Maximum Bob | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Robert Barnum |
| Also known as | Smilin' Charlie, Big Hitter, Farmer Bob Hack |
| Genres | Experimental rock, Heavy metal |
| Occupation(s) | vocalist |
| Instrument(s) | vocal |
| Years active | 1991–present |
Robert Barnum, [1] better known under his stage name Maximum Bob, is an American musician known for his work as the lead singer and founding member of rock band Deli Creeps and for his singing on various releases related to avant-garde guitarist Buckethead. He is now the lead singer in Maximum Bob's Stockyard Skinners.
Maximum Bob and his friend, guitarist Buckethead started a musical collaboration in 1987 that would eventually take the name Deli Creeps. The Deli Creeps played live at Madame Wong"s West in 1988. Maximum Bob first attracted wide public attention when performing backup vocals for the band Mr. Bungle. This was a guest appearance, recording on only one album with them, their debut album Mr. Bungle in 1991. During this time, he was still the full-time lead singer for the Deli Creeps, living in San Francisco and playing live often with Mr. Bungle, Sausage, Limbomaniacs and other successful acts in the Bay Area. Combining hard rock with shock factors based on the Sawyer family from the movie The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , they played shows to dumbfounded audiences that slowly grew to a rabid following. [2] In 1999, after creating two demo tapes with the Deli Creeps (one in 1991 and the other in 1996) and touring along the San Francisco Bay area, Maximum Bob contributed to Buckethead's "Personalized Recordings", [3] and a year later fronted "The Hook And Pull Gang", [4] [5] a Deli Creeps derivate that is not to be confused with the 80s punk rock band from Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Deli Creeps reactivated for a tour in 2003 and finally released their studio album Dawn of the Deli Creeps in 2005. Afterwards, the band went on a hiatus. Travis Dickerson, the owner of the Creeps' record label TDRS music, stated in a 2003 interview that there might be plans for a Maximum Bob solo album, but didn't give any specific dates. [6] This was revived in 2008. [7]
Meanwhile, Maximum Bob has contributed vocals and lyrics for "The Hand" off Buckethead's all-star album Enter the Chicken (2005, re-released in 2008) [8] as well as singing parts of "Worship" on Profanation (Preparation for a Coming Darkness) , an album by Bill Laswell led supergroup Praxis, released in January 2008 but recorded years earlier. [9]
On his Instagram, Maximum Bob has mentioned recording music at TDRS, eventually leading to the release of his single "Please Mister DJ" in 2013
In a 2019 interview with We Only Do One Take Podcast , Maximum Bob talked about his new band, the Stockyard Skinners, as well as his interactions with Buckethead, Mr. Bungle, System of a Down and Praxis. [10]
Maximum Bob is known for his unorthodox behavior on stage. Among the things he has done, he has stopped songs to ask the audience a question (though it usually doesn't interrupt the overall flow of the song), erratically moving around on the stage making strange gestures and noises, and making extremely dark and sexual jokes with the audience, usually about sex and murder. These all play into the dark and psychotic theme of the band. He also uses a form of recitative with onomatopoeic stuttering as part of the act.
Maximum Bob uses a wide range, using deep and high pitched singing. He usually delivers lyrics in either slow short sections or long fast spoken segments in a deep bass range. His delivery of the chorus uses either deep or high pitched singing or, in studio recorded material, both at the same time, usually creating octaves.
Prior to a surprise appearance on the reality show Trick My Trucker , little to nothing was known about Barnum's past, apart from the musical projects he had been involved with. Before the album Enter the Chicken , the only album that refers to him by his birthname, he was only known by his stage name, and remains out of the public eye. Despite this, the official biography of Buckethead states that Maximum Bob was the one who took Buckethead in. Barnum is not to be confused with artist Robert L. Barnum.
In 2007, Barnum was a selected contestant on the fourth episode of the CMT reality series Trick My Trucker . During the show, many of the unknown elements of his life were revealed and made public. It was revealed that he currently lives in Hesperia, California with his wife of twenty years (as of 2001) Angelique, and their three children, however his current career was never mentioned. The episode also never mentions his work as a musician, other than an allusion to it when host Bob Guiney tells the audience to "see if spending time with us has brought him back to rock star status". [11]
Funk metal is a subgenre of funk rock and alternative metal that infuses heavy metal music with elements of funk and punk rock. Funk metal was part of the alternative metal movement, and has been described as a "brief but extremely media-hyped stylistic fad".
Bryan Kei Mantia, known professionally as Brain, is an American rock drummer. He has played with bands such as Primus, Guns N' Roses, Praxis, and Godflesh, and with other performers such as Tom Waits, Serj Tankian, Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins, and Buckethead. He has also done session work for numerous artists and bands.
Mr. Bungle is an American experimental rock band formed in Eureka, California, in 1985. Having gone through many incarnations throughout its career, the band is best known for its experimental rock period. During this time, it developed a highly eclectic style, cycling through several musical genres, often within the course of a single song, including heavy metal, avant-garde jazz, ska, disco, and funk, further enhanced by lead vocalist Mike Patton's versatile singing style. This period also saw the band utilizing unconventional song structures and samples; playing a wide array of instruments; dressing up in masks, jumpsuits, and other costumes; and performing a diverse selection of cover songs during live performances.
Praxis is an experimental rock project, led by producer/bassist Bill Laswell and featuring guitarist Buckethead and drummer Brain in nearly every incarnation of the band.
