Jeff Pezzati joins as bassist

In early 1983 Albini met Naked Raygun singer Jeff Pezzati through mutual friends and convinced him to play bass guitar with Big Black. Pezzati recalled that Albini “knew a heck of a lot about, right from the start, how to release a record and get the word out that you have a record”, and that “He jumped at the chance to have a band play his stuff.” The two practiced in Pezzati’s basement, and one day Naked Raygun guitarist Santiago Durango came downstairs and asked to play along. The trio clicked as a unit, Durango’s ability to rework arrangements and tweak sounds helping to refine Albini’s song ideas. According to Albini, “He ended up being absolutely crucial to Big Black.”