The Muffins were an American

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

-based

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. Init ...

avant-jazz Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz and experimental jazz) is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through to the late 1960s. Orig ...

group. They were formed in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

in the early 1970s and recorded four albums before disbanding in 1981. In 1998 the group reformed and recorded a further five albums and a DVD. The Muffins played at Symphony Space on Broadway in NYC with Marion Brown in 1979, and also performed at a number of festivals, starting with the ZU Manifestival in New York City in 1978, The Villa Celimontana festival in Rome, Italy in 2000, two appearances at Progday in 2001 and 2002, NEARfest in 2005, and the "

Rock in Opposition Rock in Opposition or RIO was a movement representing a collective of progressive bands in the late 1970s united in their opposition to the music industry that refused to recognise their music. It was initiated by English avant-rock group Hen ...

" festival in France in 2009. In 2010, The Muffins headlined at Progday, making a third appearance at this long running festival. The Muffins are largely an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

band inspired and influenced by avant-garde jazz, progressive rock, 20th-century music, and the English

Canterbury scene The Canterbury scene (or Canterbury sound) was a musical scene centred on the town of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Associated with progressive rock, the term describes a loosely-defined, improvisational styl ...

. They work in an "underground genre" '' Perfect Sound Forever'' called "the avant-garde side of latter-day US progressive jazz-rock", and place "the joy of creation over commercial concerns". ''

The Rolling Stone Record Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' called them the "spiritual American cousins of

Henry Cow Henry Cow were an English experimental rock group, founded at the University of Cambridge in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler, b ...

and

Soft Machine Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards, 1966–1976), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals, 1966–1971), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals, 1966–1968) and Daevid Allen (guitar, 1966–196 ...

", and

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 databas ...

described their music as a "unique blend of Canterbury progressive, fusion, improvisation and much more."

History

In 1973, keyboardist and saxophonist Dave Newhouse, guitarist Michael Zentner and bassist Billy Swann, disillusioned with the state of American rock music at the time, decided to form their own group. They moved into a large farmhouse in

Gaithersburg, Maryland Gaithersburg ( ), officially the City of Gaithersburg, is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census, Gaithersburg had a population of 69,657, ...

they called the Buba Flirf house, and turned for inspiration to a new "

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

" style of music (

, Caravan and others) that was coming out of England at the time. In 1974, saxophonist Thomas Scott joined the group. Although Scott came from a classical and

big-band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

jazz background, he also had an affinity for Soft Machine and other British progressive rock groups like

Gentle Giant Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band were known for the complexity and sophistication of their music and for the varied musical skills of their members. All of the band members were multi-inst ...

. After a succession of drummers, Stuart Abramowitz joined on drums in 1975, but left in July 1976, along with guitarist Zentner. The remaining trio decided to continue without a guitarist and drummer, and started exploring

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

. In late 1976 they found an "adventurous" drummer Paul Sears, who not only relieved the other members from shared percussion duties, but also, according to Scott, "open dthe Muffins up." With its membership now stable, The Muffins as a quartet began exploring "a unique sound in an instrumental setting", mixing improvisation with composed pieces. They drew on several styles, including the Canterbury scene and the experimental sound of the English

avant-rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

group

. Henry Cow had a big impact on the band – Newhouse said that " Living in the Heart of the Beast" from their album ''

In Praise of Learning ''In Praise of Learning'' is a studio album by British avant-rock group Henry Cow, recorded at Virgin Records' Manor studios in February and March 1975, and released in May 1975. On this album, Henry Cow had expanded to include members of Slapp ...

'' "had a tremendous influence on me." During late 1975 and early 1976 the Muffins made a number of studio and home demos, but did not release them. Many, however, were later released on an album ''Chronometers'' by

Cuneiform Records Cuneiform Records is a record label in Silver Spring, Maryland. Founded in 1984, the label releases an mixture of musical styles, all with a Rock in Opposition aesthetic, including progressive jazz, jazz fusion, the Canterbury scene, and electr ...

in 1993. But the price for putting "the joy of creation over commercial concerns" made it difficult for the band to fit into the local

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

/ D.C. music scene. Reaction to their performances was often indifferent, but they did slowly start to build up a "small-but-rabid cult following". In 1977 The Muffins moved to a new house in

Rockville, Maryland Rockville is a city that serves as the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, and is part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fifth-largest community in ...

