vacuum tree head

Bio:

founding members jason berry and michael de la cuesta began the musical heresy known as vacuum tree head in the autum of 1989. drawing from early esoteric projects and personal mythologies such as "the opera", "pharmakos II" and even "fukio ladis" they immediately established a large body of work (some 240 compositions) released on "tape" albums, these albums, including a soundtrack for the rudolf schwartzkogler film "king of the crickets" became the blueprints for the later "official cd releases" as well as the "no comix" series. with the monumental "excell eye eye" (22 songs, 72 minutes long!) released in 1992 and their second cd "oob eye works" (both released on megaphone records) vth broke onto the bay area scene. after which began a 14 year run ( x 3 ) of non stop writing recording and performing. collaborating with some 142 musicians over these years (every vacuum tree head performance would be known to have a different line up as well as new roster of songs to the point where most vth members couldn't even keep track themselves) vacuum tree head became an unstoppable shapeshifting monstrosity from performing with a ballet troupe to doing single 42'-42" song suite drone zone minwarp known as tar hai wizard (an homage to artist moebius) to tape editing and cut-up collage style mayhem (aum carve etude "h" ) to klezmer-flamenco freak outs to prog-punk fusion with spanish lyrics sung in a cambodian pop style (coal vig and bakuretsu fukio) to electric-12 tone chamber jazz ragas ("13" and the nancy luna suite) to covering a song for a sun ra tribute (the call) and anything else that got in the way. some of the vth participants have included: tom corboline, moe! staiano (sleepytime gorilla museum, moe!kestra, mute socialite), rick barber (san jose symphony orchestra, gamelan sekar jaya, kings canyon), shakti marshall, erica fallin, thomas scandura (the molecules, spezza rotto, witches and devils, grand national brands), earl holt "trip" johnson III (haul), charles lloyd (cat meet, one f, jeffreys in love, saraswati temple, the creeepers, red journal, cash pony), chip dominguez & ruben batrez (snafu, anti-man band), justin markovits (blue eyed devils, chris cotton, shanty town, the frequent flyers, interstellar grains, the kamikazes), marg lloyd (the creepers), john shiurba (eskimo, spezza rotto, pink mountain,the molecules), rich corny (trip, rich and famous, the frequent flyers, interstellar grains, the kamikazes), vince rodrigues (giant value, sixish) rale sidebottom (societas insomnia, puppet theater) jesse quattro (secret chiefs 3, saint of killers, hammers of missfortune, the automic bomb audition), gary kotlyar (the kamikazes), john g. shaw sanchez III, matt "hms" waldron (irr app ext, nurse with wound, current 93), ron anderson (the molecules, pak, ron ruins, happy new year), r.k. faulhaber, alien jebian (electric cymbal), d. cawley (vim), micah mcclain (kehoe nation, magnesium, mitch marcus quartet, len paterson trio, flowtilla, david liebman and countless others), heleen ramos, mike rognlie (trip, cat meet, golden method, ray brower's body), greg kunckle (mp3 bulkstop trio, the dirt grey pigeons), sarah mckinney (blackwell), chris keith (one f, jeffreys in love), john merrill (mood-food, blackwell, sandfly, archie shepp), gino robair (splatter trio, anthony braxton), sylvia gordon (kudu, black betty, nublu orchestra, wilkommen kinder, moby), lichi d'amelio, chad connor (trip, grease grit & grime), michael mellender (schloss, sleepytime gorilla museum, japonize elephants, the immersion composition society, the lower animals), ian noble r.i.p. (dr. klown-o), vicky grossi (bitches brew, slydini, tower of power, fry pan), chris millner (the molecules, ostrich farm, bion), ches smith (secret chiefs 3, good for cows, mark ribot, xiu xiu), pandit vivek chandra shukla das (psychic tv, tipsy, xambuca, bachir attar), hilary pryde (monkey flower), rick hewitt (vim), joe lewis "man"(karpov, shepards wolf nation , the mountain men and countless others) and of course the amazing vocal stylings of robin graf (kabuki theater) and the list goes on and on.... the vth alumni list reads like a spawning ground for the bay area music scene, crossing boundries and styles without regard. vth now in it's 20th year is extending it's branches to the east coast and beyond. "look out" ....   I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V4.4 (www.strikefile.com/myspace)

Member Since:

March 05, 2006

Members:

