Motherhead Bug

Motherhead Bug
Background information
Origin New York City, New York, USA
Genres Gypsy punk
Years active 1989-
Labels Lungcast Records, PCP Entertainment, Pow Wow Records
Associated acts Antony and the Johnsons, Bela, Cop Shoot Cop, Firewater, Lubricated Goat, Rasputina, Railroad Jerk, Sulfur
Past members Jez Aspinall
April Chung
Jim Colarusso
Julia Kent
Tony Lee
Cyril Mazard
Steve McMillen
David Ouimet
Steve Ovenden
Joe Ben Plummer
Tomoyo T.L.

Motherhead Bug was a rock music group founded in 1989 in New York City by singer and trombone player David Ouimet and bass guitarist Tony Lee.

Band history

Ouimet had earlier founded industrial rock group Cop Shoot Cop, and Lee was a member of blues rockers Railroad Jerk.

The group was rather large, featuring three drummers, as well as string and horn sections, with accordions, xylophones 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 bands, 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." [1]

Aftermath

The project was abandoned after Zambodia's 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... 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.

Discography

Studio albums

Date Title Label
1993 Zambodia Pow Wow Records

Singles

Date Title Label
1991 Raised By Insects...Bugview Lungcast
1992 "Age of Dwarfs" PCP Records

Compilation appearances

Date Title Track Label
1992 Mesomorph Enduros "Blister" Big Cat
1992 Manhattan on the Rocks "My Sweet Milstar" Pow Wow Records

References


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