, which they converted into a recording studio. They also established their own

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

, Random Radar Records to release their own music and that of other "like-minded locals". In 1978 The Muffins released their first official album, ''Manna/Mirage'', which received

college radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

airplay and generally "positive press". The New Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock called the album an American approach to the style of Henry Cow, and

Chris Cutler Chris Cutler (born 4 January 1947) is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. Best known for his work with English avant-rock group Henry Cow, Cutler was also a member and drummer of other bands, including Art Bears, Ne ...

and

Fred Frith Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock ...

of Henry Cow apparently "liked it a lot". After Henry Cow disbanded in August 1978, Frith moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and later performed with The Muffins in Washington, D.C.. In November 1979 Frith recorded with them as his backing band in Tom Scott's Rockville studio for his 1980 solo album, ''

Gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

''. He also produced and played on their next album, ''<185>'' in September 1980, which, Scott said, "

ave ''Alta Velocidad Española'' (''AVE'') is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . As of December 2021, the Spanish high-speed rail network, on part of which the AVE s ...

us some new and interesting sounds, nda bit of credibility and international recognition that we were missing." But after the lukewarm reaction ''<185>'' received, The Muffins decided to split up and go their own ways. Swann went on to play with the D.C.-based new wave band

Urban Verbs The Urban Verbs was an American new wave band from Washington, D.C. Urban Verbs blended Doors and Talking Heads. The band was fronted by lead singer and lyricist Roddy Frantz and guitarist Robert Goldstein. The duo wrote songs together for over ...

, and Sears formed a

band, Chainsaw Jazz. Newhouse went on a European tour with Frith's new band

Skeleton Crew A skeleton crew is the minimum number of personnel needed to operate and maintain an item such as a business, organization, or ship at its most simple operating requirements. Skeleton crews are often utilized during an emergency and are meant to ...

as well as begin a second career as a school teacher, and Scott ran a recording studio.

Reunion

In the early 1990s The Muffins got back together briefly to play at a private party, and a recorded extract from their performance appeared on a 1995 Cuneiform Records compilation, ''Unsettled Scores''. In 1998, realising that there was still a demand for their music, Newhouse, Swann, Scott and Sears decided to officially reform The Muffins. Cuneiform Records had already re-issued all their old albums on CDs, and released a collection of unreleased tracks on ''Open City'', and their early studio and home demos on ''Chronometers''. The band assembled at Sears's house and jammed and recorded a track for a new Cuneiform Records sampler, ''Unsettled Scores'', where Cuneiform artists performed each other's music. Newhouse said "The chemistry was unbelievable. It was as if we had never stopped playing." They went on to record a new album, ''Bandwidth'', followed two years later by another album, ''Double Negative''. In 2002 The Muffins played at a progressive rock showcase at Orion Sound Studios in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, and the event was filmed and later released by the band on DVD as ''Live at Orion'' in 2003. The Muffins also returned to performing live, including at the Villa Celimontana Jazz Festival in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 2000, the

Knitting Factory The Knitting Factory is a nightclub in New York City that features eclectic music and entertainment. After opening in 1987, various other locations were opened in the United States. The Knitting Factory gave its audience poetry readings, perform ...

in New York City in 2001, Progday in North Carolina in 2001, and 2002 (introduced by legendary music impresario

Giorgio Gomelsky Giorgio Sergio Alessando Gomelsky (28 February 1934 – 13 January 2016) was a filmmaker, impresario, music manager, songwriter (as Oscar Rasputin) and record producer. He was born in Georgia, grew up in Switzerland, and later lived in the Unit ...

NEARfest The North East Art Rock Festival, or NEARfest for short, was a multi-day event celebrating the resurgence of progressive and eclectic music in the United States and around the world. The event was held annually in early summer in Bethlehem, Pennsy ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in 2005, and the "

" festival in France in 2009.

2015 Break up

In April 2016, Sears announced that "The Muffins are no more", having played their final performance at Orion Sound Studios in mid-May 2015, for the filming of the Romantic Warriors III: Canterbury Tales documentary. However, he indicated that the four members will continue to work in various duo and trio combos for the foreseeable future. Additionally he stated that both recent and archival material will continue to see release by the quartet.

