Accordion, Vox

Camille is a squishy-hearted hard-drinking Mole King (All Hail!). With their witchy charisma and extensive knowledge of natural history, Camille conjured the genre-bending Velvet Dirtmunchers from the cosmic void in 2018. A self-taught multi-instrumentalist and composer, Camille specializes in sultry vocals, heart-wrenching horn melodies, and complex polyrhythm madness. Their lyrics reflect themes of the infernal, the broken internal, spirits and bad habits, blood, betrayal, and longing for what can never be. Before making their home in the fertile musical soil of Boston, Camille burrowed around the world getting into bar fights, digging up weasel skulls, wildcrafting herbs, sleeping on hay bales under the stars, carousing with vikings, crafting bone tools in neolithic Denmark, and writing mountains of music. This dirt wizard dreams of mole-titudes of folks dancing, cackling, and unearthing weird art in the streets.

Helicon

Jason picked up a trombone in 4th grade, but was awakened to their true identity as a tuba player in 2016. After drinking Oktoberfest beer from a three-liter boot with The Mole King, Jason’s fate as a Future Dirtmuncher was sealed. When queried as to their favorite lyric, Jason oscillates between the kid-friendly adaptation “I’m a choo-choo engine,” and, paradoxically, “NAKED. And SQUISHY.” Jason is a sound engineering techno mole who works at Sonos, exudes electricity, and will someday fix the band’s broken soundsystem. Go to the url below if you seek existential bewilderment. Go to the future if you want to see Jason proudly cycling across Europe on tour with a helicon over their shoulder. Photo credit: Derek Kouyoumjian

http://oscillope.xyz

Percussion

Ellen Patridge hails from Rochester, NY – the land of "garbage plates" and Wegmans – where she started playing percussion in the middle school indoor drumline and marching band. At Cornell she rocked the bell section while studying Applied Operations Research. When Ellen moved to Boston the Honk! scene called, and she joined a number of brass bands that eventually led her to meet the Mole King and find her way to the Velvet Dirtmunchers! Ellen is super excited to be part of the rhythm section for this crew of absolutely badass musicians, and loves making grooves in "Pineapple Terror Terror" time under The Mole King’s gothic cabaret vibes.

Baritone

Eric launched his musical career as a church choir cherub with golden ringlets and a love of the lord, but when he picked up a trumpet in middle school he found himself on the express route to hell. Newly minted sinner that he was, he tossed the trumpet aside in favor of tuba because it was the biggest and could simply devour all other instruments should it feel threatened. Perhaps this explains Eric’s obsession with his harem of trumpet frenemies, who he would follow to the ends of the earth just to torment mid-solo. The Goode Child that he is, Eric boasts a resume that would jerk tears of pride from any parent’s eyes. He earned his Bachelors in Tuba Performance from James Madison University and completed his Masters at Boston University. Eric has regularly subbed with the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, Detroit Symphony, Albany Symphony, Symphony New Hampshire, and Springfield Symphony. He appeared as a guest artist at the South Central Regional Tuba and Euphonium Conference, and at the Midwest Regional Tuba and Euphonium Conference. As coordinator and conductor of Boston Tuba Christmas for four years, Eric blessed downtown Boston with the festive wub of 100+ tubists. He’s on the cusp of achieving his Doctorate in Tuba Performance from Boston University; one more exam and we’ll have to call him “Dr. Goode.”

https://eric-goode.com/

Trombone

Worms came from outer space. They pretend to play trombone. No, but really-- Ashley formally became a band nerd in high school playing baritone and then tuba through college. It’s unclear what they did before meeting the Stanford Band but that group first clued them into the insane magic of music in the streets. From there it was an easy jump to finding the circus band Environmental Encroachment in Chicago and meeting the Mole King on tour, probably while dumpster diving or playing horns in the subway. They LARP daily as a programmer and are active in several Boston-area HONK bands.

Trumpet

Hailing from St. Louis MO, Annie migrated to Boston in 2020 by land. Annie started music as a kid fumbling around on the family guitar, bugle, and Moog. She joined the middle school band and hasn't looked back since. Annie is formally trained in music education, but gained much experience playing in ska, jazz, and brass bands throughout the years. Her musical superpower is the ability to improvise on anything, even the wrong parts of the song! She is looking forward to building some puppeteering skills as part of the Dirtmunchers. Moved from fangirl to band member, Annie was destined to munch dirt. As a kid, she won the Tide's Dirtiest Kid award in year 2000. Since then, she earned best self-produced album from the St. Louis Blues Society in 2019. Annie's musical future fantasy is a bike and band tour with all of the Velvet Dirtmunchers should they accept this challenge! Her favorite fruit is strawberries.

https://annieandthefurtrappers.bandcamp.com/

Trumpet

At the tender age of 10 Hannah’s dad handed her a trumpet mouthpiece and uttered a terse “buzz on this.” Thus, Moles Davis was born! She honed her trumpet skills at Utrecht School of the Arts in the Netherlands (Bachelor of Music) and Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, MA (Master of Music). Hannah got sucked into the street band scene by Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band, where she met The Mole King. The two forged an unbreakable bond made of trumpets and coordinated dance moves, and when the Velvet Dirtmunchers formed up Hannah got involved on her diabolical horn. As a mole-tilingual maven who speaks English, Spanish, Dutch, and Icelandic, Hannah can’t wait to tour Iceland and mainland Europe (by bike?!). Hannah is best known for her velvety sound, and a tone that can only be described as “PURE GOLD.” Photo credit: Kristopher Johnson. Hannah lives in Iceland now, but is an eternal honorary mole.