According to a Rolling Stone review, Human Switchboard "was of its time — mixing Velvet Underground guitar churn, Sixties garage-rock organ, rubbery Pere Ubu-like baselines, skronky sax and athletically spazzy drumming.
"[1] Human Switchboard consisted of singer-guitarist Robert Pfeifer, singer and Farfisa organ player Myrna Marcarian, Ron Metz on drums, Steve Calabaria, Doug Morgan and Paul Hamann on the bass.
They, along with drummer Ron Metz, recorded an EP of four songs, enlisting David Thomas of Pere Ubu to mix the tapes.
After the school year ended, the band started playing shows, with its first in the basement of local Columbus High Street record store Magnolia Thunderpussy.
In the next few months, the band started playing shows in the area and gained followings in the Kent, Akron, Dayton, Columbus, Detroit and Pittsburgh regions.
They continued playing more dates in New York with a new bass player George Scott III, formerly of the 8 Eyed Spy, James White and the Blacks and The Raybeats.
The bass playing chores on the new songs was shared among two players, Paul Hamann the studio engineer and the newest band member, Steve Calabria.
[2] Rolling Stone called it an "absolute classic"[3] and that "the band’s was of its time — mixing Velvet Underground guitar churn, Sixties garage-rock organ, rubbery Pere Ubu-like basslines, skronky sax and athletically spazzy drumming.
Singer-guitarist Robert Pfeifer was a Lou Reed superfan; co-leader and organ player Myrna Marcarian had a husky, searching voice like Patti Smith.
Human Switchboard also had become a resident fixture at New York's Danceteria night club where they would remain a feature act for the next couple of years.
They decided to close the store and move from Kent back to Cleveland, where they obtained an apartment in Coventry (an area made famous by Harvey Pekar).
During the band's remaining year and a half, they played regular shows at the Peppermint Lounge and CBGBs in New York, Maxwells in Hoboken and Gilleys in Dayton, Ohio.