Name

In 1973, soon after the band, at the time unnamed, had moved into the large farmhouse in

, a friend arrived with a tray of

blueberry Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' within the genus ''Vaccinium''. ''Vaccinium'' also includes cranberries, bi ...

muffin A muffin is an individually portioned baked product, however the term can refer to one of two distinct items: a part-raised flatbread (like a crumpet) that is baked and then cooked on a griddle (typically unsweetened), or an (often sweetened) ...

s as a housewarming gift and shouted "The muffins are here!" Sounding like they were being introduced, the band adopted the name "The Muffins".

Members

*Dave Newhouse – piano, organ, baritone and tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, percussion (1973–) *Billy Swann – electric bass guitar, guitar, percussion, vocals (1973–) *Michael Zentner – guitar, violin (1973–1976) *Thomas Scott – keyboards, alto and soprano saxophone, alto and soprano clarinet, oboe, bassoon, cantor, trumpet, flute, percussion (1974–) *Mike Apparetti – drums (1974) *Michael Bass – drums, tuned percussion (1975) *Stuart Abramowitz – drums (1975–1976) *Paul Sears – drums, percussion, guitar, trombone (1976–)

Discography

Albums

*''Manna/Mirage'' (1978, LP, Random Radar Records, CD

, US) *''Air Fiction'' (1979, LP) – live and home studio recordings of improvisations *''<185>'' (1981, LP, Random Radar Records, CD Cuneiform Records, US) *''Open City'' (1985, LP, CD Cuneiform Records, US) – a collection of unreleased tracks *''Secret Signals 1'' (1989, privately distributed cassette of recordings 1974–1981) *''Secret Signals 2'' (1992, privately distributed cassette) *''Chronometers'' (1993, CD, Cuneiform Records, US) – studio and home demos recorded in 1975 and 1976 *''Secret Signals 3'' (1996, privately distributed cassette) *''Loveletter #1'' (2001, CD, Contorted Records, US) – outtakes and live performances (1999–2001) *''Bandwidth'' (2002, CD, Cuneiform Records, US) *''Air Live'' (2002, CD) *''Double Negative'' (2004, CD, Cuneiform Records, US) *''Loveletter #2'' (2005, CD, Hobart Films & Records, US) – outtakes and live performances *''Palindrome'' (2010, CD, Musea Records, France) *''Mother Tongue'' (2012, CD, Hobart Films & Records, US) *''Baker's Dozen'' (2022, CD, Cuneiform Records, US)(12 CDs + DVD, all previously unreleased)

Videos

*''Live at Orion'' (2003, DVD)

Appears on

*Various artists: ''A Random Sampler'' (1977, LP, Random Radar Records, United States) – includes one Muffins track, "Leopards, Peacocks and Glass" later released on ''Chronometers'' *

: ''

'' (1980, LP

Ralph Records Ralph Records was an independent record label active between 1972 and 1989, best known for being initially run by avant-garde art collective, ''The Residents''. The name coming from the slang phrase for vomiting, "calling Ralph on the porcelain tele ...

, United States) – The Muffins feature on side two of the LP *Various artists: '' Recommended Records Sampler'' (1982, 2xLP,

Recommended Records Recommended Records (RēR) is a British independent record label and distribution network founded by Chris Cutler with Nick Hobbs in March 1978. RēR features largely "Rock in Opposition" and related music, but it also distributes selected mus ...

) – includes two extracts from ''Chronometers'' *Various artists: ''Unsettled Scores'' (1995, CD, Cuneiform Records, United States) – includes one Muffins track *Various artists: ''Cuneiform Progressive II'' (2002, CD Cuneiform Records, United States) – includes one Muffins track

Filmography

* 2015: '' Romantic Warriors III: Canterbury Tales'' (DVD)

Footnotes

References

External links

Paul Sears official website

The Muffins official website

at

. *. {{DEFAULTSORT:Muffins, The American progressive rock groups American jazz ensembles Free improvisation ensembles Canterbury scene Musical groups established in 1973 Cuneiform Records artists 1973 establishments in Maryland 1998 establishments in Maryland Musical groups disestablished in 1981