Zandergriff Miggs & the Parliament of Owls
Hookahs, not Bazookas!Genre Pyschedelic Band Created 3/19/2009 Total Sales 360
Industry Bling
Band Bio
If you could travel up and out...really out, beyond the everything and look back upon it, then you would be gazing from the same eyes as Zandergriff Miggs.
Materialized here on Earth somewhere in the forests along the north shore of Lake Superior, he was raised by a reclusive tribe of music-meisters. He cut his teeth with early outfits like They Might Know and Root City Rebels, evolving his own songcrafting ways and eventually ended up with these crazy cats, the Parliament of Owls.
If a hippie who likes funk and a hippie who likes punk lay down in the tall grass and grooved away an afternoon, the results of such a union would be something like the sound of this band. Swirling, buzzing, droning...the descriptions become cliched. It must be experienced to appreciate the fullness of the sound. Somewhat like conversations with trees. Highly euphoric and a little bit hallucinogenic and at times quite unnerving, yet strangely beautiful in their elegance.
The Parliament of Owls were brought together by Zandergriff after the fall out of Root City Rebels. Two members of the Rebels became the foundation of the Owls. T'Cor Lokdred, who plays an upright bass but slung sideways, and Colin Trujust noodling, screaming and floating in and out of empty spaces on anything with strings have played with Zandergriff for years and the chemistry is evident once the jams go improv. At a show in Minneapolis they heard the blood pumping pulse and rump rattling ruckus of Otis san Salvadore and quickly recruited him away to man the drums for the Owls. Seamus McDonnegie handles the winds (wood, brass and bellows pipes) in the studio, but the band employs a variety of interchanging horn players on stage. The mysterious character known only as "the Mushroom Gnome" rambles from instrument to instrument, fluent at most, he lingers wherever it seems the tune needs him. At the center of it all is, of course, Zandergriff Miggs himself. Often times only his towering tophat and wildly flowing beard are visible from behind his encompassing keyboard rig. Zandergriff is a demon on piano and Hammond B3, learning at the feet of Professor Longhair and Dr. Lonnie Smith, but he likes to dabble with any piece of electronic synthesis he can get his hands on (cutting edge and vintage).
Dig if you will the picture...He's just watching the wheels go 'round and 'round.
Band Gear
Albums / EPs
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Dr. Zanzibar's Menagerie
Date Released: 5/3/2012
Tracks: 13 What happens when UncleDuffRecords' resident fader pusher bars the door to the control room for 3 weeks with several hours worth of ZMPO's newly recorded material? Well...this. "Dr. Zanzibar's Menagerie" is essentially Frey's album. Oh sure, the Owls provided the instrumentation, but what came out at the end of his long process is strikingly different than the raw audio put to tape. Frey had been meticulously researching the recording techniques that were being experimented with in the year of his birth. 1967. The year that gave us the studio as "instrument" in the form of such iconic albums as Hendrix's "Axis: Bold As Love" or The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's..." (which also figured heavily into VanQ's cover art for this release). Armed with a collection of salvaged parts...springs, coils, metal plates, tubes, old warped tape reels and other assorted electric devices, Frey took the raw analog recordings and morphed them into this experimental magnum opus. But make no mistake, "Dr. Zanzibar's Menagerie" is not an album full of oldie's channel staples. This is pure now. 2012, filtered through vintage techniques and it sounds like nothing you've ever heard before. 13 tracks sprawled across two discs giving your head over an hour and a half of mind numbing experimentation. __________________________________________________________________________ Dr. Zanzibar's Menagerie: -Zandergriff=the key & the voice -T'cor=the bottom & the other voice -Colin=the string -Otis=the beat -Frey=the arrangement & the magic Recorded dry @ theBassment, October 2011 - February 2012 Mixed, Effected, Manipulated & Produced by Frey @ theBarn March 2012 Cover art by VanQ - Helectricart UncleDuffRecords - Birchwood Sound - TwentyTwelve Don't forget your headphones...and keep your stick on the ice! Wookiye! |