as of recent: JASON BERRY - electric soprano, alto & baritone saxophones, bass clarinet, piano, fender rhodes, megaphones, drum kit, the steinberger bass, sythesizers, guitar, tapes, computer, conduction, tibetan bells, knob twiddledge, metal and plastic buckets, drum pad, wooden dowels, piano guts, rototoms, allsorts & whatnots, tonemeister MICHAEL DE LA CUESTA -6, 12 & baritone electric guitars, electric pocket trumpet, vibraphone, bass guitar, fender rhodes, sitar & electric sitar, upright bass, c-melody saxophone, ring modulation, marimba, steel drums, tibetan gongs, trombone, banjo, recorder, electric violin TOM CORBOLINE -bass guitar, flamenco guitar, midi bass, harmonica, welps CHARLES LLOYD -electric guitar, lap steel, electric sitar, bass guitar, piano, recording, hella drumming, happy fun time falseto JUSTIN MARKOVITS -drum kit, percussion, tamboura, plumbing, springs, and "pods" JOHN MERRILL - congas, bells, gongs, claves, quica, castanetts, the uterus computerus RICH CORNY -electric guitar, bass guitar, tamboura, recording MOE! STAIANO -drum kit, percussion, metals, anything in sight that makes a sound, 154, blood, chewing gum MIKE ROGNLIE -bass guitar, harmonium, envelope filters, cat food MICAH MCCAIN -drum kit, tablas SARAH MCKINNEY -vocals, wailing ephemera KAREN DE LA CUESTA - roadie, merch, photography SYLVIA GORDON - amazing vocals LUCY FOLEY - amazing vocals TIM BYRNES - trumpet KEITH ABRAMS - drum kit, metals, percussion ROSS BONADONNA - baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, superb engineering RICHARD E. BARBER -bassoon, bass clarinet, alto clarinet, Eb & Bb clarinets, mellotron, tympani, theremin, harp, marimba, tenor saxopone, celeste, orchestra bells, wine glasses moog, buchla & arp synthesizers, piano, "tapes"

Influences:

stravinsky, zappa, black flag, sun ra, sabbath, the residents (pre-'85), vilayat khan, 8-eyed spy, bartok, etc... and also.... Rabih Abou-Khalil, art bears, albert ayler, bad brains (first 2 albums), balinese gamelan, les baxter, beach boys (smile & smiley smile), beatles, tim berne, bjork, the black keys, blackwell, blue cheer, francy boland/kenny clarke big band, booker t. & the mg's, boredoms, boris, pierre boulez, bowie ('69 - '82), glenn branca, james brown, jack bruce (things i like), tim buckley (starsailor), john cage, john cale (church of anthrax), the campbell brothers, can, captain beefheart, wendy carlos, caroliner rainbow, james chance, charming hostess, cheer accident, don cherry, the chocolate watch band, circle, ornette coleman, ry cooder/manual galban(mambo sinuendo), core, larry coryell, cream, the creatures, ccr, creation rebel, dick dale, wolfgang dauner, miles davis, dead kennedys, deerhoof, dengue fever, martin denny, devo, dmbq, dna, doctor nerve, dog faced hermans, dr. know, eric dolphy, bob dylan, edmund welles, duke ellington, don ellis, elp (tarkus), brian eno, esquivel, gil evans, the ex, john fahey, fantomas, faust, the fender IV, 5uu's, fifty foot hose, flower travellin band, fripp, funkadelic, gang of four, gentle giant, philip glass, gnawa, gong, benny goodman (sextet), herbie hancock (sextant), joe harroitt, george harrison (wonderwall), hella, hendrix, henry cow, bernard herrmann, johnny hodges, randy holden, john lee hooker, howlin' wolf, zakir hussain, husker du, huun huur tu, jethro tull, robert johnson, kagel, pandit habib khan (guru), junior kimbrough, king crimson, king cobra, king tubby, roland kirk, koenjihyakkei, hans koller, erkin koray, volker kriegel, kronos, fela kuti, steve lacy, latin playboys, lea riders group, led zepplin, howard levy, gyorgy ligeti, loung lizards (first album), los zafiros, lowrider, magma, magnesium, mahavishnu orchestra, henry mancini, the mars volta, massacre, the master musicians of jajouka, curtis mayfield, mississippi fred mcdowell, mc5, carmen mcrae (sings monk), john mclaughlin, olivier messiaen, the meters, charles mingus, misfits, modulo 1000, MOE!KESTRA!, thelonoius monk, monopause, ennio morricone, mosaic, mr. bungle (disco volante), conlon nancarrow, mark nauseef, neu, neung phak, gary numan ('77 - '83), om, one f, os mutantes, osanna, shuggie otis, augustus pablo, ivo papasov, harry partch, big john patton, pearls and brass, lee scratch perry, astor piazzolla, dave pike, pil (second edition), pink floyd, plastic ono band, pere ubu, perez prado, present, psychic tv, steve reich, mark ribot, terry riley, max roach (m' boom), roxy music (first 2 albums), ruins, hal russell, samhain, santana (first 3 albums), kurt schwitters, secret chiefs 3, simon shaheen, ananda shankar, pandit ravi shankar, archie shepp, skatalites, slayer, sly stone, sly and robbie, sleep, sleepytime gorilla museum, socrates drank the conium, soft machine, squarpusher (music is rotted one note), steely dan, stereolab, the stooges, karlheinz stockhausen, yma sumac, sun city girls, sundanese gamelan (puppet theater), toru takemitsu, talking heads (remain in light), television, this heat, peter thomas, throbbing gristle, jukka tiensuu, tortoise, traffic, t rex, 2 foot yard, univers zero, utotem, edgard varese, vacuum tree head, caetano veloso, velvet underground (white light white heat), miroslav vitous, muddy waters (electric mud), anton webern, tony williams (turn it over), stevie wonder, link wray, iannis xenakis, xohl caravan, the yardbirds, yes, la monte young, zahar, zga, zolar x, john zorn,

Sounds Like:

everything and yet like nothing you've ever heard

Record Label:

pest colors music