Grasshopper, aka Sean Thomas Mackowiak, is the guitar player for Mercury Rev, one of the most important bands of the 1990s.

Between Rev records, he issued a solo record under the moniker Grasshopper and the Golden Crickets on Beggars Banquet. Orbit of Eternal Grace featured several Rev members, home-made electronic instruments and “N.Y. Avenue Playground”, effectively a draft of “The Hudson Line”, which would appear on the next Mercury Rev album. The album was recorded around 1996 with a loose group dubbed The Golden Crickets, features Grasshopper’s vocals, electric, acoustic and bass guitars as well as a Micromoog, Casio PT-30, ENL Synkey, Vox Continental, Mellotron, tape loops, turntables, guitar synth, tone generator, ‘rex’, alto and tenor saxophones and ‘Scotch 201 (1.5mil acetate)’ – a type of analogue tape.

Mercury Rev, one of the most important bands of the 1990s, was born in Buffalo, New York during the 1980s. The group did not have a fixed drummer, and instead revolved around John Donahue (guitar, and later vocals), Sean “Grasshopper” Mackiowiak (guitar, clarinet), and Dave Fridmann (bass). David Baker performed primary vocals on the earlier and more prolific recordings, and Jimy Chambers functioned as their early drummer and keyboardist. For the recording of the single Carwash Hair (Mint Films, 1991), as well as other contributions to several albums, Suzanna Thorpe was added on flute.