1st album:
Musique Qui Empechent L'Erection! Vol. 1
(https://www.discogs.com/Ze-Zinjanthropes-Brachycephales-Ftng-Musique-Qui-Empechent-LErection-Vol-1/release/3608866)
2nd
album: Je Ne Peux Plus
M'Retiendre!/Can’t Slow Down (https://www.discogs.com/Ze-Zinjanthropes-Brachycephales-Ftng-Je-Ne-Peux-Plus-MRetiendre/release/733065)
These were the days before the internet, or rather, these
were the days when the interweb was barely beginning to be made available in
peoples’ homes. These were the days when online connection was through dial-up
connection using the home phone line, and 36000KPS connections were pretty much
as fast as they came. In those days, surfing online was an exercise in patience,
and would result in numerous sleepless all-nighters as described in my early
Y2K journals “Confessions Of An Internet Junky, parts 1 to 7” from a few years
(decades) ago.
I had met the Ft’Gh guys while shopping for records at a
used record shop (the glory days of actually having music on a physical
format!) and was approached by “Magyk” Oly Loopy as they were dropping off a
couple of copies of their just freshly pressed debut CD “Musique Qui Empechent
L'Erection! Vol. 1 ». « You look like you play in a band » he
said to me with a quirky uncertain smile or smirk, as I responded in my then
usual self-conscious defensive manner. Well it did not take long that I started
hanging out and jamming with them before they decided to rent Foufounes
Electriques to do an official launch show. With the band A.K.A.inc. (which I
was a member of) opening up, the night solidified me as an official band member
and we soon began touring a few areas, private shows, and working on new
material for their next release.
As a new member, both Oly and Cheapie Jimi Wistaff made
certain they came up with an embarrassing stage name for myself as well as
treat me in that long tradition of giving the new guy a hard time, such as
constantly changing chords and melodies of tracks I had already much difficulty
attempting to perform as they continually seemed to be attempting to out-solo
each other. Although the process was a liberating exercise for me in the arena
of free-flow improvisational madness, for any outsider the “music” would come
off principally as utter cacophony wrapped in a thinly-veiled non-existing
structure. We played, we jammed, we pretty much had a lot of fun, played a few
shows and kept working on material for the second CD.
Some of the more memorable moments of playing live with the Ft'Gh guys was a semi-private show (by invitation only) after hours at the independant Montréal record shop "L'Oblique", which I think was the first time people saw me with the Ft'Gh guys as an official member - apparently I was memorable for I was the more "moving" member of the band, something which I never noticed myself but when the spirit moves you... I also recall another show alongside other bands like WD-40 before they got that FM radio hit song. We played somewhere like Rimouski or Chicoutimi and the stage was so small (leaving little room for us guys, the opening band) that I had to play right next/under the actual stage. About half-way through the show I broke a bass string which snapped across one of my hands and my face, leaving me with bright red whiplashed marks for a few days afterwards. Good times! We also played an industrial music festival in Ottawa alongside other bands such as Montreal's own Phycus, where I wanted to play the Ennio Morricone theme "Humanity Part 2" from The Thing (1982) but no one knew the piece at all. Brian Damage kept saying "The Thiiiiiinnnngggg!!!" as lyrics to the song I was jamming before the show. The most memorable moment came when half way through our performance we literally blew up the power generators in the venue, which was without electricity or power for about 10-15 minutes. Apparently we were playing way, way too loudly. After the show I actually met artist Dave Cooper who somehow was there and really enjoyed talking to us, and I to him as I was a fan of his earlier comic-form artwork. There were other shows, but those few stick out more vividly than others.
