biography commentary discography links photos reviews Biography The Muffins' story begins in the fall of... 1973 - with the break up of a Maryland band called Tunc. Former members Dave Newhouse (keyboards, multi-reedist) and Michael Zentner (Guitar/Violin) who met while Dave was in his first year of College and Michael was finishing with High School, decide to form a new band. At the same time, Billy Swann (bass) happens to pick up a friend of Michael's who is hitchhiking with a guitar case. Naturally the conversation centers on musicians and local bands, and Billy learns about Michael and Dave's band. After Billy contacts Michael, they set about to work over the winter, creating a new polyrhythmic music. Dave, Billy and Michael all move into a large farmhouse in (then) rural, small-town Gaithersburg, Maryland, outside of Washington DC. The new group goes nameless until one day, while the three argue over potential names, a friend enters the house, loudly shouting "The muffins are here!" and bearing a tray of hot blueberry muffins as a housewarming gift. The well-wisher's timing is perfect, and the band becomes The Muffins. Billy meets Tom Scott while looking for another horn player (Paul Rinne) within a circle of musician graduates from the Langley (VA) Jazz Lab, Paul isn't interested and he recommends contacting Tom Scott. Tom visits the Gaithersburg band house to listen to the tapes the quartet made of their music. It is now the summer of... 1974 - multi-reedist Tom Scott joins the Muffins. The quintet consists of Dave Newhouse, Billy Swann, Michael Zentner, Tom Scott and Mike Apparetti. After the long drives from Virginia (home) to Maryland (rehearsal) become to tedious Tom also moves into the Gaithersburg band house. Dave writes original material, Tom, Billy and Michael add their own interpretive twist to the arrangements, and the band rehearse steadily, practicing 4 nights a week. The Muffins' communal lifestyle and heavy practice schedule forge a new sound, steeped in intuitive musical interaction. It is during this time that many drummers come and go. It is a stress on the band; however, youthful optimism rules the day and the band continues to develop its distinctive progressive style. 1975 - drummer Stuart Abramowitz joins the band. The rock energy in Stuart's drumming compliments the bands more cerebral compositions. The Muffins' sound tightens into a distinctive personality, although influences of bands like Soft Machine, Hatfield And The North and The Mothers Of Invention are still evident. They record studio and home demos in late 1975 and early summer of… 1976 - none were intended for release, but the majority of which would later be released as Chronometers (Cuneiform 55007). Many of the performances are recorded live and exist as a testimonial to the impressive abilities and performance style that the Muffins have developed. In mid-summer the band undergoes a major shakeup in personnel. On July 9th, 1976, they play their last show with Stuart and Michael. Dave, Billy and Tom remain, although the loss of two members throws The Muffins into chaos. They come close to dissolving altogether, but Tom pushes hard for them to remain together as a group. The intuitive musical connection between the remaining three has bonded them even more than the problems of losing another drummer. The loss of guitar/violin is seen as an opportunity to drop the old music and start anew. They continue rehearsing as an improvising trio, even playing a few shows with this three-piece line-up. Improvisation was always a vital ingredient in The Muffins. All three played or worked in improvisational settings before the Muffins. From the earliest days of the band they would always feature one or two improvisations in their sets and in the rehearsal room, but this period as a trio really forges the group into an improvising unit. In the fall of 1976 they meet drummer Paul Sears. Michael Zentner, via the bassist Pepe Gonzalez contacted Paul. Michael even took Paul to see The Muffins perform while they were a trio. Paul liked what he heard. Later they met and hit it off quite well. Paul's powerful intricate style is exactly what the band needs. The new quartet immediately gets to work, improvising and slowly developing new compositions. The first gig with this new line up (Billy, Tom, Dave, and Paul) is at American University in Washington DC on 10/2/76, (and Paul's birthday) playing with another Washington area band, Grits. By spring of... 1977 - they have about an hour of written material. Their concerts in this period feature nearly a 50/50 mix of written material to improvisation. Throughout the late 1970s The Muffins surround themselves with other musicians. They work with