Motherhead Bug
Encyclopedia
Motherhead Bug was a rock music
group founded in 1989 in New York City
by singer and trombone
player David Ouimet
and bass guitar
ist Tony Lee.
, and Lee was a member of blues rockers Railroad Jerk
.
The group was rather large, featuring three drummer
s, as well as string and horn section
s, with accordion
s, xylophone
s and other unusual instruments featured prominently. The music is somewhat similar to Tom Waits
' post-Swordfishtrombones
, but also touched on music hall
songs, nursery rhymes, marching band
s, and earned comparisons to the Penguin Cafe Orchestra
.
Motherhead Bug released only two singles and one full-length album, 1993's Zambodia
, recorded by Brooklyn-based producer Martin Bisi
. The album was dedicated to saxophonist Masami Shinoda
. One critic described Zambodia
as follows: "The instrumentation and Ouimet's theatrical vocals lend a decadent grandeur to Weill
-esque numbers like 'Demon Erection' and 'My Sweet Milstar
.' It may be burlesque
, but it's still pretty scary stuff."
album in 1996. Michele Amar's similar musical project, Sulfur, released Delirium Tremens
in 1998 which was co-written by Ouimet and featured some of the same musicians that performed on Zambodia.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
group founded in 1989 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
by singer and trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
player David Ouimet
David Ouimet
David Ouimet is an American musician and artist. He was a band member of Cop Shoot Cop, Motherhead Bug, Firewater, and Sulfur but has since moved on to interests other than music....
and bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
ist Tony Lee.
Band history
Ouimet had earlier founded industrial rock group Cop Shoot CopCop Shoot Cop
Cop Shoot Cop was a rock music group founded in New York City in 1987. They disbanded in 1996. The band were frequently classified as industrial rock, but were often quite different from many bands so dubbed, with a distinctive instrumental lineup that encompassed twin bass guitars, found metal...
, and Lee was a member of blues rockers Railroad Jerk
Railroad Jerk
Railroad Jerk was a New York-based indie-rock band of the 1990s, specializing in a hard-driven punk blues sound. Their lineup changed frequently, but the stalwart members were Minnesota native Marcellus Hall and North Carolina-born and Trenton, N.J.-bred Tony Lee...
.
The group was rather large, featuring three drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
s, as well as string and horn section
Horn section
In music, a horn section can refer to several groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In a British-style brass band it refers to the tenor horn players. In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a...
s, with accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
s, xylophone
Xylophone
The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...
s and other unusual instruments featured prominently. The music is somewhat similar to Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
' post-Swordfishtrombones
Swordfishtrombones
Swordfishtrombones is an album by American singer-songwriter Tom Waits, released in September 1983. It was the first album that Waits produced himself....
, but also touched on music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
songs, nursery rhymes, marching band
Marching band
Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
s, and earned comparisons to the Penguin Cafe Orchestra
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
The Penguin Cafe Orchestra was a collective of performing musicians created by classically trained British guitarist, composer and arranger Simon Jeffes...
.
Motherhead Bug released only two singles and one full-length album, 1993's Zambodia
Zambodia
Zambodia is the only studio album by the American experimental music ensemble Motherhead Bug, released on October 15, 1993 through Pow Wow Records...
, recorded by Brooklyn-based producer Martin Bisi
Martin bisi
Martin Bisi is an American producer and songwriter.He is known for recording important records by Sonic Youth, Swans, John Zorn, Material, Bill Laswell, Helmet, Unsane, Cop Shoot Cop, White Zombie, Boredoms, Angels of Light and Herbie Hancock's Grammy-winning song Rockit,In 1979, Martin Bisi...
. The album was dedicated to saxophonist Masami Shinoda
Masami Shinoda
Masami Shinoda was well-known Japanese alto-saxophonist and composer. He began his career in the 1980s and was a member of both Seikatsu Kojo Iinkai Orchestra, and the Japanese band Compostela. His final performance, given in Tokyo in 1992 as a guest saxophonist for the band Cassiber, was...
. One critic described Zambodia
Zambodia
Zambodia is the only studio album by the American experimental music ensemble Motherhead Bug, released on October 15, 1993 through Pow Wow Records...
as follows: "The instrumentation and Ouimet's theatrical vocals lend a decadent grandeur to Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
-esque numbers like 'Demon Erection' and 'My Sweet Milstar
Military Strategic and Tactical Relay satellite
Milstar, originally meaning Military Strategic and Tactical Relay, is a constellation of communications satellites in geostationary orbit, which are operated by the United States Air Force, and provide secure and jam resistant worldwide communications to meet the requirements of the Armed Forces of...
.' It may be burlesque
Burlesque
Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects...
, but it's still pretty scary stuff."
Aftermath
The project was abandoned after Zambodias release due to the inability to manage so many band members. Ouimet stopped writing music and focused on working on children's books, although he would occasionally appear as a guest musician. He wouldn't work as a full-time member of a band until the release of Firewater's Get Off the Cross...Get Off the Cross, We Need the Wood for the Fire
-Personnel:Firewater*Tod Ashley – vocals, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, bouzouki, production*Duane Denison – guitar*Yuval Gabay – drums, djembe, tambourine*Kurt Hoffman – saxophone, clarinet, accordion*Jim Kimball – drums...
album in 1996. Michele Amar's similar musical project, Sulfur, released Delirium Tremens
Delirium Tremens (album)
-Personnel:Sulfur*Michele Amar – vocals, musical saw, sampler, programming, keyboards , production*Tony Corsano – drums, percussion*Fiona Doherty – bass guitar*Nick Heathen – piano, sampler, recording*Dan Joeright – drums...
in 1998 which was co-written by Ouimet and featured some of the same musicians that performed on Zambodia.
Studio albums
| Date | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Zambodia Zambodia Zambodia is the only studio album by the American experimental music ensemble Motherhead Bug, released on October 15, 1993 through Pow Wow Records... |
Pow Wow Records |
Singles
| Date | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Raised By Insects...Bugview | Lungcast Lungcast Records Lungcast Records was an independent record label, established 1990. The label was known for extremely unusual bands of the alternative, fringe punk, acid rock, and avant garde genres.... |
| 1992 | "Age of Dwarfs" | PCP Records |
Compilation appearances
| Date | Title | Track | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Mesomorph Enduros | "Blister" | Big Cat Big Cat Records Big Cat Records is a UK record label. It launched around 1990 and originally specialized in industrial and noise-rock releases. Operated a US office in NYC for a few years. Purchased by V2 Records in 1996, at which point their roster became much more diverse in style... |
| 1992 | Manhattan on the Rocks | "My Sweet Milstar" | Pow Wow Records |