GINA VIVINETTO - vocals
ROBERT BARRERA - guitar
JEFF DAUM - bass '90-'91
HELEN A.S. POPKIN - bass '92
CLAIRE FRANKLIN - drums
Influences
Velvet Underground, Pixies, Patti Smith, Miles Davis, Sonic Youth, Cocteau Twins - depending on which member you asked. One bizarre review called the band "Indigo Girls meets Pussy Galore."
Bullwinkle was a Tampa Bay area band from 1990-1992. Bullwinkle was formed by future Tampa scenester and music critic Gina Vivinetto and British transplant Claire Franklin (ages 19 and 17, respectively). Robert Barerra answered an ad to become the band's guitarist and, along with Vivinetto, its principal songwriter. Jeff Daum, a friend of Vivinetto's from high school, played bass and contributed to more than half of Bullwinkle's songs on the unreleased album, "How To Burst." Daum was also instrumental in incorporating elements of improvisation in Bullwinkle's music, particularly the band's sometimes 45-minute freeform, "Serendipity," a highlight of the band's feature-length demo, according to Canada's Factsheet Five. Alternative Press magazine liked everything about the band's demo and listed it as the first review in a special feature about unsigned bands with cool names. (Much to Vivinetto's delight, the band's demo was reviewed in an issue with My Bloody Valentine on the cover). After Daum's departure, Helen A.S. Popkin, now a well-known New York-based writer and editor, took over bass duties.
The band's demo made the list of Best Albums by Tom Roe, then the music critic at Tampa's Creative Loafing and always a staunch supporter. Roe, who awarded the quartet with Best New Band honors in 1991, celebrated Bullwinkle's unpredictable live shoes, which could be anything from 30-minute sets of tight, punky pop songs to hour-long sloppy improvisations. The band had the distinction of covering songs by both Johnny Thunders and the Monkees. Bullwinkle was also notorious for its onstage bickering with more than one show ending in violence. At the height of the band's popularity and with more than one visit from a major label scout, Bullwinkle broke up.
we need to seriously invest in time travel techonology, as I feel that going back in time is the only thing that's gonna work for me, man....... love you
