played keyboards in the Exotic Birds

While living in Cleveland in 1987, Trent Reznor played keyboards in the Exotic Birds , a synth-pop band managed by John Malm Jr. Reznor became friends with Malm, who informally became his manager when he left to work on his own music. At the time, Reznor was employed as an assistant engineer and janitor at Right Track Studios. Studio owner Bart Koster granted Reznor free access to the studio between bookings to record demos , commenting that it cost him nothing more than “a little wear on [his] tape heads”. Unable to find a band that could articulate the material as he desired, Reznor was inspired by Prince to play all instruments himself except drums, which he programmed electronically. He has continued to play most parts on Nine Inch Nails recordings ever since.