Ban(ne)d From Utopia — Stuttgart, 1994

In the summer of 1994, promoters from the Jazz Open festival in in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany, contacted the Fowler Brothers.

Chad Wackerman interview at Idiot Bastard:

The Fowler Brothers [Tom & Bruce] got a call from a festival in Stuttgart to play a set of Zappa music. This became the Banned From Utopia. I was called at the last minute to be a guest, so I played a couple of tunes with them at the festival. We then went into the studio and recorded various Zappa tunes and originals over a five year period, and the result was the CD, So Yuh Don’t Like Modern Art.

Agreeing to the project at the last minute, the ten members of Band From Utopia formed for and headlined the 1994 festival. The concert was recorded on 32 track mobile digital and also filmed for broadcast on german television (from which the above clips, “The Illinois Enema Bandit” and “Be-Bop Tango” were recorded). This was the first time all of these musicians collectively had taken the same stage at the same time.

Other tracks such as “I Ain’t Got No Heart“, “Zombie Woof” and “Yo Cats” are available as fan videos (audio only).

Parts of their Jazz Open performance are available on DVD, while a more complete performance is available on CD.

The Ban(ne)d From Utopia are:

Ike Willis – guitars, vocals
Bruce Fowler – trombone
Kurt McGettrick – baritone sax
Bobby Martin – tenor sax, keyboards, vocals
Tommy Mars – piano, keyboards, vocals
Tom Fowler – violin, bass
Arthur Barrow – bass, guitar, vocals
Ed Mann – vibes, percussion
Jay Dittamo – drums
Chad Wackerman – drums, percussion

Note: Their name, The Band From Utopia, eventually morphed into Banned From Utopia.

Update (11/05/09): Thanks to Andrew for enlightening me on the difference between the CD (that contains 15 tracks from the festival) and the DVD (which only replicates three on the CD). Thus the DVD is not a complete performance.