Jamming in Oly Loopy's basement was fun too. Now you must remember these guys were real "plateau artists", meaning they never got out of bed before noon. I always was more of a morning person than most people (even today I wake up at 7am on the weekends! Hey, I start work at 6h30am on weekdays so it does affect one's sleep patterns!), and so I would arrive at Loopy's place between 11h30 and noon and I would basically wake him up. He'd always offer me a deluxe coffee with his deluxe coffee maker, and his patner/girlfriend "Coco" was always nice to me. After about a half hour of pleasantries (when we didn't show me artwork or new laserdiscs - yes, laserdiscs!)we'd move on to the basement and start plugging our gear, waiting for Cheapie Jimi to arrive. As soon as he would, we'd break out to our jamming... until about 16h00 or 17h00 because I had responsibilities back then as well. Those basement jam sessions were pure magic indeed: that's where we came up with the best ideas and worked on songs over the course of numerous weeks and months. We'd never play any song the same way twice, something they were very passionate about - even their older repertoire of songs would constantly be given a new twist with every performance we did. However on my side, and this is quite odd when you consider how anti-commercial I really am about just anything, I would always try to steer the songs closer to a more concrete, song-structure, strictly in order to be able to have reference points and cues to be able to work off of, and of course, in an attempt to make the Ft'Gh somewhat more palpatable to a broader range of people.
It was interesting how I always thought Jimi to be a true guitar virtuoso, capable of doing just about anything he would set his mind too, always completelly comfortable doing anything, even if he did continually try to hone his skills. Loopy was an odd creature as well, playing samplers and keyboards as a true keyboard/pianist: never having used drum machines or sequencers - the concept of programming and sequencing material was truly alien to him, always being a live, hands-on performer. To be able to infiltrate and become a part of these guys' process/processes was something very special and unique, and always will remain with me as something of a beautiful, albeit un-typical experience, but then again, I always enjoyed to dabble in the weird and unconventional, and these guys were anything but the standard fare!
Some of the more memorable moments of playing live with the Ft'Gh guys was a semi-private show (by invitation only) after hours at the independant Montréal record shop "L'Oblique", which I think was the first time people saw me with the Ft'Gh guys as an official member - apparently I was memorable for I was the more "moving" member of the band, something which I never noticed myself but when the spirit moves you... I also recall another show alongside other bands like WD-40 before they got that FM radio hit song. We played somewhere like Rimouski or Chicoutimi and the stage was so small (leaving little room for us guys, the opening band) that I had to play right next/under the actual stage. About half-way through the show I broke a bass string which snapped across one of my hands and my face, leaving me with bright red whiplashed marks for a few days afterwards. Good times! We also played an industrial music festival in Ottawa alongside other bands such as Montreal's own Phycus, where I wanted to play the Ennio Morricone theme "Humanity Part 2" from The Thing (1982) but no one knew the piece at all. Brian Damage kept saying "The Thiiiiiinnnngggg!!!" as lyrics to the song I was jamming before the show. The most memorable moment came when half way through our performance we literally blew up the power generators in the venue, which was without electricity or power for about 10-15 minutes. Apparently we were playing way, way too loudly. After the show I actually met artist Dave Cooper who somehow was there and really enjoyed talking to us, and I to him as I was a fan of his earlier comic-form artwork. There were other shows, but those few stick out more vividly than others.
Jamming in Oly Loopy's basement was fun too. Now you must remember these guys were real "plateau artists", meaning they never got out of bed before noon. I always was more of a morning person than most people (even today I wake up at 7am on the weekends! Hey, I start work at 6h30am on weekdays so it does affect one's sleep patterns!), and so I would arrive at Loopy's place between 11h30 and noon and I would basically wake him up. He'd always offer me a deluxe coffee with his deluxe coffee maker, and his patner/girlfriend "Coco" was always nice to me. After about a half hour of pleasantries (when we didn't show me artwork or new laserdiscs - yes, laserdiscs!)we'd move on to the basement and start plugging our gear, waiting for Cheapie Jimi to arrive. As soon as he would, we'd break out to our jamming... until about 16h00 or 17h00 because I had responsibilities back then as well. Those basement jam sessions were pure magic indeed: that's where we came up with the best ideas and worked on songs over the course of numerous weeks and months. We'd never play any song the same way twice, something they were very passionate about - even their older repertoire of songs would constantly be given a new twist with every performance we did. However on my side, and this is quite odd when you consider how anti-commercial I really am about just anything, I would always try to steer the songs closer to a more concrete, song-structure, strictly in order to be able to have reference points and cues to be able to work off of, and of course, in an attempt to make the Ft'Gh somewhat more palpatable to a broader range of people.
