the prof.fuzz 63

In case you missed it when it originally aired, our live performance (plus interview) on The Evan “Funk” Davies Show on WFMU is now available in the archive!
https://wfmu.org/playlists/ED/20230111

We’re gonna be doing a (pre-recorded) live session on The Evan Funk Davies Show on WFMU (11:00 AM-2:00 PM Central) on Wednesday, 11 January 2023!
https://www.wfmu.org

Once again, we fuzz up FB with our annual Virtual New Year’s Eve Party. We’ll go live with fuzz and snacks about 9 PM Central on New Year’s Eve on the PF63 FB page: https://www.facebook.com/prof.fuzz63 As always, heckling in the comments is encouraged!

This weekend we head south for our final in-person shows of 2022!*

Friday night, we rock the fishtank at Thirsty’s in Beaumont. Three sets of fuzz, beginning around 9 PM. FREE.
https://www.facebook.com/events/778979733395508

Saturday night, it’s a three-band bill at Bohemeo’s in Houston. We’ll be the peanut butter in the middle of a B.C. Binge and Nerve Curlers sammich! Early show. Music at 7 PM. $5.
https://www.facebook.com/events/3365993136970469

*We’ll be streaming our annual Virtual New Year’s Eve Party on FB on 12/31. Stay tuned for details!

Friday night (Dec 9) we’ll be kicking things off at Cheapsteaks in Deep Ellum, joined by our old friends Crooked Bones, and new friends Darstar. Show starts at 8 and will be over around 11. Come early. Stick around. Then go do more cool shit. It’s a Friday night, dammit!

Next up is the annual shared birthday bash celebrating the continued circling of the sun by two of our favorite folks: Wade (Division Brewing/Growl Record) and Mr. B (PF63).
Come get loud with us, Holy Roller Baby, and Haltom City’s Finest: The Me-Thinks.
There will be beer, records, and, hopefully, leftover capes.

Music starts at 8 (PF63), followed by Holy Roller Baby, and then The Me-Thinks.

https://www.facebook.com/events/2043762559154449

Next Saturday night, November 12, we return to Denton!
Playing a Green Goddess Revival Hippy Hole Housewarming Show.
Doors at 5. Music at 6. We play at 8. Message us for the address.

Tomorrow night we’ll be playing some new and newer tunes from our “Peaches & Herbicide” album (available now on CD; LPs should be available soon!) and a forthcoming “Cinnamon Sea EP” (cover painting by Maren Farmer Art, below). Come take a listen. Music starts at 8. We play around 10.

https://www.facebook.com/events/812242846874730

We’re heading back to Austin and The Knomad Bar this Friday (Oct 21) for Night 1 of Satellite Fest.
We play at 10. Come early. Stay late. Be kind.

Since mid-June, to be precise. But we’re busting out the amps and drums for a little throw-down at The Grackle Art Gallery in Fort Worth tomorrow night, joined by partners in suspicious noisy activity Jean Caffeine Duo (Austin, etc.) and Linda XYZ Duo (San Francisco).

Music starts at 7 and ends promptly at 10 (gotta be kind to the neighbors).
So come early, get fuzzed up, and then go somewhere else for unending fun…

PF63 spent the day at Orange Otter Audio in Fort Worth yesterday with Clint Niosi at the controls recording tracks for a forthcoming EP.
The EP will feature four new songs: “Cinnamon Sea,” “Jazz Wives,” “Climax Aurora Has a Seaside Disease,” and “Your Call is Not That Important,” and will be released in early 2023.

In the meantime, here are some pics from the sessions, and the cover art (by Sleepy Redhead). Dig it if you can!

So, yeah, we’ve kept a bit of a low profile the last half of the summer, but we’ve got a new ride, some new drums, a new Bachelor’s Degree (congrats to Mr. B!), and some new tunes ready for the new school year.
Two shows on the books for Sept:

Friday Sept 16 in Bryan at The 100 with Skunk Money, and Sheverb! https://www.facebook.com/events/569801704653873

Saturday Sept 17 in Austin at The Knomad with Rahums, and The Nematoads! https://www.facebook.com/events/623011169408683

Come say Hi. Pick up our new “Peaches & Herbicide” CD (vinyl is ordered and we’re patiently waiting…)

This Saturday (16 July 2022), we’re gonna be blazin’ through a short set of hot songs at the Heatwave Music Festival in Durant OK. Music starts at 5:15; we play at 6:15; music continues all night!

Here’s our set list. Don’t look if you don’t wanna see the spoilers! If there’s something you’d rather hear, please send your requests and a small donation to our paypal or venmo address…

Next up, we’re heading up Hwy 75 to Oklahoma for the Heatwave Music Festival. Seven bands will rock Historic Market Square in Durant. We play at 6:15 PM. It’s gonna literally be hot, so be prepared.

