Flowerhead
The People’s Fuzz(Zoo)
by Karen Sidlow
“Loud…” that’s how Buz Zoller, guitarist for the Austin, Texas, based band, Flowerhead, describes their music. Both of their records on Zoo Entertainment, their debut, …ka-BLOOM! and their new record, The People’s Fuzz, actually state “Play This Sucker Loud” on the liner notes. A reasonable suggestion.
This record shows a serious growth for the four-piece band, including stronger songwriting and tighter playing. Although there are many things about the quartet’s 1992 debut album, …ka-BLOOM!, that I enjoyed, The People’s Fuzz is a more solid effort. Robbie Adams, who helped engineer and mix U2’s Achtung Baby and Zooropa, co-produced the new disc. Made up of 11 tracks, the album takes you through a variety of moods. The song, “Hold Me Up,” Buz feels, is “a real ’70s type thing,” and his favorite track on the new record is the first song, “Words To You.” Other memorable cuts include the psychedelic-guitar-ridden, “Happy” and the last song on the release, the very rockin’ “Trip Around the World.”
After …ka-BLOOM!, the band toured the country, opening for such acts as Blind Melon and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin. Playing live brought the majority of the band closer together, with the exception of original drummer, Pete Levine. Replaced by Kyle Thomas, (formerly of Zoo labelmates, Course of Empire), the rest of the band, Buz, Eric Faust (bass and vocals) and Eric Schmitz (guitar and vocals), began to write and record their new release.
In the words of Flowerhead’s “Happy,” “Gotta find what’ll make you happy, cause it’s not always what it seems. Gotta find what’ll make you happy, cause it could be anything…”