It was interesting how I always thought Jimi to be a true guitar virtuoso, capable of doing just about anything he would set his mind too, always completelly comfortable doing anything, even if he did continually try to hone his skills. Loopy was an odd creature as well, playing samplers and keyboards as a true keyboard/pianist: never having used drum machines or sequencers - the concept of programming and sequencing material was truly alien to him, always being a live, hands-on performer. To be able to infiltrate and become a part of these guys' process/processes was something very special and unique, and always will remain with me as something of a beautiful, albeit un-typical experience, but then again, I always enjoyed to dabble in the weird and unconventional, and these guys were anything but the standard fare!
When the recording sessions came for the long-anticipated and long-worked at second album, the “final” versions of
the tracks to be included on the album (some songs were also recorded live from
a multi-track soundboard to capture our live feel), they had again completely
re-worked all the songs making sure that all the jamming, preparation and learning
I had done for about a year or so was to be thrown out the window. For the next
few weeks, I would come in a few hours at Cheapie Jimi’s “Saij Communications”
studio to learn and record bass parts for a few songs, and drop a few lyrics
here and there for new compositions he had recorded specifically for the album.
By this point I was getting increasingly frustrated that my contributions were
not really taken seriously and began to feel that being a part of this band was
more of a chore than fun.
The biggest blow to my massive ego of the time period came
when they mixed and mastered the CD on a day when I was working (without
pay-bénévolat) and the result came back with some of my bass parts replaced by
newly recorded parts by Cheapie Jimi, those left were muddled underneath the
rest of the sounds, and the best track from the album was never included. In
short, the result was far less impressive than what we had been working on for
so long. Perhaps the final coup-de-grâce came when Oly and Jimi decided to add
a “poet” to the band, and without ever rehearsing together, opened up for the
noise band Vermifront Front in a live improvised set, at one point this “poet”
grabbing my nether regions in the middle of the show. After the performance a
few people came to talk to me to express their own miscontent, stating that it
looked as though I was the only guy onstage even trying to keep the mess from
being completely incohesive. I do recall the show as being very frustrating as
I was desperately trying to keep it together while everyone else on stage was
basically doing a free for all non-stop.
Although there never was another officiallisation of my
departure, I quietly disappeared from the band after that show, while they
continued for a bit, even recording a few bits and pieces with the poet for a
proposed third album, but I never heard from them again, save from Loopy
releasing a solo album, and Cheapie Jimi performing in other bands and doing
live shows here and there, before finially recording his Beatles cover album
between 2003 and 2007; a project he was already working on when we were working
on the Ft’Gh’s second album.
Although it ended in a frustrating mess, it was mostly fun times
with Oly and Jimi, and I had wished back in the day that we would have done
things differently. There deffinately was potential (I was trying to get into
Jimi’s Beatles cover project quite desperately) as a lot of what did “off the
record” was very enjoyable, but in the end it seemed as though there just was
too much ego on all parts, not excluding my own. Whereas they were more Zappa
and Captain Beefheart, I was more Einstuerzende Neubauten and Killing Joke.
Check out the official discogs entries over at: https://www.discogs.com/artist/558225-Ze-Zinjanthropes-Brachycephales-Ftng!
