Way back in 2009, when we were still a little ankle-biter of a blog, we wrote a post about a French band called Magma that spawned (the band, not the post) an entire genre of hyper-bizarre prog-rock/space-jazz/freak-fusion called Zeuhl. “Next time you hear a bunch of French dudes chanting nonsense lyrics over music that sounds […]
For some bands, reinventing the wheel would be a form of sacrilege akin to watching an old bluesman suddenly bust out into Justin Bieber song. So we’re happy to report that Cryptic, the sixth album from undead funk-rockers Here Come the Mummies, is pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a band whose previous albums include such WYSIWYG titles as Single Entendre and Bed, Bath and Behind. There are songs are partying, songs about sex, and songs about how too much partying can lead to sex. It’s a sweeping epic about the human condition, really. Baz Luhrmann should buy the film rights.
You can listen to extended clips from all 12 of Cryptic‘s tracks right now on the revamped HCTM website, which has a slick new look and all sorts of interactive features (the fan photos from past shows are especially nifty). And speaking of interactive…here’s a live video of them performing the Cryptic track “Everything But” that was made using the French website Evergig.com, which splices together fan-shot videos into a seamless concert clip. Pretty high-tech for a bunch of dudes who’ve been dead for five thousand years.
We’ve asked you, our soft-touch readers, to help out many a weird band via Kickstarter in the past. But this time around, we don’t need to ask. Yes, in just 12 days, Here Come the Mummies have already hit their Kickstarter fundraising goal of $50,069. So everything else from here on out is gravy—but hey, if you wanna give a bunch of horndog Mummies some gravy, be our guest.
All that coin is gonna help fund the release and promotion of Cryptic, the Mummies’ latest and greatest funk bomb of a studio album. It’s due out sometime in May and, as is usually the case, Kickstarter backers get first crack at it. Track titles include “Chaperone,” “Petting Zoo” and “You Know the Drill,” so we can safely assume HCTM have still not exhausted all the endless possibilities of their favorite topic, bumpin’ uglies. (And since these guys have been dead for 4,000 years, the emphasis is definitely on “ugly.”)
Click here to read more about Cryptic and watch one of those cute little Kickstarter videos; this one features the Mummies demonstrating how totally unqualified they are to hold down any kind of day job. We know the feeling, guys! Which is why I’m not sure Jake and I will be pledging anything this time around—although the custom voicemail greeting at $75 is mighty tempting.
Let’s play this post out with some live Mummies. If that’s not a contradiction in terms.
Oct 8
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I don’t mind telling you, it was with some trepidation that I went out to see Here Come the Mummies last Thursday night. And not just because they were playing at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip, which is easily my least favorite part of Los Angeles. The strip used to be sleazy/cool, […]
You gotta set the funk free, don’t you? If that’s not a P-Funk lyric, it should be. With that in mind, undead funketeers Here Come the Mummies are making their latest album, Bed, Bath & Behind, free for a limited time (today and tomorrow only) via NoiseTrade. So get downloadin’ and savor the sweet, funky sounds of freedom. And be sure to leave a tip—which I guess technically means the album ain’t free any more, but tipping sounds more fun than paying, doesn’t it? Just imagine you’re sticking a few bucks in the Mummies’ Cowbelts.
In other HCTM news: The Bandaged Boys are gearing up for their latest U.S. tour, and Andy and I plan to be on hand for their L.A. show to shake a leg and give you, dear readers, a full report. Well, Andy will give you a report; I’ll probably be stumbling down Sunset Blvd. looking for a cab and wondering where my pants went. That bastard always ditches me after the 10th Jäger bomb.
I’ll play this post out with a live rendition of “That’s What She Said,” one of the many tasty morsels on that free album you should be downloading already. Enjoy.
Anubis be praised! (No? Not an Egyptology crowd tonight? Fine…) Here Come the Mummies are bringing their reanimated funk back on the road…and this time, for the first time in like, forever (well, OK, for as long as we’ve known about them, which to be fair has only been about a year), they’re playing a show here in L.A.! Jake and I will be there with bandages and corpse paint on, baby, ready to let our freak flags fly.
But wait, the news gets cooler. HCTM are also pulling a Louis C.K. and selling tickets directly through their website, keeping convenience charges low and throwing in a few perks like a $5 gift certificate to the Mummies online store. Pretty savvy for a bunch of dudes who’ve been dead for 3,000 years.