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News Of The Weird
Date Released: 2/23/2012
Tracks: 12 Blasting off with pounding cathedral-verbed drums trailed viciously by their own echos before you feel the low hum that slowly builds, gently swirling at first...then faster...louder...spiraling all around you, the fact becomes obvious that Zander's B3 is in your head. So begins "News Of The Weird", the latest musical excursion from the Parliament of Owls. Building off a foundation of 70's arena glam power rock (think T. Rex, Queen, etc) the Owls fold in equal measures of tripped out funk and prog pomposity to craft an album of grandiose proportions. Though these tracks are much more tightly arranged than ZMPO's usual loose jams, you will not miss out on any of the instrumental prowess you've come to expect from this band of musical savants. Zander brought in his long time friend and collaborator Van Q on vocals to lend credibility and shine to these arty, glammed rockers and the Stampeding Heard shower their brassy stabs liberally throughout. With tales of the strange and unusual, weird and cosmic, even the rare occurrence of a love song, this album will grab you by the ears and not let go until the final notes of the tongue in cheek, funkabilly closer fade out. --Frey, January 2012 News Of The Weird -Zandergriff=the key -T'cor=the bottom -Colin=the string -Otis=the beat -Gnome=the atmosphere -VanQ=the voice -Massey Ferguson's Stampeding Heard=the brass -songs by Miggs/TruJust/Lokdred -Frey did the recording @ theBarn & the mixing @ theBassment -an UncleDuffRecords production - Birchwood Sound - TwentyTwelve |
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Brown-Y-Owl
Date Released: 10/27/2011
Tracks: 11 So, I got bored, what can I tell you? Distributing music via CD or download or even old school methods like cassette or vinyl is boring and old hat. Anyone can (& everyone does) do that. I wanted to find a way to tie together most of your senses in one delivery method. So here it is. When you open the box, you can smell it. When you dig into it, you can taste it. When it takes effect, you can feel it. And finally, when you get to the middle, you find the capsule. Open it. Inside is a flash drive with audio files. Put it in your device. Load. Hit play. You can hear it. Enjoy. -Zandergriff Miggs _____________________________________ UncleDuff brand Brown-Y-Owl is an owl shaped brownie with a flash drive encased in a heat resistant capsule embedded within it. (It took us a few tries to understand the whole "heat resistant" thing. First few runs thru just melted the drive during the baking process) This is most certainly headphone music, best enjoyed with your computers "visualizer" on. The tunes run the gamut from slow building Floydian epics ("Universe Sausage Apple Place", "Oceans Of Space") to barnstorming psyche-funk (#4# {sterling}) to straight ahead jam fests with plenty of room for those extended instrumental excursions the Owls have made famous. *tracked & mixed by Frey @ theBassment *produced by Z. Miggs *songs by Miggs/TruJust/Lokdred *recipe created by S. Channing *all natural, locally sourced ingredients Available at fine record stores and medical dispensaries near you. |
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Grass Stained Glass
Date Released: 9/8/2011
Tracks: 13 Grass Stained Glass started as a handful of new song sketches that were charted and mapped to be molded and experimented with during the Up the Creek shows, but as fans of the Owls know, what happens to songs in the live setting is a warping transformation that carries the tune to places unexplored in the studio, compiling textural layers that, while leaving them recognizable, often times places them tangentially at odds with the original versions, finding a niche of space all their own and creating something new that did not exist before the first notes were struck. [UncleDuff management notes: the above, unbelievably long run on sentence should be taken as a literary parallel to what happens when ZMPO plug in live.] What you hold in