friends and encourage them to form bands reflecting divergent styles of music (free improvisation, space rock, etc.). During the summers of 1976-77, they sponsor free concerts every weekend in the field behind the Gaithersburg farmhouse, which were usually attended by anywhere from 10-100 people. Immersed in music, their next natural step is to form a record label to release these new sounds: Random Radar Records. Eventually they leave Gaithersburg and move to a house in nearby suburban Rockville. Throughout much of 1977 - they write and record their first LP, Manna/Mirage, (released in 1978 as Random Radar 003, reissued as Cuneiform 55004) on Tom Scott's recently purchased 8 track Tascam tape deck. "Manna/Mirage" captures the charm of the band in this period quite well. The "Manna/Mirage" period (1977-79) is the band's popular peak, as they play out more frequently than ever before. "Manna/Mirage" receives quite positive press and college radio airplay. With the help of a postcard enclosed in each album, they begin to assemble an amazingly diverse mailing list, from places as far away as Hong Kong and India. On October 8, 1978, they appear at the first ever US progressive rock festival, the Zu fest in NYC, brainchild of promoter/producer Giorgio Gomelsky. They appeared along with Daevid Allen, Fred Frith, Chris Cutler, & Yochk'o Seffer who all made their first US appearances at that festival along with many US musicians, among them Bill Laswell. 1979 - they record and release their second LP, Air Fiction (no label/serial #), featuring mostly improvisations: one side live, one side home studio recordings. With the help of their mailing list, they offer this recording exclusively to their fans via mail order in a limited edition of 1,000, in the hope of funding an East Coast tour. For the most part, "Air Fiction" is musically unsuccessful. Hastily recorded and assembled, the band has voted not be re-release. By late 1979 into... 1980 - The Muffins' sound is evolving and changing. The more gentle/ jazz-rock styling of their sets are giving way to a harder-edged sound. Billy is given an incredibly cheap GOYA electric guitar that he detunes (to what – a Muffins secret!) and playing fewer keyboard parts and writing pieces for two Saxes, bass and drums. Also Fred Frith, (of the British band Henry Cow), who has moved to New York in the late 70's, becomes a closer friend of the band after having appeared on a RANDOM SAMPLER, and his music and ideas provide stimulus and influence. We must acknowledge the debt owed Fred for his help and support. A long time champion of the band, he features the group on one side of his popular solo LP Gravity (originally Ralph Records, reissued by East Side Digital; currently on Fred's label, Fred Records), which brings their name to the attention of many new listeners. His support and encouragement certainly helps The Muffins reach a wider audience. By the time they are ready to record their last studio album of that era, 185 (Random Radar 010), there is a new level of excitement about recording in a professional environment. This album will be different. Fred Frith offered to produce the record, and the band eagerly accepted. This was also Fred's first production project outside his own material. Fred offers fresh input into the production of <185>. Although the recording budget is small The Muffins make good use of studio time and Fred's production talents. The Muffins are so well rehearsed that they go into Track Studios and record the entire ensemble live, and completed the entire project in only 4 days. Then comes the day precipitated by changing life styles. Tom Scott leaves the band with a heavy heart. He loves the music and the musicians, but he needs to spend more time with his wife and one year old son. Within three months of "<185>s" release they disband. Their final show is at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania during the spring of... 1981 - RIP for awhile. Purgatory.........9 years – during which Paul and Billy were involved with other bands, Dave recorded for the RASCAL REPORTERS and Tom did not play at all. 1990 - Billy had moved from MD to South Carolina, and was back in town for a visit, so the band got together at Paul's house in DC, had a little reunion soiree', and even played together a little..very little. 