Saturday 16 July 2022.

Details here: https://www.facebook.com/Heatwave-Music-Festival-108833411863100
Check out the artist profiles on FB and follow the fest on IG @heatwave_musicfest

*Metairie, actually.

Next up is another roadtrip to the southeast. Friday, June 24 we’ll be at The Texas Rose Saloon in Beaumont; Saturday June 25 at Babylon Sports Bar in Metairie.

Shows Played: 13
Shows Also Livestreamed: 2

Days on the Road: 15

Songs Played: 170

Bands We Played With: 28
Data Drums, Mystic Light Casino, Hoca Christ Devil, Little Baby Tendencies, Twin Heart Trap, Psych-o-Positive, Creek and Kills, Hellco, Poppy, Chino, The Koosmans, Creem Circus, Aaron Shone, Witch Baby, Captain Obvious, Hans/West Nile Crows, Tunesmiths, Hooter and the Doobers, Shoelace Temple, Basilica, Corporate Mascot, Country Death, Ttotals, Turquoise Tiger, Benadriil, Escatado, Crooked Bones, and The Jet Noise

Bands We Were Supposed to Play With But Didn’t Due to “Unfortunate Circumstances”: 3
Foxycontin, Zilla, Billy Ruben and the Elevated Enzymes

Miles Traveled: 4825
Gas Cost: $854

States Traveled: 17
TX. LA. MS. TN. AL. WV. VA. PA. NJ. NY. OH. MI. IN. IL. WI. KY. AR.

Motels: 4

Hospitality of Friends: 9

Pets Met: 27
Cats: 6
Dogs: 5
Birds: 2
Fish: 14

Biggest Expense: Gas (prices ranged from $4.01 to $5.98 per gallon)

MVPs:
David Mason, Kris and Trisha Gurley, Haley Ivey, Robyn Smith, James and Sheila Farmer, Ron and Allison Palermo, Kate Bell, Paul Kowalchuk, Sister Molecule Collective, Craig Heim, Scott Atkins, Evan Stone, Jim and Colleen Fiumara, Eric McM, Sean Padilla, Tabin, Brian Miles, Dr. Dana, Billy Ruben, Chris Grucza.

Thanks to everyone who booked us, shared a stage with us, came to see us, told their friends about us, bought merch, bought us food or lodging, let us stay at their house, or otherwise contributed to the tour.

We had a blast, and couldn’t have done it without y’all!

Big thanks to Kat Monroe for having us on her playlist thrice in the past few weeks!

“Van Stoner’s Stoner Van (over the limit)” appeared on episode #160 on May 3, and again on a special episode of Songs That Get Stuck in Your Head on May 17! Sorry about those earworms, Kat!

UPDATE: “Spaceman Fist (Buzz Aldrin’s Greatest Hit)” will appear on episode #164 at 8:00 PM (Pacific) on Tuesday June 14.

Check it out here: https://soundcloud.com/kat-monroe-574700235

We’re the featured artist on today’s episode of The Paul Groovy Show, broadcast from the UK. Tune in online at 2 PM Central at https://theflashonair.co.uk/

Our very own Sleepy Redhead (aka Maren Farmer Art) has created 12″ x 12″ paintings for each of the songs on the Peaches & Herbicide album! These are for sale on our bandcamp page: https://prof-fuzz63.bandcamp.com/merch

The Prof.Fuzz 63
“Peaches & Herbicide”
A PF63 Release (PF63-01)
2022

“Peaches & Herbicide,” the fifth full-length album from “The AC/DC of Richardson TX,”* The Prof.Fuzz 63, is scheduled for release on 27 May 2022.
The album is self-released, in association with Sister Molecule Collective.

The eleven-track album, recorded and mixed by Michael Scarborough at Echo Base in Bryan TX and Fort Collins CO, and mastered by Stephen Finley at Sugar Hill in Houston TX, finds the PF63 family revisiting some old songs and exploring new possibilities of Open D guitar tuning on a number of plague-years tunes. The guitars are loud, gritty, and fuzzy; the organ lays a heavy sonic foundation, punctuated by dirty piano accents; while the drums pound and punch relentlessly. There are maracas too. And as always, the lead vocals are literally phoned-in by The Professor.

The opening track is an amped up remake of a signature song from the band’s 2016 debut. In “Van Stoner’s Stoner Van (over the limit),” the titular character finds the accelerator pedal of the titular vehicle and burns rubber down the highway to hell.

“(Do the) New Plague!” opens with a brief homage to The Fall before launching into a heavy danceable riff backed by a second fuzzed-out guitar, courtesy of Michael Scarborough (Ex-Optimists, Charm Bomb). The lyrics urge the listener to dance, even as the world suffers through the twin plagues of ignorance-and-misinformation, and coronavirus.

“Spaceman Fist (Buzz Aldrin’s Greatest Hit)” honors the second man on the moon for his most significant accomplishment: punching a moon landing denier in the face. The chorus will have you singing along and punching the air (or idiots) in no time.

“Alien Tow Truck Driver” parades a cast of oddball characters through a narrative landscape that is vague and suggestive, yet it’s ultimately unclear what exactly is going on. Two versions of this song appear on the album: this surf-tinged take, and a faster and fuzzier rendition that closes the album under the abbreviated title of “AAAlien TTD.”

Side XXX (of the LP edition) closes with a cross-fade of “The Ballad of Los Panchos,” a short maraca-driven ditty praising a Texas all-you-can-eat Mexican diner (Pancho’s), into the Flipper-esque enviromental anthem “The Forestry” (originally written in 1981 by Professor Fuzz and his high school friend George Spelvin).

On the flipside (LP edition only; please do not attempt to flip your CD or digital files!), Side 63, the album’s title track, “Peaches & Herbicide,” kicks off with an open-tuned slide guitar riff that segues into a droning 1-2 1-2 beat in an unabashed love song, punctuated with the chorus-declaration “I’m drunk on peaches and herbicide!” Is there any other way?

“Fire on a Chain” stays in the Open D tuning but twists it into the service of a minor-keyed post-punk ode to a woman with good genes (i.e., red hair), before blowing up and out with a somewhat familiar sounding fuzzed-out walk-down outro.

Once again, the band adopts a Flipper song and warps it into something recognizable yet entirely their own. “Ha Ha Ha,” the flipside of Flipper’s 1981 “Love Canal” 7” (also covered by PF63 on their 2020 album “Owls”) becomes a laconic organ-driven sing-along. Legally licensed, so the Flipper guys get paid.

“Plastic Cup / The World (Still) Needs Nevada” revisits a tune originally recorded for the Dreamy Life Records “Group Therapy 4” tape. Stolen from The Fibs in a dream, the 2017 version clocked-in at just over six minutes, and painted a dirgey abstract commemoration of the life of the late north Texas musician Nevada Hill. Here, the band ramps up the tempo (to under five minutes of run time) and transforms the tune into a joyous celebration of life, suitable for both the memory of the late Mr. Nevada Hill, and those we collectively lost during the plague years.

“AAAlien TTD” closes out the album with a fuzzed-up re-take of “Alien Tow Truck Driver” (from Side XXX), with its images of love triangles, Elvis, aliens, tow trucks, and a dead boyfriend careening along some dark desert highway into oblivion and feedback. Sure. Why the hell not?

“Peaches & Herbicide” is (initially) available on CD and digital download (an LP version is in the works; stay tuned!) on the PF63 bandcamp page:

https://prof-fuzz63.bandcamp.com/album/peaches-herbicide

Cover painting by Maren Farmer Art.

*Thanks to Kelly Menace for this description.

Track List [runtime]

A01 van stoner’s stoner van (over the limit) [1:59]
A02 (do the) new plague! [3:48]
A03 spaceman fist (buzz aldrin’s greatest hit) [2:41]
A04 alien tow truck driver [3:41]
A05 the ballad of los panchos [0:53]
A06 the forestry [3:37]

B01 peaches & herbicide [3:27]
B02 fire on a chain [3:40]
B03 ha ha ha [2:53]
B04 plastic cup/the world (still) needs nevada [4:50]
B05 AAAlien TTD [3:57]

Next up is our first-ever show in our city of residence (outside of Casa de Fuzz)!

We’ll be sharing a Sunday evening stage with two other hyper-local bands, The Two Watts, and Safety Meeting, at Guitars & Growlers on Campbell in Richardson, in the very shadow of my place of employment.
Early show. Safety Meeting kicks things off at 6:00, followed by The Two Watts at 7:00, and we close things out at 8:00.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1374567342988055

… in which The Professor talks about the Psychedelic Panther Festival and PF63’s forthcoming album, Peaches & Herbicide, among other things…

Big weekend coming up!

Friday night we play Andy’s Bar in Denton for the first time since 2016 batting lead-off in front of our friends Crooked Bones, The Infamists, and Posival (who release a new album that night). We’re gonna play a short set starting right at 8, so don’t be late if you wanna get fuzzed up with us.
https://www.facebook.com/events/319750746243110

Saturday we play on Day 2 of the Psychedelic Panther Fest at Main at South Side in Fort Worth. The whole fest is gonna be amazing! 29 bands! Artists! Food vendors! We’re gonna play a longer set of some of our more psych-adjacent tunes on the inside stage at 6:00 PM. Come early. Stay late. Psyche up your panthers.
https://www.facebook.com/events/374742311130609

Next Saturday night we play a rare show on our side of the Metroplex! Double-Wide in Deep Ellum is the place! Joining us are our friends The Sewing Jar and The No-Where Jets! Details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/647859889680558/