Band Members:

Jay - Guitar, Vocals, Drums

Toto - Drums, Guitar, Vocals

Brandi - Bass, Vocals, Guitar

Albums:

Woozyhelmet (1997), Zoom Welding (1998), When Soda Pop Was Good (1999), Wonton City (2000), You Can’t Say Motherfucker Ever: The Radio Edits (2005) and Get Down (2008)

Label:

Soda Pop Sounds, Feow! Records

Current Tour:

Not on tour.

Site:

http :// www.woozyhelmet .com

 

I stumbled upon this video  while perusing the interweb. The first thing I noticed was Brandi's Rickenbacker. Totally SUH-weet! But I digress before I even start.

 

Woozyhelmet is definitely a band that would be (and has been) featured on KTRU. I introduce them that way ‘cos if you're not a fan of offbeat music, then these guys are right out. If I had to label them I would have to coin a new genre, avant-house party.

 

My tastes tend to trend towards the fringe, but I’m not above admitting that some of the noise/experimental makes my pyloric valve spasam.That being stated, I'm not sure I understand much when it comes to those things out there, I usually just go with what my gut tells me. For whatever reason, "What Was Dad Talking to Daniel About?" struck my I-dig-it chord. I think its due to the fact that I grew up on Punk, gritty, poorly recorded and very angry.

 

So, I figured I mosey over to their site to see what they had going on.There's quite a few songs they've put up for one to download at one's leisure. This is great, 'cos if none of it works, one can delete it and be done. Power to the people.

 

I would definitely recommend you to point your browser to Woozyhelmet.com and give them a try. The music is in the aptly titled music link. Who'd have thunk it.

 

Next time on OALA: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

Band Members:

Kevin Gibson (vocals), Trevor Erb (bass), Rob Kleiner (keyboards), Scott Radway (drums), Jeff Enokian (guitar)

Albums:

Drake Equation (2001), Book of Water (2001), Fermi Paradox (2002), Zoo Hypothesis (2004), The Great Filter (2007)

Label:

The End Records

Tour:

The “If” Tour w/Mindless Self Indulgence

Site:

http://www.tubring.com

There is no lesson here.

Pandora sends shivers through my scrotum when I think about how awesome it is. I have no idea how the little algorithms work, I think they’re adolescent gremlins that pull knobs for a quarter a week, or something like that. Not that it matters, ‘cos it all becomes magic-in-a-box at some point, even for the Code Ninjas. I’m just glad it does work.

It was from my Mr. Bungle station that I found Tub Ring.

If you don’t want the wrong kind of message, don’t send the same kind to me.

A young Rob Kleiner washeavilyinfluenced by Mr. Bungle. So much so (it’s too late ‘cos we’re obsessed with you) Tub Ring attracted the attention of Trey Spruance, Mr. Bungle’s guitarist, who eventually produced their first album,Drake Equation. That album had too strong a resemblance to Mr Bungle, and it’s a good thing they found their own sound. Mr. Bungle is so ground breaking that imitation is like farting into your own gas mask, it just doesn’t work. Not to mention it smells like boo-boo.

What a god damned second here. What?!?

All this is to say I am glad I didn’t hearDrake Equationfirst. I think that if I had I would have kicked my newly neutered dog in his pancake flap. Their latest offering,The Great Filter, is so totally SUH-weet it will rot your teefs (and completely jack your spelling)! Self-righteous jerks, killers in love and a second, dissenting, perspective on a car crash are but a few of the themes the album exploids (exploids = explodes like hemorrhoids).

What are you doing reading this. Go get the album already.

I know there is so much more to life and time is fleeting, but it doesn’t change a thing.

Next Time on OALA: Woozyhelmet

Band Members:

Mike Patton, Trey Spruance, Trevor Dunn, Danny Heiftz and Clinton “Bär” McKinnon.

Albums:

Mr. Bungle (1991), Disco Volante (1996) and California (1999)

I first heard Mr. Bungle on KTRU.

I feel… strongly… About violence!

Patton, as in Mike Patton from Faith No More, shrieks the last part, and I’d like nothing more than to punch someone right in the throat. Hell yeah, Baby! Bring it on. That som-a-bitch cut me off, BAM! Wreck his shit and get out and laugh.

“Up your face, Douche!”

The song that revs my engine so is titled Love is a Fist, and is the first song of Mr. Bungle’s I heard. It jumps from a soft, creepy dream to metal and back. Horns punch up the rhythm. It is 441 horses of extreme performance. And it reminds me of my first fight.

We (R_, J_, S_ and myself) were 15 or 16, running the streets and up to no good. A lawn decoration duckling was stolen and thrown into traffic. Tires screeched as a cherry ’68 Charger abruptly stopped. Two behemoths jumped out. Some hilarity ensued. Next thing I know, two punches had landed squarely in my face, and both times I landed squarely in the bushes. There was a strangely erotic mix of anger, fear, depression, emasculation, restraint and shart.

Qiyamat Qiyamat Insan al Kamel

Mr. Bungle is the band I’d have with me if I were stranded on a desert island, though, truth be told, it doesn’t really matter what music I had, cause I don’t have a clue how to make a power source for an iPhone out of a coconut, but I digress. To the masses Bungle’s jumping from genre to genre (surf to carnival to metal) in the span of a few bars causes convulsions. I’ll be the first to admit they are not a instant party hit. But, they are like sex with a white, you know you done right. I suspect it’s my ADD riddled attention span, or the crack, or both, but when Stubb (A Dubb) passes from the lilting carnival carousel to the frantic Ska/Punk my pee-pee gets hard.

Take a dump, Baby, squirt some gravy. Pour some sugar on me, Honey, make it brown and runny!

Do you understand me? Do you think about me when you’re peeing?

I think everyone’s had the urge to scream in the middle of a quiet room/situation (e.g. the library or during SAT’s or as the Gynecologist is digging for cancer). Well, that’s Bungle’s music, letting loose the Id: fucked-up, fantastic and frightening.

My girlfriend has grudgingly come to terms with my spazmatics, though at first it was acutely disturbing to her. You see, these outbursts, like Bungle’s changes, are seemingly random and quite often chaotic. By way of for instance, there was this one time when I started moshing with myself, as I was driving. She literally farted out a squirt of pee. She had strained so hard to mash the invisible break, you know, the one we all press when the driver is doing something stupid, that her foot punched through the floorboard.

Ave Atque Vale

For those of you who don’t know, KTRU is Rice’s student run radio station. I can’t get into the mainstream stations. First, too many GAWD-damned commercials. Second, when they are playing music, you hear the same songs over and over, most of which cause the hairs on my scrotum to jump ship. Don’t get me wrong, KTRU has it’s problems, mainly the shitty music they play. A close second would be the absolute void of any and all personality in the DJ’s. Sun-bleached dog shit is more engaging. All that being what it is, between all The Hits™ and droning PSA’s there is the occasional gem. Mr. Bungle is definitely one of those.

Next Time on OALA: Tub Ring