1993 - Steve Feigenbaum of Cuneiform, an old friend from the RANDOM RADAR days who had re-released the groups back catalogue asked the band if they wanted to participate on the UNSETTLED SCORES project where Cuneiform artists recorded each other pieces. Later that year and into 1994, we did get together to record at Paul's house again and recorded our contribution to that project. ANOTHER LONG PAUSE...........4 years 1998 - The stars are finally aligned, and after reading lots of positive comments on the Internet about The Muffins, the band decided "wot the hell?", jump off the cliff, and let's try getting together for a small gig in Washington DC during 1998. Dave had written some new music, and this happened July 16, 1998 at Chief Ike's Mambo Room, a small club in the Adams Morgan area of Washington DC that was attended by many amazed old friends and fans. None were more amazed then the band, who kept going... 1999 - The writing and collaboration continues, and The band does a bigger gig at PHANTASMAGORIA in suburban MD, a sorely missed and unique venue that was part record store, bar, performance space, and purveyor of all one needed to brew one's own beer. The band starts to record in earnest what would become BANDWIDTH with new engineer, soundman, raconteur, and "5th Muffin", Carl Merson at his BEWARE OF DOG studio in Kensington MD. 2000 - The band continues recording with Carl, and also ended up playing shows at The Knitting Factory in NYC, Washington DC, and at the Villa Celimontana festival in Rome Italy, thanks to arrangements made by the Knitting Factory. 2001 - There are now several progressive music festivals in the US, and the band was invited to appear at PROGDAY, an outdoor festival in NC. The band had not completed the BANDWIDTH recording, but wanted to have a CD to distribute at this, their first festival since reforming. The band recorded all the previous shows, and felt they had enough material for a release. The timing was not right for a release on Cuneiform, their first choice, so the decision was made to self release, and the LOVELETTER series had begun. Loveletter #1, comprised of live shows and studio outtakes was released at PROGDAY to an enthusiastic response, and shortly afterwards distributed in Asia by MARQUEE, a respected Japanese progressive label. 2002 - The band completed and released BANDWIDTH. This CD is the first to feature a string section, and the new guitarist of convenience, Paul. The band was invited for a repeat performance at the PROGDAY festival in North Carolina where old friend and well-known producer/promoter Giorgio Gomelsky honored them with an introduction at the festival. The Muffins also played at ORION SOUND STUDIOS, Baltimore’s premier showcase for progressive rock where they filmed their LIVE AT ORION DVD. NPR starts using music from BANDWIDTH. 2003 - Saw the band perform only in Philadelphia, and spent much time writing and recording their next CD, DOUBLE NEGATIVE. This one features more writing by Tom, Doug Elliot again on trombone, a string section, improvisations, and guests Marshall Allen and Knoel Scott, principal saxophone players from the Sun Ra Arkestra, that Marshall now directs. After the DOUBLE NEGATIVE tracks were recorded, the band spent many hours improvising with Marshall and Knoel, and almost all of that session ended up on yet another CD, LOVELETTER #2. Paul also appeared for yet a third time at PROGDAY with Cyrille Verdeaux’s CLEARLIGHT and artist Paul Whitehead’s ad hoc BORG set. Tom has assembled a digital audio workstation, and is then setup to record a record-setting number added tracks, and then mix the DOUBLE NEGATIVE CD. This CD has more than 50 tracks of music performed by the 11 musicians. This is the bands most ambitious studio effort to date. 2004 - Saw the release of DOUBLE NEGATIVE, and a return to ORION for a double anniversary. Exactly 28 years after Paul’s first show with The Muffins, the band did another show on Paul’s birthday, and it was also the same weekend as ORION’s 10th anniversary. One fan even brought a cake the BANDWIDTH cover done in icing! Track selection from the January sessions with the Arkestra members, editing, and assembly work begins on what will be the LOVELETTER # 2CD. 2005 - This year, the band concentrated on completing and releasing the LOVELETTER #2 CD, and planning their show for the sold out NEARfest event in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania where the band appeared with PRESENT, PFM, Proto-Kaw, and several other groups that summer. Late in the year, the decision was made to start the next recording by using state of the art electronics and go straight to hard disk, bypassing tape altogether. All CDS since LOVELTTER # 1 were mixed on the computer, but all basic tracks were recorded to digital tape. 2006 - The band is working on a new CD, and seeking festivals or other events to play this year. This will be recorded mostly at The Mountain in Madison VA. Watch the news section for more…….. A tip 'o' the hat to Steve Feigenbaum for early history - borrowed from Open City recording!! © 2006-2008 ProgScape Entertainment.