East River Pipe

Who is East River Pipe?

Frederick M. "Fred" Cornog is a solo musician/home-recordist who records under the name East River Pipe.

Cornog was born in Norfolk, Virginia, and raised in Summit, New Jersey. After high school, Cornog worked a series of menial jobs before succumbing to alcoholism, depression, drug abuse and eventual homelessness, ending up in the Hoboken train station.

During this time he met Astoria, Queens-resident Barbara Powers, and with Powers' support and label, Cornog released some home-recorded cassettes and 7" singles under the name East River Pipe, which he chose after observing a sewage pipe spewing out raw waste into the East River. These initial 7" singles attracted the attention of UK-based Sarah Records who released his records from 1993 to 1996, making Cornog one of the few American artists, along with Aberdeen, ever signed to the label.

In the U.S., Cornog released his first LP, Shining Hours In A Can, on the Chicago-based micro-indie Ajax Records in 1994. A year later, he found a more permanent home on Merge Records, the Chapel Hill-based indie run by Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance. Also in 1995, Cornog contributed the song "Miracleland" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Bothered produced by the Red Hot Organization. Merge released Poor Fricky, Mel, The Gasoline Age, Shining Hours In A Can, Garbageheads On Endless Stun, What Are You On?, and We Live In Rented Rooms.