Artist description Heliotrope dabbles with skewed song construction and instrumentation, blending the standard rock instruments with clavinets, mandolins, drum machines, distorted bassoons and organs, and tweaked vocals into a challenging yet highly listenable pop-rock stew.

Music Style Alternative smorgasbord

Musical Influences XTC, Beatles, Frank Zappa, Elvis Costello, Kinks, 3 Mustaphas 3, Tom Waits

Similar Artists XTC, They Might Be Giants, Elliott Smith, Elvis Costello, Guided By Voices, Neutral Milk Hotel, Beatles

Artist History Nearing toddlerhood, this project is drawing considerable Head-Scratching from those who’ve heard vague word that Heliotrope was some kind of Big Deal. Many people in southern california and the country are anticipating the latest Project from maniac songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Mike Flanagan, in the wake of the demise of his critically-acclaimed pop band WILLOUGHBY, as well as the sad death of the Vaccination Records (www.vacrec.com) recording & touring artists GIANT ANT FARM, in which Flanagan was a prominent Member to the bitter end, penning songs along with Dren McDonald that received considerable airplay in various unsoiled areas of the U.S. and Europe. Flanagan is currently performing in two other bands: The Lisa Marr Experiment (www.thelmx.com) [with folks from Buck, the Murmurs, Longstocking, Perfect and Frank Black], and Breech (www.breech.net), both gigging around southern california and beyond...

Group Members Mike Flanagan (all instruments), plus the occasional special Guest.

Instruments Drum machine, bass, pots and pans and bottles and such, electric & acoustic guitars, mandolin, clarinet, sax, souveneir japanese flutes, melodica and various keyboards/synths, harmonica, kazoo, trombone, blah blah blah

Albums Volume I: Warming Up, Volume II: My Sharkskin Suit, Volume III: El Dorado

Location Long Beach, CA - USA

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