Swamp Zombies are an

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band formed during the 1980s in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

( Irvine, CA). One of Doctor Dream Records most popular bands, the Swamp Zombies released five albums for the label. The core of their sound blended

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

and

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

music with heavy doses of calypso and other influences thrown into the mix. The video for the song "Creeps" ( Scratch and Sniff Car Crash) received airplay on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

120 Minutes ''120 Minutes'' is a television program in the United States dedicated to the Alternative rock, alternative music genre, that originally aired on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then aired on MTV's associate channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003. After it ...

Brief history

The band was initially formed in 1985 in Irvine, CA, by two pairs of brothers, Josh and Travis Agle, and Steve and Mike Jacobs. Mike played percussion (congas) on the first single, ''Fire and Dogs'', then was replaced by Gary McNiece, who also performed on the first album. After Gary left, a session musician laid down percussion tracks for their second album until Dave Warren stepped in to fill the void. After the third album Travis left the group and was replaced on the next album by t-ray Vogelzang, who came from a band called The Final Tourguides and also the thrash-a-bash

art punk Art punk, or artcore, is a subgenre of punk rock in which artists go beyond the genre's rudimentary garage rock and are considered more sophisticated than their peers. These groups still generated punk's aesthetic of being simple, offensive, and ...

band, The Silly Millions. After t-ray departed for San Francisco, the band continued as a three piece with Travis making appearances at the odd live show in their later years. The most recent Swamp Zombies gig appears to have taken place in August 1997. Members of the Swamp Zombies found themselves in splinter and spinoff bands such as The Tiki Tones, The Huntington Cads, The Calypso Cats, Tombstone Bullets, and Trucker Up. As of April 2007, a documentary film is being made which will chronicle the history of the Swamp Zombies with recent interviews with band members and those associated with the band. A brief revival of the band is rumored to accompany the wrapping up of the documentary's filming.

Lineup

*Steve "Steeve" Jacobs 1985-1997 -

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, nose flute,

dulcimer The term dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

farfisa Farfisa () is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professional and VIP ranges, and later, a se ...

jaw harp The Jew's harp, also known as jaw harp, juice harp, or mouth harp, is a lamellophone instrument, consisting of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue or Reed (mouthpiece), reed attached to a frame. Despite the colloquial name, the Jew's harp most like ...

and

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

*Travis Agle - 1985–1990, 1996-1997 - guitar & vocals, harmonica, slide guitar, some percussion *"T. Ray Vogelzang" - 1990-1992 - guitar & vocals, accordion * Josh "Shag" Agle - 1985-1997 - guitar, mandolin,

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

, & vocals. Also the artist for the cover art. *Smilin' Dave Warren (full name David Warren Williams) - 1988-1997- percussion,

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

, & vocals *Gary McNiece 1987-1988 - percussion & vocals *Mike Jacobs 1985-1987 - percussion, trombone, & vocals Stand-Ins: *Jeff Beals - guitar *Jeff Fairbanks - touring percussionist

Discography

Singles: *''Fire & Dogs'' b/w ''H.B.'' (1985) *''Creeps'' b/w ''California''/''I Love You, Etc.'' (1990) *''Matador'' b/w ''Temecula'' (1994) *''The Fence Builde

' (2020 ecorded 1992- online release)
Additional photos
LPs: *'' Chicken Vulture Crow'' (1987) *'' Fink'' (1989) *'' Scratch and Sniff Car Crash'' (1990) *'' A Frenzy of Music and Action!'' (1992) *'' Spunk!'' (1993) Songs on Compilations: *'' Mr. Heatmiser'' on the Doctor Dream White Christmas Album (1991) *''Santa Claus Conquers the Martians'' on the Santa/Satan: One and the Same? album (1993) *''Creeps, Desolation Girl'' on Doctor Dream Presents III Promo Collection (1990)

External links

Additional SZ informationSilly Millions info1989 US tour photosAdditional photos
{{Authority control Indie rock musical groups from California American folk musical groups