Here are the full dates for what they’ve dubbed the “If the Clown Shoe Fits” tour. Clowns and mummies? It’s like the birthday party I was so cruelly denied as a six-year-old.
Sep 21 Toledo, OH Headliners
Sep 22 Urbana, IL Canopy Club
Oct 4 West Hollywood, CA House of Blues
Oct 5 Santa Ynez, CA Chumash Casino Resort
Oct 6 Las Vegas, NV Hard Rock Las Vegas
Oct 7 Tucson, AZ Rialto Theatre
Oct 11 Nashville, TN Live On The Green
Oct 12 Bloomington, IN The Bluebird
Oct 13 St. Louis, MO The Pageant
Oct 14 Lincoln, NE Rococo Theatre
Oct 18 Lexington, KY Buster’s Billiards & Backroom
Oct 19 Ft. Wayne, IN Pierre’s
Oct 20 Mansfield, OH Renaissance Theatre
Oct 25 Madison, WI Majestic Theatre
Oct 26 Onamia, MN Grand Casino Mille Lacs
Oct 27 Hinkley, MN Grand Casino Amphitheater
Nov 1 Joliet, IL MoJoes
Nov 2 Macomb, IL COFAC Recital Hall
Nov 3 Dubuque, IA Diamond Jo Casino
Nov 10 Cincinnati, OH Taft Theatre
Nov 16 Indianapolis, IN Vogue Theater
Nov 17 South Bend, IN Club Fever
It’s been awhile since we blogged about an artist who plays homemade instruments. So let’s fix that this week by making That 1 Guy, creator of the Magic Pipe, our Weird Band of the Week.
Now I know what you’re thinking: “Dude, I play my Magic Pipe every night! Usually to pictures of Kate Upton.” But That 1 Guy’s Magic Pipe is both longer and cooler than yours, my friend. Hooked up to various electronics and a few bass strings, it’s a seven-foot, harp-shaped weapon of mass awesomeness that, in the hands of That 1 Guy’s Mike Silverman (who is, indeed, just one guy), can sound as funky as a Les Claypool bassline, as evil as a Nine Inch Nails song, and as goofy as, oh, let’s say Ween, all in the same song. Lots of artists these days use loops and electronics to do the whole one-man-band thing, but few do it with more oddball swag than That 1 Guy.
Silverman is a highly trained jazz bassist who got so bored with the limitations of his instrument that he decided to start making his own gear. In addition his signature instrument, the Magic Pipe, which is sort of like a Chapman stick on steroids, he’s also concocted the Magic Boot, the Magic Flute and the Magic Saw. Apparently, he even does magic tricks in his act now. If he ever asks you to pick a card, go for the Joker. (Did we mention that That 1 Guy’s songs tend to be hilariously silly? Well, they do.)
That 1 Guy has collaborated with fellow weirdos like Buckethead (subject of a future Weird Band of the Week pick, we promise—hang in there, Ian!), but mostly, he does solo shows like the one in the video below. When you can generate that much noise all by yourself, who needs collaborators?
P.S.: Shout out to our new biggest fan, Sheavy, for reminding us about this guy. Glad you like the site, buddy! Have you come around to Die Antwoord yet?
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We’re not sure what mummies and auto racing have in common. But something about the stanky-sweet undead funk of Here Come the Mummies seems to have the folks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway sold. After playing there last year for the 2011 Indy 500, they’ve been invited back for the 2012 edition of America’s most prestigious event that involves driving cars around in a big circle really, really fast. (So far, the only other confirmed musical act appears to be Lynyrd Skynyrd, who at this point are basically undead, too.)
I should probably point out that the Mummies are not playing the actual race itself, which happens Sunday, May 27th. They’re playing the “Pole Day Qualifications.” I was really hoping that’s some kind of stripper competition, but my one friend who actually cares about auto racing just burst my bubble and informed me it’s the day the drivers compete to see who gets prime position at the start of the race. “Pole Day” happens on Saturday, May 19th and unlike the Indy 500 itself, which is mostly sold out, you can still get tickets for it—for a mere 15 bucks—here.
