Critters Buggin

When I caught up with them in concert about eight years ago, saxophonist Skerik was running back and forth between a theremin, a keyboard which he was using to alter the sound of his sax, and various percussion devices. In the early days, in addition to Skerik's inventive sax sounds which pushed the envelope while still remaining accessible - the thing that really made Critters Buggin work was their love of percussion. I'm sure jazz purists would hate albums like 'Guest' and 'Host' which successfully blend of rock with distorted sax with at times a pummeling rhythm section to create a near danceable groove. Since those days, they've mellowed out tremendously on their studio albums, and at the same time their manipulations of sound have crossed a border that I seem unable to traverse. That said, they're a great live band (and interesting to see live as they frequently get dressed up in weird costumes) - I just can't tell you what they'll sound like these days. (Note: Skerik sometimes also goes by Nalgas Sin Carne and El Guzano, for reasons I can't explain - just in case it comes up in Trivial Pursuit.)

Links of note:

Critters Buggin homepage: http://www.crittersbuggin.com.

If you'd like, you can email me here: richard@hearingmusic.com.

Oh, and all content on these pages is copyright Richard Lewis.