Coomes was born in Sherman, Texas, and moved to Southern California as a child. He started playing in The Donner Party in San Francisco in 1983 and released two albums with them before they disbanded in 1989. Coomes formed Motorgoat in Portland in 1990 with Janet Weiss and they released two cassettes and one 7" single before disbanding and becoming Quasi in 1993. Coomes released a solo album under the name Blues Goblins in 2003 and sometimes performs under that name. He also performs on keyboards and vocals with the Oakland, California-based band, Pink Mountain, and formed the duo Crock with Spencer Seim which released an album, Grok, in 2011. Coomes also appeared with Jandek in two NW shows along with drummer Emil Amos, documented on the albumPortland Thursday and Seattle Friday. Additionally, Coomes has scored several of the films of underground filmmaker Vanessa Renwick Coomes currently lives in Portland.
Session work since inception of Quasi
Coomes has done much recording work with other bands, mostly on keyboards and bass.
Bugskull
Built to Spill - Coomes has performed as a guest keyboardist on several tracks. He has appeared on every Built to Spill album since Keep It Like a Secret. In addition, he co-produced with Doug Martsch Built to Spill's most recent release, 2015's Untethered Moon
The Go-Betweens
Goldcard
Heatmiser
Sleater-Kinney - Coomes played the Mellotron on All Hands on the Bad One on the song "Milkshake 'n' Honey." He also played the theremin on the song "Funeral Song" off the album One Beat.
Elliott Smith - Coomes played bass on the 2000 album Figure 8 on the songs "Stupidity Tries", "Everything Means Nothing to Me", "In the Lost and Found," and "Pretty Mary K". He also played bass and sang backup vocals on Elliott Smith's song "Pretty " on Smith's posthumous 2004 albumFrom a Basement on the Hill. Quasi and Elliott Smith toured together, including during the tour in support of his major-label debut, XO. During these tour dates, Quasi performed a set of their own with Smith joining them for some songs, and also backed Smith on some songs during his set.
