Artist description Our music is made to entertain and amuse ourselves, with no regard for popular music of the outside world (except perhaps to lampoon it). It can at times be entertaining, disturbing, pointless, hilarious, perplexing, or downright annoying. But it is exactly the way we want it, without compromise, and is unlike anything else you have ever heard!

Music Style Experimental Pop

Musical Influences Talking Heads,King Crimson,The Residents,Fred Frith, John Philip Sousa, Elvis Costello, Frank Zappa, Brian Eno, Tom Waits

Similar Artists If you find any, let us know! (If they're popular, maybe there's hope for us too.)

Artist History Three guys who made weird music on a 4-track to escape the grim reality of living in Stockton CA.

Group Members Choagie - primary songwriting, Costello-esque vocals, sick mind, harassing strangers, beeking; Estee - spontaneous outbursts, moments of abstract genius, apricot ice cream, beeking; Napp - passive collaborator, occasional instigator, hassle-avoidance, Guardian noises, beeking

Instruments guitars,drum machines,percussion,vocals, keyboards, trumpet, harmonica, slide whistle, melodica,pots and pans

Albums That's Not The Cow *I* Ordered, Non Compos Mentis, The Clever Whatever, Songs For Flannigan

Press Reviews [Originally printed in *Pulse!* Magazine, "New Releases" section. This album is currently out of print, but copies may be obtained by contacting the band.] ________________________________________________________ ACTION SOUND "Superband" (Worst Kitchen Records) Retail: $16.99 __________________________________________________________ * * * * ½ ___________________________________________________________ By Marlin Spunth ________________________________________________________ Around 12 years ago, a threesome called Aluminum Tadpole, now defunct, burst onto the indie music scene, much the way a pin-pricked blood blister bursts onto a white shirt. If you thought the stain was washed out for good, think again. They're baaaack, reincarnated as ACTION SOUND, an umbrella eponym comprising the three original Tadpole members plus several hired hands and unwitting contributors. Tadpole guitarist-turned-producer Napp has taken an eclectic pile of ingredients -- lounge jazz, rock, fusion, '70s camp, and the raspy ramblings of a young Choagie -- and concocted a reeking stew of fun called *Superband*. The album was produced by Spunth Broadcasting, with recording overseen by producer Ed Spunth. (Note: Before going further, I'd like to say for the record that my relation to Ed Spunth in no way biases me as a reviewer of this CD.) For the jazz numbers, which are all numbered and titled "Super Band No. __," Napp has enlisted two veteran studio musicians: renown session organist "Snap" MacGillicuddy and fusion/blues guitarist Paul Morrison (nephew of TV's Glenn Morrison). Snap's sure organ provides the flawless heads and swirling solos for the album's "Super Band" covers. These include jazz standards like Coltrane's "Giant Steps" and Miles Davis's "Four," and even Frank Zappa's "Son of Mr. Green Genes." Morrison, for his part, scorches the fretboard of his fuzzed-out Les Paul in the (nearly) instrumental "Sandcastle." He also lays ripping blues licks on a slowed-down, chugging rendition of the Tadpole hit "Friendburger Helper." I caught up with Morrison and Snap a few nights ago at Osh Kosh's Bing Cherry, a swanky nightclub where 65-year-old Snap moonlights as a janitor, to talk about their work on *Superband*. "The coolest thing for me," said Snap between mop squeezes, "was getting to experiment with multitracking. I could lay down an organ track, then play along with it on a second track. Like I was playing along with another dude. We did this for 'Witchcraft' and 'All of Me'" ["Superband No. 2" and "Superband No. 3," respectively -- Editor]. Snap says of the experience, "It taught me for the first time what a pleasure it can be to play with myself." Special mention here goes to producer Ed Spunth, without whose perspicuous oversight the Snap-Morrison sessions probably would have yielded far less creative fruit. Morrison remembers at least three occasions when Ed brought in coffee and Winchell's donuts for the musicians and recording engineers. Adds organist Snap, "Without those three maple bars to sustain my sugar high, it probably would've taken at least two extra takes to pull off my swooping portamento riffs on 'Witchcraft.'" If this is all starting to sound like some pointless quasi-jazz departure, you Tadpole fans can stop worrying. *Superband* contains plenty of music in the vintage Tadpole style, including some Tadpole numbers previously available only in bootleg versions. Example: "Dr. Wilkinson's Theme," a sonic fever-dream of horrific magnitude about a doctor's plummet into madness and medical malpractice. And to please the folkies, Napp even threw on a hopping acoustic number called "Bop." It's the tender sketch of a touched dad in Davis, CA, who inflicts strident babbling on his children using a made-up language. "Bop" features a sassy trumpet solo by ex-Tadpole member Choagie, vocals and plunger-waving by ex-member Estee, and percussion by Ed Spunth, who wound up the metronome which provides the song's rhythmic bedrock. Finally, peppering this CD salad are various obscure and not so obscure disco ditties; fitful Negativelandesque interruptions ("Noise," "Switching Back"); nostalgic TV spots from Osh Kosh's Channel 83 KLTZ ("Watching TV with Mr. Figg," the feel-good classic "Transcript of Act"); and the breathy stammerings of a young Choagie Graham, rambled into a cheap tape recorder. Listen especially for Choagie's raspy but soulful vocal accompaniment to Amy Grant's "Lay Down the Burden of Your Heart." [The song was written before Grant got the news flash that Christian rock was not lucrative and decided to wangle into mainstream pop by clouding her songs' religious content with ambiguous lyrics. -- Editor.] I can't remember the last time I've so wept at the singing of a young boy; most likely it was when dewey-eyed Tiny Tim sings a capella in the film version of the musical *Scrooge* with Albert Finney. Such range of emotion is seldom found on one CD. Marlin says: Stop by Tower and nab a copy of ACTION SOUND's *Superband* pronto. __________________________________________________________________________ [Marlin Spunth is a freelance writer and a contributing editor to *The Journal of Puppetry*. He also writes ad copy for his uncle Ed Spunth at Spunth Broadcasting.]

Location Seattle, WA - USA

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