Oblivious Minnow
audiostreet.net/obliviousminnow
Home Town: Cedar Rapids, IA
Genre: Pop & Rock
Posted By: Hashbrowns
Joined On: April 16, 2004
Page Views: 6,491
Song Plays: 168
Current Rank: 3,503
Highest Rank: 289
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Albums
Oblivious Minnow (2001). Healthy Brain Pills (2003). My Monkey Made Me Do It - Vol. 1 (coming in 2006).
Similar Artists
Primus, Les Claypool, Oysterhead, Sausage, Soul Coughing, King Crimson, Faith No More, Incubus.
Group Members
Jim Scharosch - Bass, Keyboards & Vocals. John Morgan - Drums & Percussion. Many Additional Guest Musicians.
Instruments
Vocals, Bass, Drums, Percussion, Keyboards, Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin, Saxophone, Trumpet, Tuba.
Musical Style
Super-Rock!
Influences
Primus, Les Claypool, Soul Coughing, The Police, Phish, Sweet, Riders in the Sky. |
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Brief Description
Equal parts bass honkin' and tub thumpin' topped with a plethora of schizophrenic stunt 6-string (and don't forget the saxophonics).
History/Biography
Oblivious Minnow is a studio/band project that was started in the fall of '98 by bassist/vocalist Jim Scharosch and drummer/percussionist John Morgan.
Both have played together in numerous other bands including the critically acclaimed Pearls 4 Swine and fan favorite Wooly Mammoth. After working with numerous guitarists in said previous bands, with the goal of writing, recording and performing, a different approach was taken with the Oblivious Minnow project. With the focus soley on writing and recording, more time was taken in the writing process and numerous guest musicians were brought in to record parts on each of the two Oblivious Minnow releases.
The self-titled debut CD, released by Bumble Puppy Recordings in early 2001, utilized guitarists that had previously played with Scharosch and Morgan in other bands. Featured on the first release: Des Moines guitarist Dan Weddle (ex-Wooly Mammoth, now heading up his own pop-rock project, The Funnel Cakes), Waterloo guitarist Jon Chamberlain (of the band Measure, also a seasoned engineer at Cedar Falls' Catamount Recording Studios), Cedar Rapids guitarist Will Peters (area cover band veteran, now of Strange Brewski) and Monticello guitarist Shaun Renken (ex-Chaos, area acoustic-solo performer).
This first effort leaned more toward a hard rocking hybrid of previous bands Pearls 4 Swine and Wooly Mammoth. Even though the four different guests shared guitar duties, and the disc featured some stylistic differences from song to song, as a whole there was the cohesive thread of the ever-present thumping bass/drums groove that has since come to be known as the "beige sound." This sound was also illustrated in the earthtoned greens and browns of the cover art.
After some forays into a few other projects the two prime members of Oblivious Minnow reconvened to begin writing what would be come the second Oblivious Minnow CD release, "Healthy Brain Pills," also from Bumble Puppy Recordings. In a never ending quest for improvement, new recording equipment was used and new blood called upon to fill out the line-up for the sessions. Featured on "Healthy Brain Pills": Cedar Rapids guitarist Bruce Kaiser (The Bruce Kaiser Band), Quad Cities guitarist Chris Kellner, Center Point guitarist Rich Toomsen (ex-Pearls 4 Swine, now of Violet Island) and saxophonist Jeff Ksiazek (ex-Dr. Z's Experiment, now of Poncho's Pilot). To further shake things up, additional vocalists Matt Ricklefs (singer/songwriter and ex-Wooly Mammoth guitarist), Kelli Hastings and J-Smooth Parsons (area sound engineer/studio tech and all around smooth s.o.b.) were also called upon for the sessions.
In addition to recently completing production and backing duties for singer/songwriter Matt Ricklefs and his debut Bumble Puppy Recordings CD, "Salamander Dreams," Oblivious Minnow is also working on new material for what will become their third release, "My Monkey Made Me Do It - Vol. 1," due in 2006.
Guest musicians on "My Monkey Made Me Do It - Vol. 1," to include: Kelli Parsons on vocals, Austin Scharosch on trumpet and Ron Niermeyer on tuba. |
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