Welcome to My Mind is the first record by my favourite band of all time- The Hi-Fives. My first time seeing them perform and buying their record may have been one of the most important afternoons of my life. I was in middle school and at a jazz band festival at CSU Sacramento. It was a nice spring afternoon and I was tired of wandering around with my jazz band watching other middle school jazz bands perform. A friend of mine and I decided to wander off and check out the campus. We heard music coming from afar and saw a stage near the student union with band playing. Most of the bands performing that afternoonwere mainstays of the Sacramento indie scene of the mid-nineties, such as Little Guilt Shrine, but the one that stood out to me was The Hi-Fives.

First of all, the were wearing suits which was a straight throw back to the sixties. Secondly, they sounded sort of like the Kinks, which was really surprising to me. I was immediately hooked and rushed to the stage. Afterwards I had to borrow $5 from my friend to buy Welcome to My Mind on vinyl, their 7-inch single, and a sticker. I remember feeling very shy talking to the band aftwerwards, but also being totally amazed that they would talk to some 13 year-old nerd like me.

That pretty much started the my love affair with The Hi-Fives. I went home and immediately started listening to Welcome to My Mind non-stop. It turned me on to the whole world of sixties garage music. It also seems to be the one album that sums up everything I like about music.

The really sad thing is, if it weren't for that record, I probably wouldn't have moved to Berkeley for college. My life would be very different.