriac visited Rolston in Chicago during 1995 at the Milk of Burgundy, and while she was there, Rolston was given his eviction notice. The club shut its doors later that year, and Rolston set out for a tour of the Southwest with Theriac backing him up on vocals and maracas. It was on the tour that Rolston and Theriac joined hands in marriage while they were stopped in Las Vegas. At the time of their vows, neither Rolston nor Theriac knew their spouse's true identities. Upon completion of the tour, Rolston settled in with Theriac in New Orleans. Both of them worked day jobs, Theriac as a seamstress and Rolston as an elementary school science teacher. Rolston also started the Mighty Mouse Electric Service, where he worked as an electrician. It was in 1995 when Theriac managed to persuade Rolston into setting aside his drums in order to focus on playing organ. Rolston began writing a number of tracks on his Hammond S-6 organ for his second full-length album, The Amazing Spellcaster, which was released on Bulb a month prior to the closing of Pussycat Caverns in March of 1996. Looking for a new home, Theriac and Rolston purchased an old home in the Ninth Ward district of New Orleans. An untitled track from Quintron appeared on a live compilation on Atavistic records by January of 1997. Rolston mixed the compilation, titled CIA via UFO to Mercury, which featured other acts such as The Flying Luttenbachers, Trenchmouth, the Scissor Girls and Rolston's old band Math. That summer saw the opening of a new club, called the Spellcaster Lodge, under the ownership of Rolston and Theriac. The venue opened on July 4 in the basement of Rolston's and Theriac's new home at 3052 St. Claude Avenue in New Orleans. The surroundings contained a turquoise ceiling, white plants and red-and-white-striped wallpaper. The opening included performances by rhythm and blues great Ernie K-Doe and Mr. Quintron. Later that month saw the release of a Mr. Quintron/The Oblivians' collaboration titled Play 9 Songs with Mr. Quintron on Crypt records. The garage punk of The Oblivians, mixed with Mr. Quintron's improvised keyboard lines, set the ground for an album of juke-joint spirituals. It was around this time when Rolston and Theriac started their own label, Rhinetone Records, to release their output. The new imprint was set into motion with help from Skin Graft records. Rolston closed the year by contributing the track Nightclub Organist to the Skin Graft records' album Camp Skin Graft: Now Wave Compilation alongside artists such as Bobby Conn, Dazzling Killmen, Melt-Banana, Lake of Dracula, CHEER-ACCIDENT, Shorty and Theriac's puppet band Flossie and the Unicorns. Rolston's Skin Graft debut album, These Hands of Mine, appeared in November of 1998. Following the release, Mr. Quintron performed shows at New York's Knitting Factory and charted on Rock Folk magazine's best releases of the year poll. On his promotional tour for the release during March of 1999, Mr. Quintron was booked on the nationally-syndicated Chicago talk show #Jenny Jones. He was met by an audience of hecklers. The appearance was followed by his first European tour. While on the journey, Rolston and Theriac were invited to record a session for John Peel's show on BBC radio. Peel had learned of Quintron after being exposed to Theriac's Flossie and the Unicorns' album L.M.N.O.P. Rolston and Theriac returned to the United States in late May and ended the tour for These Hands of Mine in early June. Mr. Quintron rounded out the year by performing an October tour in the southern United States. The early part of 2000 was spent working on an infomercial to showcase Rolston's musical invention, the Drum Buddy. Before that project was completed, however, Bulb reissued Quintron's first album, I.F. 001-011, that March. A month later, Rolston debuted his Drum Buddy machine which converted light into analog rhythm patterns. Rolston hired his actor friend #Bob Global and Tucson, Ariz. weather anchor #Rebecca Simms to host the infomercial for the Drum Buddy, which also featured Theriac as Miss Pussycat, Quintron's friend MC Trachiotomy, the Drum Buddy Dancers and K-Doe. The surreal 49-minute video aired on some late-night television stations where viewers had the chance to purchase one of the machines for the price of $999.99. Skin Graft released the Drum Buddy Demonstration Record, Vol. 1, which was a counterpart to the machine, where the listener could learn how to play the contraption. That July saw the release of Mr. Quintron's next album, Satan Is Dead, on Bulb. The record was more focused than any of Rolston's previous efforts, demonstrating his knack to form actual song structures. The follow-up LP came quickly, as Mr. Quintron's seventh full-length album The Unmasked Organ Light-Year of Infinity Man was released on Sept. 19. The release, which ended up being a collaboration between Bulb and Rhinestone Records, marked the recording debut of Rolston's Drum Buddy. In 2001, Mr. Quintron conducted what he said would be his final tour. The summer shows included a number of performances with opening act 25 Suaves. ~ Stephen Howell, Rovi