You can listen to both their albums in their entirety
(without track listing nor seperations, unfortunately), but be warned that this
is generally referred to as non-music, un-listenable jumbalaya:
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZTomsP-Kbs&t=1334s
Below is a copy/paste transcript of something I wrote décades ago in the earlier days of the interweb, from the now long-gone Geocities web-hosting pages. This is another recollection of my days with the Ze Zinjanthopes Brachycéphales Ft'Gh! :
In the early-nineties, I met Majiick Oly Loopy and Cheapie Jimi Wistaff, the two freaks behind Montreal electro-burlesque combo called Ze Zinjanthropes Brachycephales Ft'Gh! or just plain Ft'Gh! for short. I met the guys the exact day they just received the first prints of heir very fist independantly produced full-length compact disc. They were going in various stores on Le Plateau area ( mainly Mont-Royal street) trying to unload a few copies as much as they could. In one particular store (where I happened to be), Loopy came up to me and blatantly asked me what instrument I played. I was taken by suprise, so I answered "Synths and the bass".
They mentionned they were about 3 or so weeks away from the official launching party; a live gig at Foufounes Electriques. They needed an opening band and invited me to play with them on the bass for the show. So, with my then project A.K.A.inc., we opened up for the Ft'Gh!, and after our 35 minute set (which did get an honest audience appreciation!), I jumped on stage with the two freaks for about two hours' worth of jamming.
After the show, they asked me if I wanted to play with them on a full-time basis. I agreed. we made a couple of shows, most of which were plagued by broken bass strings and other accidents, but it was all in pure fun.
While they were discussing the possibility of releasing another CD with me joining them, they also thought I needed a stage name, such as theirs. It had to be whacky like theirs and yet, representative of my then- personnae. I thought I should be a Reverend because I was probably the more "serious" of the trio. They thought I sort of looked like a dirty fat and perverted version of Archie, with a Scottish twist. In those days, I was also very verbal about my love for the female sexual anatomy, so they called me Buttersnatch. The last name McWick is a Scottish-type name, with the "Wick" being a reference to my own carefully hidden private parts. The final portion, The Turd, is a take on The Third, but with a reference to fecees. So, the full name of my Ft'Gh! personnae was:
Reverend Buttersnatch McWick, The Turd
Obviously, I didn't like the name, but those guys were pretty insistant on calling me Buttersnatch everywhere I went. So the name stuck, but my close friends didn't think it suited me. It was also a pretty vulgar namesake. I can't recall who it was, but at one point, someone just called me Butterman, and it stuck. Well after I was given the pink slip with the Ft'Gh!, most of all my friends just called me Butterman, or even Butter for short!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post Scriptum (because it would not be one of my blogs without countless and insessant long-winded-ness!).
One of few things I should specify about the Ft'Gh is that they did not do drugs. As opposed to what their music and techniques may stereotypically inspire, they did not consume illegal mind altering substances. They would have a couple of drinks here and there and I think I may possibly have seen Loopy slightly buzzed on one or two occasions but that's about it. As opposed to myself when this was a period in my life when I was quite regularly consuming the mary jane as well as imbibing more than my fair share of beer - both of which I have quit a few years ago, something which I am quite proud of. So where did all their crazed zaniness come from? I do believe they came from the Mothers Of Invention creedo about keeping oneself clean and free of drugs. Whatever their reasons were, they surely did make it seem as though they were constantly Under the influence.
The Ft'Gh guys were also artists. If I recall correctly, both had governemnt grants to create visual art in some format or another, and both were always working on something (I was exposed to a lot of Loopy vidual treats when hanging out at his apartment before and sometimes after our jam sessions). I know they collaborated together on graphic novels, only one of which actually was picked up and published nationally (across the province), but they were quite prolific in their visual arts in general. They designed all the artwork on their CDs and then some (I only collaborated on the Inside montage of the 2nd CD), and one funny bit was how they incorporated us in a major crowd scene in one of their cartoon panels for one of their graphic novels. I also may recall how they also managed to release childrens' books (! ! !) along the way as well.