your hands is not a live album in the truest sense, but the original basic tracks and chord change vamps have been blended with various portions of tracks recorded during the Owls performance on St. Paul's riverfront to bring a close to the Eclectic*Music*River*Test. While listening, bear in mind that Zander is no perfectionist. Nor does he expect perfection from the Owls. He relishes mistakes as they sometimes open up whole new avenues for exploration. All he asks of his band is that they push boundaries and he allows them the freedom to expound upon notes and themes and then gently pulls everyone back into the groove when the time is right. This album is fraught with wrong notes, mistimed transitions and flubbed choruses, but somehow the Owls make it work and that's just the way Zander wants it...Wabi Sabi Bang Bang baby! ________-Frey, Sept 2011 -basic tracks and scratch vocals recorded June/July 2011 @ the Bassment -additional tracking recorded live on location St. Paul, Sept 4 2011 -blended, mixed & mastered by Frey @ the Bassment Thanks to: The Cosmic Stoners, Eccentric Arcade, Vorpal Queen and Let's Not & Say We Did for their musical collaboration & companionship on this experimental endeavor! |
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Revolutionary Leap
Date Released: 4/28/2011
Tracks: 13 The Parliament of Owls continue to lead the revolt against the middle of the road. Finding inspiration in their 60's blues/garage rock forefathers, the Owls take you on a (r)evolutionary leap. The jams are aged and steeped in oily residue, w/ a mad distorto-lounge cover of "Charlemagne In Sweatpants". -songs by Miggs, TruJust except * by Finn -recorded in a lava lit haze by Frey -UncleDuffRecords-Headphone Music-TwentYleven Support the revolution. Listen locally, revolt globally. |
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Up the Creek [12" single]
Date Released: 3/11/2011
Tracks: 3 A single released by ZMPO is rare in&of itself, but this vinyl only collector's edition is truly a must have find for audiophiles. "Up the Creek" is a spiraling jam that spins a yarn to set the stage for the musical experiment that will be set in motion this summer. Includes the album version (from Wabi Sabi Bang Bang), a drawn out, solo filled extension and a previously unreleased B side: Chaotic Quixotic. -cover art by Q / Helectricart -UncleDuffRecords * Headphone Music * TwentYleven |
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Wabi Sabi Bang Bang
Date Released: 3/8/2011
Tracks: 11 Improvisation is an "as is" medium. Everything happens in the moment and imperfections abound. Zander, with his beat up old B3 and the Owls with their ear for the jam have assembled a collection of beautifully imperfect gems. The wabi sabi aesthetic conveyed on a musical platform. Wabi Sabi Bang Bang...Oh! what a chitty ride. *recorded as is by Frey *cover art by VanQ/Helectricart - cover concept by Miggs/Schluchtaagen *UncleDuffRecords - Headphone Music - TwentYleven |
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Minne-Apple State Of Mind
Date Released: 1/30/2011
Tracks: 12 Zander borrows a theme from another "Z" for the title track in an ode to the City of Lakes, dispelling all myths of fly-over-land. The remaining tunes border on free form. Recorded live with no rehearsal, Zander shouts a starting key and goes, with the Owls joining him for full on improvisations. This is Funky Rock n' Roll Bebop, Minneapolis style. -horns by Massey Ferguson's Stampeding Heard -tracked by Frey at BassmentFile MPLS -cover art by Van Q -UncleDuffRecords TwentYleven |
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Erwin Schrodinger Brought Him Back
Date Released: 12/2/2010
Tracks: 13 Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the record store, ZMPO zonk your noggin once again. There are songs here that pay tribute to some of the Owls influences & then there are some that are just...well, out there, even by Zander's standards. Open your mind, strap on you headphones and let the melting begin. -songs by Miggs, TruJust, Lokdred -tracked by Frey at BarnFile -UncleDuffRecords TwentyTen -there is no bright side of the Sun really, matter of fact it's Madeleine. |
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Melodious Thunk?