Fantômas is an American heavy metal supergroup formed in 1998 in California. It features vocalist Mike Patton, drummer Dave Lombardo (ex-Slayer), guitarist Buzz Osborne (Melvins) and bassist Trevor Dunn. The band is named after Fantômas, a supervillain featured in a series of crime novels popular in France before World War I and in film, most notably in the '60s French movie series.
Mr. Bungle is the debut studio album by American experimental rock band Mr. Bungle. It was released on August 13, 1991, through Warner Bros. Records. The album contains many genre shifts which are typical of the band, and helped increase the band's popularity, gaining them a cult following.
California is the third studio album by American experimental rock band Mr. Bungle. It was released on July 13, 1999, through Warner Bros.
Tub Ring is a Chicago-based rock band.
William Moseley is an American actor, primarily known for his performances in horror films. His best-known roles include Chop Top in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986), Otis B. Driftwood in Rob Zombie's Firefly trilogy, Luigi Largo in Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008), and The Magician in Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival (2015). He had a recurring role as camp cook Possum on the HBO TV series Carnivàle (2003–05). He has also released records with guitarist Buckethead in the band Cornbugs, as well as featuring on the guitarist's solo work.
Enter the Chicken is the fourteenth studio album by musician Buckethead. The album was released on October 25, 2005 by Serj Tankian's label Serjical Strike. It has eleven songs, two of which are less than twenty seconds long. It contains appearances from such artists as Saul Williams, Maximum Bob, Efrem Schulz and Serj Tankian.
The Deli Creeps were an avant-garde band consisting of singer Maximum Bob, guitarist Buckethead, drummer Pinchface and various bass players, most recently Daniel Monti. Though Buckethead is the only member who makes a consistent effort to hide his identity, little is known about the other members of the band. Deli Creeps have never released an official album, but many of their songs have been repurposed for Buckhead's solo albums.
Michael Andrew Hakopian, better known as Pinchface is the drummer of the Deli Creeps, Giant Robot II, and the Cornbugs. He has also appeared on numerous Buckethead albums, such as Population Override and Giant Robot. He has also appeared on numerous occasions in Buckethead's Binge Clip Videos. In 2006 he toured the United States with Buckethead and Delray Brewer. He also works as a real estate agent according to his Facebook page.
Giant Robot is the second studio album by avant-garde guitarist Buckethead and loosely following the same "amusement park" concept as his previous album (Bucketheadland). It has some re-recorded songs from Buckethead's band Deli Creeps, as well his earlier demo tape Bucketheadland Blueprints. Giant Robot has a more professional sound than its predecessor in terms of recording and production value; the re-recorded tracks have lost their initial "basement" or "video game" sounding beats and guitar licks. As with Bucketheadland, the album was originally only released in Japan.
DJ Disk is a turntablist from the San Francisco Bay Area. He is of Panamanian, Colombian, and Nicaraguan descent. Born Luis Quintanilla on October 7, 1970, in San Francisco, Disk began scratching and mixing vinyl at a young age. In 1992, he joined his long-time friend DJ Qbert among the Rock Steady Crew DJs, later changing the group's name to the Invisibl Skratch Piklz.
Buckethead is an American guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. Buckethead's extensive discography currently includes 519 studio albums, one live album, four special releases, five demo tapes, three solo DVD video releases, two DVD video releases with Cornbugs, three music videos, three solo videography releases, and 16 videography releases with other artists.
Young Buckethead Vol. 1 is the second DVD made by the guitarist Buckethead, released in 2006 by Jas Obrecht's label, Avabella.
Brian Patrick Carroll, known professionally as Buckethead, is an American guitarist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has received critical acclaim for his innovative virtuoso electric guitar playing. His music spans several genres, including progressive metal, funk, blues, bluegrass, ambient, and avant-garde music. He performs primarily as a solo artist, although he has collaborated with a wide variety of artists such as Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, Iggy Pop, Les Claypool, Serj Tankian, Bill Moseley, Mike Patton, Viggo Mortensen, That 1 Guy, and Skating Polly. He was also a member of Guns N' Roses from 2000 to 2004. He has released over 700 albums and has performed on over 50 albums by other artists. Buckethead has written and performed music for major motion pictures, including Saw II, Ghosts of Mars, Beverly Hills Ninja, Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Last Action Hero, Falling, and contributed lead guitar to the track "Firebird" featured on the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie soundtrack.
Patrick Kevin Skinner is an American country music singer from the Jackson Purchase region of Kentucky. He is the winner of the fourth season of America's Got Talent.
The Uplift Mofo Party Tour was a concert tour by Red Hot Chili Peppers to support their third studio album The Uplift Mofo Party Plan. Founding drummer, Jack Irons returned to the band the previous year to finish out the band's tour and record the next album, The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, which ended up being the only album and full tour to feature the four founding band members: Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Hillel Slovak and Irons. It was the band's biggest tour at the time and featured their first trip to Europe. Kiedis, who started to develop a major drug problem on the previous tour, started to fall deeper into his addiction and Slovak's addiction to heroin only grew stronger as well. Slovak died of a heroin overdose a few weeks after the end of the tour on June 25, 1988. The surviving three members regrouped for a small boat trip with then manager, Lindy Goetz. It was there that Irons decided he could no longer deal with being in the band and Slovak's death was too hard for him to handle so he decided to quit the band again, this time for good.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)