Furnished Souls for Rent

Furnished Souls for Rent, the second album, came out in 2000 — again in Japan first, and only then in the United States. Jeff Consi played drums, and how he got there is worth telling. Notices went up in music schools and instrument shops around New York and Boston asking for a drummer who could hit hard and play funky. A friend saw one in a shop and pushed him to answer it, so Consi, then in Opium for the Masses, sent in a drum demo. He was the only drummer they called, and it was settled in that meeting. He joined officially in February 1999. The band's real ground was Japan from the start. In May 1999 they rehearsed in Melbourne, Australia, flew straight to Japan and played their first club tour there — every show sold out. With only three of them on stage, the normally quiet Donovan Bettencourt was handed a microphone and coerced into singing backing vocals. Then, once the touring for this album was done, Nuno dissolved the band in 2001. Neither record ever circulated much in the United States; they ended having left a dense following in Japan and in New England.