Date Released: 9/6/2010
Tracks: 14 Inspired by the fine line dividing the genius & madness of Monk, Zander has crafted an elegantly dissonant collection of solo piano pieces with loads of half-diminished, open voiced chords and descending chromatic runs that will turn your ears inside out. Monk said "...the piano ain't got no wrong notes". Z takes that to mean all those keys are there for a reason, right? Though it's the space between that makes them sing. *T'Cor Lokdred=Bass (trks 4, 7 & 13) UncleDuffRecords, TwentyTen |
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Plants
Date Released: 7/22/2010
Tracks: 5 Hidden within its spiraling psychedelia, Plants is a concept album. A socio-horticultural commentary on agribusiness, railing against the likes of Cargill & Con-Agra and their decimation of the rural landscape. "wondering which of the chems to blame as we're trimming the vines on the limb" -recorded by Frey at Barnfile -produced by Z. Miggs & C. TruJust -UncleDuffRecords, TwentyTen "any fool knows that flour needs wheat and trees need not the vines on the limb" |
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Down The Owsley Hole
Date Released: 6/3/2010
Tracks: 11 the tale's not told in words it's more like they unfold a painted map on your mind and when the hyper-resonance occurs the image springs forth in the consciousness like a light speed, slow motion head trip This inner space journey thru the windowpane & down the Owsley hole brought to you by ZMPO. -all songs by Miggs, TruJust, Lockdred -except * by Mangol, Miggs, Winwood, Capaldi -recorded by Frey at the BassmentFile -UncleDuffRecords, TwentyTen this is Headphone Music-turn it up |
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Conscious Pilot
Date Released: 4/15/2010
Tracks: 13 Psych-Rock explorers, the Parliament of Owls take you along into deep space with "Conscious Pilot". Here, Zandergriff runs his Hammond thru so many pedals, it becomes unrecognizable. The Owls have warped and morphed each note, entwining the myriad lines, completing whole pieces from multi-fragmentory improvisations. This is Headphone Music. Recorded thru the haze at BarnFile studio, Grand Marais, MN. -engineered by Frey -produced by Z. Miggs for UncleDuffRecords, TwentyTen |
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FURTHUR: the American Dream
Date Released: 2/28/2010
Tracks: 17 Inspired by a week spent in the hills above the Bay. Like a sunbeam reflecting off the moisture in your eye, 'Furthur: the American Dream' is hippy folk campfire music. Acoustic and organic, filled with fuzz and washed in reverb, Z and the Owls tackle the mellow Cali vibe by stretching out the breathing room. Ken always said "Yer either on the bus, or off." This is one bus you don't want to miss. recorded in studio B, Wondering Warlock, San Fransisco, CA. UncleDuffRecords - TwentyTen |
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Absinthe Minded
Date Released: 1/8/2010
Tracks: 14 Zander looked into the future and what he saw made him want to continue living in the moment. 'Absinthe Minded' is the Owls in vintage improvisational form. From the low end boogie of "Pedal Board Stomp" to the spaced out emptiness of "Suspended Velocity" these tracks put the spot light on the spontaneity and chemistry that few bands possess. Musically adventurous and thematically trippy, this is ZMPO at the top of their game. BassmentFile Studios MPLS, MN. UncleDuffRecords - TwentyTen |
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ZMPO: LIVE in Phallicdelphia!
