Martin Swope

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Martin Swope is an American musician. He presently lives in Hawaii.

He joined experimental post punkers Mission of Burma in April 1979, in the month between the band's first and second gigs. He was the group's audio engineer for live performances, and added various tape loop effects to many of their songs. He was arguably the only full-time tape loop specialist in rock music history.

During Mission of Burma's tenure, Swope joined MoB singer/guitarist Roger Miller in the latter's instrumental side project Birdsongs of the Mesozoic. Miller generally played piano, while Swope played electric guitar. The band became Miller and Swope's primary musical outlet when Burma disbanded in 1983. Swope contributed a handful of original compositions to the Birdsongs catalog, most notably "The Tyger" (once performed by Mission of Burma). Both left Birdsongs by the early 1990s.

When MoB reformed in 2002, Swope declined the invitation to rejoin his former bandmates; Bob Weston (of Shellac) took Swope's place at the reel to reel machine.

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