A small boy went to see what was one of the blockbuster films of that day, Bonnie and Clyde. He leaves the theatre totally entranced with the sound of Earl Scruggs' banjo, featured so prominently on the film's soundtrack. Immediately he begins scheming on how to get his own banjo and start playing like that. Ironically, Dino DiMuro would not become known as a banjo player, and he would not play any music remotely connected to the bluegrass style of Scruggs. He would instead become one of the key names in an underground musical movement of the '80s that involved a small but dedicated worldwide community. And although his name is hardly a household word among the mass audience, the mobs that pack theatres to see the hit films of the late '90s and beyond, such as The Patriot and Gladiator, hear the work of DiMuro because he is a sound editor on these pictures. From a child obsessing about Earl Scruggs, DiMuro made what could have been the predicted transition: electric guitar and membership in high school bands playing covers of artists such as Joe Walsh, Deep Purple, and the Eagles. By the time the monumental opportunity came around to open up for Van Halen at a high school dance, the corruptive influence of Frank Zappa had started setting in, and the very real possibility of irritating the audience became talked of as a potentially positive thing. One of DiMuro's main collaborators, John Gibson, began making tapes with him back in the sixth grade. Many hours were spent fooling around with tape recorders, an activity that would continue throughout DiMuro's life. He seems to have focused more on tapes than on performing in front of live audiences. By the late '70s, he, Gibson, and other musical pals had been making cassettes and creating "editions" of one or two copies. Some of the DiMuro creations began getting airplay on Los Angeles underground radio stations such as KPFK. While the United States got used to the idea of having movie actor Ronald Reagan as president, small recording labels became more and more conservative about what they would release, seemingly frightened by the steady number of self-taught, self-reliant musical artists emerging from their basements with master tapes under their arms. DiMuro was one such artist, joining others such as Tom Furgas, Al Perry, Ken Clinger, and Zen Hoffman in what would come to be known as the cassette underground. Cassette artists would release whatever they wanted and send it back and forth, totally oblivious to what might have been perceived as commercial trends, even within avant-garde music. Like-minded creators began collaborating on recordings through the mail or in person, whatever worked best. Many critics began to look more and more toward totally self-produced musical artwork, most commonly found on cassettes which could be created in anyone's home, as the true avant-garde of this period. Certainly the artists felt totally uninhibited about their creations. DiMuro even released a tape featuring his pet cat. He began cataloging his body of work in the early '80s, although he has claimed to have kept a copy of practically everything he has ever recorded, including much "unlistenable" evidence of teenage creativity. Early releases such as Trouble at the Mutual Admiration Society are favorites of DiMuro's listeners, as well as the 1993 Gower Street, which received many rave reviews. DiMuro also became involved as a journalist in some of the publications that covered the cassette phenomenon and wrote a number of articles for Option magazine, as well as serving as an interview subject himself for the cassette magazine Gajoob. DiMuro's collaborators include fellow cassette artists Campau and Hoffman, as well as a regular group of musicians including saxophonist Jay Richardson, guitarist Chris Assells, and drummer Terry Rodman. He has followed his skill with tape recorders into a line of work that allows his music to freely exist outside the realm of intense commercial commerce. DiMuro works regularly as a sound editor in Hollywood. His credits include the noisy ruckus of Home Alone as well as the intergalactic noise of Mission to Mars. He took a break from new recording releases in 1995, but returned in 2001 with a rock album entitled Road to Nowhere. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide