Disco Biscuits

Jon "The Barber" Gutwillig, Marc Brownstein, Sam Altman, and Aron Magner met on the University of Pennsylvania campus and formed Disco Biscuits there in late 1995. They started out with frat party gigs all over Philly, but quickly moved to the nightclub scene. In 1996 they released their indie debut, Encephalous Crime. In addition to their own shows, they toured in support of Merl Saunders, the Black Crowes, the Jerry Garcia Band, and Morphine. Their music, a crazy-quilt mixture of rock, techno, jazz, soul, blues, and classical, quickly took them to the upper echelon of the jam/groove scene. Guitarist/lead vocalist Jon Gutwillig has declared that the goal of the group is to create the wildest -- or craziest -- music of all time. Their highly danceable style has been dubbed "trance fusion" and has drawn some comparisons to Frank Zappa (even though the bandmembers themselves don't hear it). They've been known to break into a classical piece -- or a slice of classic jazz -- in the middle of an extended rock jam. Disco Biscuits songs are written for the live show and a record then results -- not the other way around. The band was signed to Hydrophonics Records in 1998 and then released their second CD, The Uncivilized Area. Their third, They Missed the Perfume, hit the streets in 2001. Continually growing into a more adventurous combo as time went by, the more organic Señor Boombox came out in the fall of 2002. Four years later, the group released two live albums: the two-disc The Wind at Four to Fly and the one-disc Rocket 3. ~ Ann Wickstrom, All Music Guide