Below is a copy/paste transcript of something I wrote décades ago in the earlier days of the interweb, from the now long-gone Geocities web-hosting pages. This is another recollection of my days with the Ze Zinjanthopes Brachycéphales Ft'Gh! :
In the early-nineties, I met Majiick Oly Loopy and Cheapie Jimi Wistaff, the two freaks behind Montreal electro-burlesque combo called Ze Zinjanthropes Brachycephales Ft'Gh! or just plain Ft'Gh! for short. I met the guys the exact day they just received the first prints of heir very fist independantly produced full-length compact disc. They were going in various stores on Le Plateau area ( mainly Mont-Royal street) trying to unload a few copies as much as they could. In one particular store (where I happened to be), Loopy came up to me and blatantly asked me what instrument I played. I was taken by suprise, so I answered "Synths and the bass".
They mentionned they were about 3 or so weeks away from the official launching party; a live gig at Foufounes Electriques. They needed an opening band and invited me to play with them on the bass for the show. So, with my then project A.K.A.inc., we opened up for the Ft'Gh!, and after our 35 minute set (which did get an honest audience appreciation!), I jumped on stage with the two freaks for about two hours' worth of jamming.
After the show, they asked me if I wanted to play with them on a full-time basis. I agreed. we made a couple of shows, most of which were plagued by broken bass strings and other accidents, but it was all in pure fun.
While they were discussing the possibility of releasing another CD with me joining them, they also thought I needed a stage name, such as theirs. It had to be whacky like theirs and yet, representative of my then- personnae. I thought I should be a Reverend because I was probably the more "serious" of the trio. They thought I sort of looked like a dirty fat and perverted version of Archie, with a Scottish twist. In those days, I was also very verbal about my love for the female sexual anatomy, so they called me Buttersnatch. The last name McWick is a Scottish-type name, with the "Wick" being a reference to my own carefully hidden private parts. The final portion, The Turd, is a take on The Third, but with a reference to fecees. So, the full name of my Ft'Gh! personnae was:
Reverend Buttersnatch McWick, The Turd
Obviously, I didn't like the name, but those guys were pretty insistant on calling me Buttersnatch everywhere I went. So the name stuck, but my close friends didn't think it suited me. It was also a pretty vulgar namesake. I can't recall who it was, but at one point, someone just called me Butterman, and it stuck. Well after I was given the pink slip with the Ft'Gh!, most of all my friends just called me Butterman, or even Butter for short!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post Scriptum (because it would not be one of my blogs without countless and insessant long-winded-ness!).
One of few things I should specify about the Ft'Gh is that they did not do drugs. As opposed to what their music and techniques may stereotypically inspire, they did not consume illegal mind altering substances. They would have a couple of drinks here and there and I think I may possibly have seen Loopy slightly buzzed on one or two occasions but that's about it. As opposed to myself when this was a period in my life when I was quite regularly consuming the mary jane as well as imbibing more than my fair share of beer - both of which I have quit a few years ago, something which I am quite proud of. So where did all their crazed zaniness come from? I do believe they came from the Mothers Of Invention creedo about keeping oneself clean and free of drugs. Whatever their reasons were, they surely did make it seem as though they were constantly Under the influence.
The Ft'Gh guys were also artists. If I recall correctly, both had governemnt grants to create visual art in some format or another, and both were always working on something (I was exposed to a lot of Loopy vidual treats when hanging out at his apartment before and sometimes after our jam sessions). I know they collaborated together on graphic novels, only one of which actually was picked up and published nationally (across the province), but they were quite prolific in their visual arts in general. They designed all the artwork on their CDs and then some (I only collaborated on the Inside montage of the 2nd CD), and one funny bit was how they incorporated us in a major crowd scene in one of their cartoon panels for one of their graphic novels. I also may recall how they also managed to release childrens' books (! ! !) along the way as well.
Excellent read! Thanx for sharing your recollections...
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