Allen Ravenstine

A crucially important figure in the influential Cleveland pre-punk (and later post-punk) community, Allen Ravenstine was the synthesizer player with Pere Ubu, who abandoned melody and instead coaxed a variety of otherworldly sounds from his EML modular synthesizer. Ravenstine was born in Ohio on May 9, 1950. He grew up in a household of music fans: his mother was a classical pianist who favored Rachmaninov, while his father was a jazz fan who liked Erroll Garner. When he was in grade school, Ravenstine briefly studied the trombone, but he didn't enjoy it and dropped the instru...