Date Released: 11/10/2009
Tracks: 6 Turning the "City of Brotherly Love" into a psychedelic inferno, the Owls prove once again why they are the reigning trip-adelic jam band in the land. Here is Zander, taking his B3 places unexplored. Colin TruJust, sending his guitar licks to outerspace & T'cor Lokdred rumbling and thundering on the low end. It's all tied together by Otis on the kit & the Gnome on everything else. This crazy live instrumental buzz-jam recorded by Frey w/ the MobileFile. Live in Philadelphia 11-10-2009 |
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JamBand: the video game
Date Released: 9/27/2009
Tracks: 3 Not content with the paltry musical experience of Guitar Hero & Rock Band, U.D.R. has designed a musical interface video game even musicians will find challenging and (most importantly) realistic. JamBand allows players to switch to Jam mode, dropping out all but the rhythm section, leaving you free to improvise. Points are earned by your ability to stay within the key and for creative re-interpretation of the songs. Includes entire ZMPO catalog + Zander's solo work as Dr. Zanzibar. |
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I Have Seen The Worm That Crawls Without Moving
Date Released: 9/11/2009
Tracks: 11 Flying solo once again with his chin freshly sheared, Zandergriff jumps right back on the horse that brought him. "I Have Seen The Worm..." get's right down to the basics of Z's warped out, fuzzed over, psychedelic mind walk brought to life thru the means of a battered old B3 and a room full of Leslies. *all trks intended to be listened to in 1 sitting as 1 piece* -recorded by Frey-BassMentFile studios-an Uncle Duff production, 2009 "Your mind is awash in the tunes I'm slinging..." |
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the Digital Plague
Date Released: 8/11/2009
Tracks: 13 With this album, the heavymetal thunder of Crimson Eye has leaked across the synapses of the Owls. Colin Trujust displays some stratocatasrophic guitar shrieks along with Zander's deep piercing organ snarls and the Owls put out a gem of psychemetallic grimegroove! The addition of Crimson Eye (courtesy of L.B.R.) on the final 5 tracks lends some giant credentials to this experiment in metal. 2 co-written originals & 3 brash cover versions are ponderous & cumbersome with pounding metalifunk! |
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Electric Church
Date Released: 8/7/2009
Tracks: 5 In advance of ZMPO's upcoming album, this EP gives us Zandergriff flying solo under the pseudonym "Dr. Zanzibar". Inspired by his recent collaboration w/ Crimson Eye, here we find tunes that are darker and more moody than normal. His '58 B3 was run thru 7 Leslie cabs & a pair of Marshall stacks, all distorted and overdriven to the breaking point. While this is not your father's Zandergriff, it is merely a side trip on his ever evolving musical journey. an Uncle Duff production, 2009 |
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Seizure Salad
Date Released: 7/5/2009
Tracks: 11 Like a strobed out clarion call shooting across the airwaves to the tripped out riders of the neoPsychedelic Prog-Funk comes this double album of mind bending, tube blowing, head jams! Disc 1 is packed to the hilt with psychedelic brain storms the likes of which have never been heard before. Disc 2 is one long epic that begins with Zander and his flanged, phased & wah'ed Hammond. The Owls join 20 min. in and take the song to the outer reaches. recorded thru the haze-this IS headphone music |
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Old Winter's Eve Festival: LIVE!
Date Released: 4/20/2009
Tracks: 19 1 CD for each set of this historic, first annual, musical celebration of the Spring equinox. Zander & the Owls extend most of the jams and give them their well known improvisational treatment. Filled with Owls faves and a curious mix of covers. (Dylan, Rice, Presley, Zeppelin & Prince) this is a feel-good head trip of monumental proportions. -recorded by fans in the tapers gallery - mixed to surround sound by Frey. (recommended by 4 out of 5 stoners...the 5th was too blotto before the show.) |
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Bubble Gum Gospel
Date Released: 4/9/2009
Tracks: 6 A slight departure for Zander & the Owls, this disc of slower, groovier, gospel pop songs (that still taste of pschedelia) is being released in advance of the 4CD Live album coming later this month. The songs here are moodier than the norm. The emotional trip is way heady, but with the right pre-listen rituals you're sure to enjoy it. This is Head-Phone Music. Recorded in a lava lit smoky haze by Frey Produced by Z. Miggs for Uncle Duff Records 2009 |
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an economy of motion
Date Released: 3/19/2009
Tracks: 9 Solid debut from this warped outfit. Dripping with layers of unabashed groove, it thunders along with crashing power, turning tightly wound tracks into meandering funk jams on a stratospheric tangent. Zandergriff shows why the B3 was created while the Owls lay down the riffs over which he soars. |
Offical Band News
| Clue #2 | 10/27/2011 |
| How do you get your music? | 10/21/2011 |
| Lucky Find part II | 9/10/2011 |