Screaming headless torsos
| Screaming headless torsos | |
|---|---|
 David Fiuczynski at the Moers Festival on May 28, 2007 |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Fusion , funk , experimental rock |
| founding | 1989 |
| Website | http://www.torsos.com |
| Founding members | |
| David "Fuze" Fiuczynski | |
| Current occupation | |
| Freedom Bremner | |
| Ahmed Best | |
| David "Fuze" Fiuczynski | |
| Steve Jenkins (since 2005) | |
| Daniel Sadownick | |
| Skoota Warner | |
| former members | |
Drums |
Jojo Mayer (1995) |
singing |
Dean Bowman (1991-96; 2002-05) |
bass |
Fima Ephron (until 2005) |
Drums |
Gene Lake (1996-2005) |
The Screaming Headless Torsos are a fusion / experimental rock band founded in 1989 by guitarist David "Fuze" Fiuczynski . He himself described the music style of his band in 2000 as "experimental funk-thing with vocals". Jimi Hendrix is considered to be an important influence , but there are also diverse references to Miles Davis , Bootsy Collins and bands like Living Color , Bad Brains and Fishbone .
The band occasionally performs without a singer , then under the name (David Fiuczynski's) Headless Torsos . The instrumental record Amandala from 2001 was also created under this name .
Band history
Guitarist and jazz musician David Fiuczynski (* 1964), currently a professor at Berklee College of Music , founded the band in 1989 after completing his bachelor's degree in music at the renowned New England Conservatory . Fiuczynski emphasizes, however, that this is a collaborative project in which all band members contribute their ideas. The band is part of his numerous musical projects, in addition to his solo activities and his work as a studio musician for artists such as John Zorn , Vernon Reid , Meshell Ndegeocello , Ce Ce Peniston or Hiromi Uehara , and his tours with Stewart Copeland and Cuong Vu in recent years. Fiuczynski's style of guitar playing is characterized by the use of double neck guitars , which are equipped with a conventional and a fretless neck.
After his successful collaboration with John Medeski on the album Lunar Crush in 1994, which also included SHT members Fima Ephron , Jojo Mayer and the later drummer Gene Lake, Fiuczynski succeeded in making the debut album Screaming Headless Torsos by his band of the same name in May 1995 at Warner Music . It was praised by Musician Magazine as a successful example of mixing jazz with hard guitar riffs. Shortly afterwards, the Swiss drummer Jojo Mayer resigned and was replaced by Gene Lake. This was followed by a tour of Europe, Japan and North America, after which singer Dean Bowman took time out, for example to work with Charlie Hunter and Elliott Sharp , and was temporarily replaced by Freedom Bremner. Great commercial success in Japan led to the release of a live album on the Japanese label VideoArtsMusic in 1996 , which was re-released in 2001, this time also in the USA and Europe. It contains the appearance from the Knitting Factory in New York City in 1996, which was also released on DVD in 2005.
In addition to rapper Ahmed Best , Freedom Bremner is also part of the current cast in the position of singer. On the 2005 CD , which in turn merged influences from jazz, soul , funk , ska and metal , Bowman as well as Bremner and Best could be heard. In the current (live) line-up, who toured Europe and the USA, long-time members Gene Lake (drums) and Fima Ephron (bass) were made famous by Skoota Warner and Steve Jenkins, respectively. a. replaced as bassist by Cindy Blackman .
The torsos continue to tour at irregular intervals. B. in South America in 2010. The first release after several years was the single Dead Christmas Trees , released in December 2010 , with the participation of former Torsos members Gene Lake and Fima Ephron.
SHT are involved in the Black Rock Coalition (BRC) , a non-profit organization to promote black rock musicians , which was founded in 1985 by Living Color member Vernon Reid , the music journalist Greg Tate and the music producer Konda Mason. The band supports the organization with appearances at appropriate music events and is represented with the song Woe to the Conquered on the BRC sampler Rock N 'Roll Reparations (Volume 1) .
The band is regularly featured in jazz magazines such as Jazz Times and Down Beat .
Discography
- Screaming Headless Torsos (1995, Warner / Discovery; re-released in 2002 as 1995 )
- Live!! (1996 VideoArtsMusic, re-released 2001)
- 2005 (2005, FuzeLicious Morsels)
- Choice Cuts (2006, FuzeLicious Morsels)
- Code Red (2014, Torsos Partners LLC)
As headless torsos
- Amandala (2001)
As a DVD
- In 2005 a live DVD called Live !! in New York & Paris , featuring two concerts recorded at the Knitting Factory in New York City in September 1996 and the Club New Morning in Paris in 2004. Both concerts were played with Dave Fiuczynski, Dean Bowman, Gene Lake, Daniel Sadownick and Fima Ephron.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Interview on jazzdimensions.de from May 22, 2000, conducted by Carina Prange ( Memento of the original from October 12, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ German-language review by Thomas Dern at Jazzdimensions.de on May 28, 2001
- ↑ Interview from 2006 with Arturo Mora (English)
- ↑ Maureen Mahon: Right to rock: the Black Rock Coalition and the cultural politics of race , 2004, Duke University Press, p. 104
Web links
- Partial discography here and 2 more albums here in Fiuczynski's entry in the All Music Guide
- SHT on Fiuczynski's website