Brutal Juice is a self-proclaimed " acid punk" (

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

-influenced

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier p ...

and

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

) band from

Denton, Texas Denton is a city in and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, United States. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the 27th-most populous city in Texas, the 197th-most populous city in the United States, and the 12th-most populous ...

. The band formed in 1990 and officially disbanded in February 1997, although they held several reunion concerts between 1999 and 2012, which usually took place at Fry Street Fair in Denton. They officially reformed in 2012 and released their latest album, titled "''Welcome to the Panopticon,''" on October 28, 2016. Brutal Juice still performs a few times a year, typically playing shows in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, or in Austin.

History

The band was formed by singer/guitarist Gordon Gibson and drummer Ben Burt, who added classical/jazz-trained guitarist Ted Wood, and later Sam McCall (bass guitar, who had recorded the band's early demos prior to joining the group) after their first three bassists had come and gone, this lineup recording the ''How Tasty Was My Little Timmy?'' tape before Craig Welch joined, initially as a dancer, but soon becoming co-vocalist.Fowler, Jimmy (1992) "Stone Soup Dragons", ''

Dallas Observer ''Dallas Observer'' is a free digital and print publication based in Dallas, Texas. The ''Observer'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music, and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue circ ...

'', May 7, 1992, pp. 49-50Green, Jim
Brutal Juice
, ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

''. Retrieved November 25, 2018McPhate, Christian (2017)
Brutal Juice Returns With Release of Their 'Red Pill Record' ''Welcome to the Panopticon''
, ''

'', February 2, 2017. Retrieved November 25, 2018 They took the name Brutal Juice, which according to some sources was taken from a

Hertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that o ...

commercial featuring O. J. Simpson and

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Dating back to 1955, he won numerous ev ...

, although promotional material supplied with the release of '' Mutilation Makes Identification Difficult'' claimed "they had the stupid name rutal Juicebefore the stupid O. J. stuff". Over the next two years the band released singles "Cannibal Holocaust" and "Black Moment Of Panic", and in 1994 they released the live album ''I Love the Way They Scream When They Die'' on

Alternative Tentacles Alternative Tentacles is an independent record label established in 1979 in San Francisco, California. It was used by Dead Kennedys for the self-produced single " California Über Alles". After realizing the potential for an independent label, ...

/Sound Virus. The band's first studio album proper, ''Mutilation Makes Identification Difficult'', was released in 1995 after the band had signed to Interscope Records. It was described by Patrick Kennedy in his

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

review as "a positively brilliant, sprawling construction of punk rock fury, prog mathematics, spacey, tripped out leads and effects, and densely churning metal riffs".Kennedy, Patrick
''Mutilation Makes Identification Difficult'' Review
,

. Retrieved November 25, 2018 Mark Jenkins, for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', described the songs as "cannily structured and sometimes even catchy". They were dropped by Interscope, and released the "All American City" single on the Man's Ruin label in June 1996, before splitting in 1997. The band toured extensively throughout the 1990s, opening for bands such as

Toadies Toadies are an American rock band formed in 1989 in Fort Worth, Texas, best known for the song " Possum Kingdom". The band's classic lineup consisted of Vaden Todd Lewis (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Lisa Umbarger (bass guitar), Darrel Herb ...

Gwar Gwar, often stylized as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc. After th ...

and Ed Hall. Brutal Juice also toured with

Neurosis Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving chronic distress, but neither delusions nor hallucinations. The term is no longer used by the professional psychiatric community in the United States, having been eliminated from th ...

Baboon Baboons are primates comprising the genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow baboon, the Kinda baboon and the chacma ...

Alice Donut Alice Donut is a punk rock band from New York City formed in 1986. The band released six albums before splitting up in 1996. They reformed in 2001. History 1986–1996: Formation to split Alice Donut formed in 1986 after the demise of the Sea B ...

, and

The Meatmen The Meatmen are an American punk band headed by Tesco Vee, originally existing from 1981 to 1988, before reforming in the mid-1990s, and again in the 2000s. They were known for their outrageous stage antics and offensive lyrics. They reformed ...