The Mummies play the Coke Stage at 6:15 p.m. Wonder if Coke knows its corporate banners will be accompanied by a bunch of dudes in mummy costumes whose set list typically includes songs like “Attack of the Wiener Man” and “Libido Knievel”? We hear they do a “PG version” of their set for events like the Indy 500, though. Wouldn’t want to upset those God-fearing NASCAR fans. And yes, I know the Indy 500′s not NASCAR. Split hairs, why don’t you?
Let’s play this post out with a clip from the Mummies’ concert DVD, Undead Live. More cowbelt!
Good news, mortals! The Cowbelt, that formidable piece of musical crotch gear, once available only for Mummy use, can be now strapped to human hips for a variation on the cowbell so funky, Christopher Walken himself would weep to hear it. Your pelvic thrusts will be so funkified, members of both sexes will go weak at the knees around you. Or maybe they’re just doubled over in laughter. Who can tell? You’ll be so busy ringing your Cowbelt, you won’t fucking care.
For those not familiar with the awesome power of a fully operational Cowbelt, we offer up the following video of its creators, Here Come the Mummies, in fully Cowbelt deployment. Brace your ass, cuz it’s gonna wanna move.
Can’t wait to strap one on now, can you? So go order one of the first 100 from the HCTM website. They ship March 30th—a day the earth will probably wiggle on its axis from the sheer funkiness of it all.
More Cowbelt!
(Photo by Dean Dixon)
The funky creatures from beyond the grave in Here Come the Mummies love you a lot. And to prove it, they’re giving away a five-song digital sampler…for free. You have to give them your email address, but we’re sure they’ll take good care of it. Head over to the HCTM website to claim your five-track bundle of mummified joy. I’m listening as I write this and all I can say is, if you crank this shit on Valentine’s Day, you are so getting laid.
In other Mummies news: They’re also offering five bucks off all CDs, T-shirt and digital downloads all this week. Their generosity knows no bounds, people!
We’ll play this one out with the new video for “Freak Flag,” featuring the excellent animation of Bobby’s Brane. We’re gonna boogie-oogie-oogie all night to this one. Emphasis on “oogie.”
Ready for a little trip back into the vaults, kids? Back in 1991, Saturday Night Live saxophonist Lenny Pickett released this now super-obscure and hard-to-find album with his band, the Borneo Horns, which consisted of him and two other sax players (Steve Elson and Stan Harrison), plus a drummer and occasional additional horns. Now, while they’re hardly the only predominantly sax-based band that ever existed (see also: World Saxophone Quartet and one of our favorites, the skronk-tastic Little Women), they’re arguably the funkiest. A typical Borneo Horns joint sounds like a cross between James Brown, a New Orleans parade band and the theme music from Benny Hill. You can’t decide to whether to dance your ass off or laugh your ass off—and both are probably equally valid responses.
I was lucky enough to see the Borneo Horns in college back around the time the album came out (which I swear was in ’89, but Amazon.com has it listed as ’91 and I was admittedly drunk a lot back then) and let me tell you, they could rock it out. Pickett is mostly famous these days for those wailing high notes he squeezes out as that week’s SNL host bounds onto the stage, but he’s also got an amazing sense of rhythm and syncopation. He got his start playing in the horn section of funk band Tower of Power and that stuff is clearly in his blood.
These days, it’s hard to come by much information about the Borneo Horns, let alone their actual music. The one and only Lenny Pickett with the Borneo Horns album is out of print and will set you back upwards of $200 for a used vinyl copy. The blog Music Hertz has a good little piece about the album, and you can hear several Borneo Horns tracks on Lenny Pickett’s sorta cool, sorta annoying official website. But beyond that, the genius of the Borneo Horns has been mostly lost in the mists of time. Which really has me kicking myself, because I used to own a cassette copy of Lenny Pickett with the Borneo Horns and I have no idea where it is now. I purged most of my cassettes years ago, so it’s probably gathering dust in a Goodwill somewhere.
Fortunately, some kind soul did post this one Borneo Horns track on YouTube, so we can share some of Lenny’s funky magic here. Cooler than the SNL theme music, isn’t it?
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I was just listening to the bee gees song 'tragedy' in my mums car & wondered if anyones ever no
If by good you mean "less terrible than her Eurovision song"...I guess.
Chrome Hoof - described as 'prog-doom-disco'. Sounds like a cross between Funkadelic, Sunn O))) and
Birgit has done some good shit also few years ago http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ7O8fY0oVA
We thank thee.
I submit to thee: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Forrest-Friends/158151567530858?ref=hl