. Vocalist Craig Welch was known for his on-stage antics, often standing on his head and putting out

cigarettes A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...

on his tongue or forehead during the band's performances. This habit led to his next band taking the name International Sparkdome. Brutal Juice had a habit of writing songs that incorporate their album titles. Even their earliest recordings employed this. ''How Tasty Was My Little Timmy?'' is a line from the song "Cannibal Holocaust", which appears on their first release. Similarly, ''I Love the Way They Scream When They Die'' is a line from "Burpgun", which appears on the release that followed it. Likewise, ''Mutilation Makes Identification Difficult'' is a lyric from "Bound For Glory", which first appeared on a single that was released a year after the album with that title. Jim Green, writing for ''

'', described the band's music as "like a steamroller massage but includes irregular time signatures and unusual chord progressions".

After split in 1997

After the band dissolved in 1997, the members of Brutal Juice remained active in the music scene. Gordon Gibson and Ben Burt went on to form The Tomorrowpeople, along with ex-

guitarist Darrel Herbert. Ben Burt also played in the bands Pinkston, Falkon, Jack With One Eye, and most recently Five Dollar Priest in New York City. Craig Welch played with International Sparkdome, Fabulous Badasses, Neeks, 2MAI, Wounded Infidel, The Banes, Dead Cow Mountain, FISK, Glitterature and now has his solo project Foolish2. Ted Wood played with Hand of Onan, The Banes, Clutch Cargo, Magnum Octopus, and Austin-based band Babydick (along with Sam McCall). Sam McCall also produced and recorded albums for other bands.

Reformation

The band played several local shows from 2000 onwards, and formally reformed in 2012, and began to work on new material.Rizvi, Shahryar (2010)
This Week In Dallas Music History: Brutal Juice Is Too Brutal for Deep Ellum
, ''

'', May 3, 2010. Retrieved November 25, 2018 Their most recent album, the

David Icke David Vaughan Icke (; born 29 April 1952) is an English conspiracy theorist and a former footballer and sports broadcaster. He has written over 20 books, self-published since the mid-1990s, and spoken in more than 25 countries. In 1990, Icke ...

-inspired ''Welcome to the Panopticon'', was self-released in late 2016, described by Welch as "an acid-fueled excuse to turn amps to 11 and play with feedback loops", and by Michael Toland of the ''

Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogra ...

'' as "a distinctive mélange of fantastical indulgence and political commentary".Toland, Michael (2017)
Brutal Juice ''Welcome to the Panopticon''
''

'', March 17, 2017. Retrieved November 25, 2018

Wesley Willis Wesley Lawrence Willis (May 31, 1963 – August 21, 2003) was an American musician and visual artist. Diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1989, Willis began a career as an underground singer-songwriter in the outsider music tradition. Wil ...

wrote a song about Brutal Juice after seeing them perform in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. It appears on his 1996 album ''Fabian Road Warrior''.Thompson, Stephen (2002)
Wesley Willis: ''Fabian Road Warrior''
, ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'', March 29, 2002. Retrieved November 25, 2018

Band members

* Craig Welch - lead vocals * Gordon Gibson - lead vocals, guitar * Sam McCall - bass * Ted Wood - guitar, vocals * Ben Burt - drums, vocals

Discography

Albums

* ''How Tasty Was My Little Timmy?'' (1991), Homus Boyus * '' I Love the Way They Scream When They Die'' (1994),

* '' Mutilation Makes Identification Difficult'' (1995), Interscope * ''Welcome to the Panopticon'' (2016), Homus Boyus

Singles / E.P.s / demos

* ''Brutal Juice'' (demo) (1992), Homus Boyus * "Cannibal Holocaust" (1992), Direct Hit * "Black Moment of Panic" (1993), Alternative Tentacles * "All American City" (1996), Man's Ruin

Compilation appearances

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Alternative Tentacles artists Interscope Records artists Musical groups disestablished in 1997 Musical groups established in 1990 Musical groups from Denton, Texas 1990 establishments in Texas