Sir Millard Mulch, real name Carl King [1] (often incorrectly referred to as Paul Mavanu from a satirical e-book based on his album of the same name that used that alias), [2] (born Willoughby, Ohio) is a musician who has worked with Virgil Donati and Devin Townsend. He is the creator of a four-hour album called, How To Sell The Whole F#@!ing Universe To Everybody, Once And For All! co-released through Mimicry Records in 2005, a record label owned by Trey Spruance of Mr. Bungle. [3] He has released various EPs and albums earlier including The De-Evolution of Yasmine Bleeth in 2001.
From 2006-2010 he worked under the pseudonym Dr. Zoltan Øbelisk. In 2010 he released a 5-minute drum-battle with Marco Minnemann, in which the two trade complex polyrhythmic drum solos, through a blend of Drumkit from Hell programming and live performance. [4]
He is the author of the book, So, You're A Creative Genius... Now What? which was released in June 2011 by MWP, publishers of The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers and Hardware Wars . [5]
In 2012, he directed a feature-length documentary about Swedish drummer Morgan Ågren, with guest appearances by Dweezil Zappa, Brendon Small of Metalocalypse, Devin Townsend, Danny Carey of Tool, and Dave Elitch of The Mars Volta. [6]
In 2014, he was a producer on the feature-length documentary Apocalypse Later: Harold Camping vs. The End of the World about Family Radio Host Harold Camping, directed by Zeke Piestrup. The film stars Bart Ehrman and includes an interview in which Harold Camping apologizes for being wrong about his May 21, 2011 End Times prediction. [7]
He worked as Cinematographer on The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened? directed by Jon Schnepp of Metalocalypse, and starring Kevin Smith and Tim Burton, released in 2015 on Showtime. [8]
In 2019, he created, wrote, and directed the animated TV pilot The Oracle of Outer Space starring Dweezil Zappa and Jon Schnepp of Metalocalypse. It also featured voice acting by Frank Zappa / Devin Townsend guitarist Mike Keneally. It won two Silver Telly Awards for Writing [9] and Voiceover. [10]
His 2020 animated pilot That Monster Show featured a cameo from Mark Borchardt of American Movie.
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experimentation, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and musique concrète works; he also produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse musicians of his generation.
Don Van Vliet was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as the Magic Band, he recorded 13 studio albums between 1967 and 1982. His music blended elements of blues, free jazz, rock, and avant-garde composition with idiosyncratic rhythms, absurdist wordplay, a loud, gravelly voice, and his claimed wide vocal range, though reports of it have varied from three octaves to seven and a half. Known for his enigmatic persona, Beefheart frequently constructed myths about his life and was known to exercise an almost dictatorial control over his supporting musicians. Although he achieved little commercial success, he sustained a cult following as an influence on an array of experimental rock and punk-era artists.
Steven Siro Vai is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for Frank Zappa, and played in Zappa's band from 1980 to 1983. He embarked on a solo career in 1983 and has released eight solo albums to date. He has recorded and toured with Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth, and Whitesnake, as well as recording with artists such as Public Image Ltd, Mary J. Blige, Spinal Tap, Alice Cooper, Motörhead, and Polyphia. Additionally, Vai has toured with live-only acts G3, Zappa Plays Zappa, and the Experience Hendrix tour, as well as headlining international tours.
Terry John Bozzio is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons and Frank Zappa. He has been featured on nine solo or collaborative albums, 26 albums with Zappa and seven albums with Missing Persons. Bozzio has been a prolific sideman, playing on numerous releases by other artists since the mid-1970s. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1997. His son and stepdaughter are also drummers; the latter, Marina, is a member of the band Aldious.
Devin Garrett Townsend is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He founded extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad and was its primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist from 1994 to 2007. He has also had an extensive solo career and has released a total of 28 albums across all of his projects as of 2022.
Derrick May, also known as Mayday and Rhythim Is Rhythim, is an American electronic musician from Belleville, Michigan, United States. May is credited with pioneering techno music in the 1980s along with collaborators Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, commonly known as The Belleville Three.
Virgil Donati is an Australian drummer, composer and producer. He holds the drum sticks in the traditional style and is also proficient at the keyboard. Donati formed Planet X with Derek Sherinian and was the band's principal composer on all their albums. He also performed in Melbourne with Jack Jones in a Van Halen tribute band known as Hans Valen before inviting Jones into Donati's own bands The State and Southern Sons. Donati is widely regarded as one of the most technically advanced drummers of all time.
The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Hammersmith, London, it is an art deco Grade II* listed building.
Michael Joseph Keneally is an American session guitarist, keyboardist, vocalist and composer.
"It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" is a song by American rock band R.E.M., which first appeared on their 1987 album, Document. It was released as the album's second single in November 1987, reaching No. 69 in the US Billboard Hot 100 and later reaching No. 39 on the UK Singles Chart on its re-release in December 1991.
Lionel Chetwynd is a British-American screenwriter, director and producer.
"The Black Page #1" is a piece by American composer Frank Zappa known for being extraordinarily difficult to play. Originally written for the drum kit and melodic percussion, the piece was later rearranged in several versions, including the "easy teenage New York version" and a so-called "new-age version", among others.
Metalocalypse is an American adult animated television series created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha for Adult Swim. It premiered on August 6, 2006, followed by a musical one-hour special, Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem, on October 27, 2013. The television program centers on the larger-than-life melodic death metal band Dethklok, and often portrays dark and macabre content, including such subjects as violence, death, and the drawbacks of fame, with hyperbolic black comedy. The show was widely heralded as both a parody and a pastiche of heavy metal culture.
The Running Man is a 1987 American dystopian action film directed by Paul Michael Glaser and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, María Conchita Alonso, Richard Dawson, Yaphet Kotto, and Jesse Ventura.
Morgan Ågren is a Swedish drummer who plays with the progressive rock band Kaipa.
Jonathan David Schnepp was an American producer, director, voice actor, editor, writer, animator, and media host.
Adelaide Gail Zappa was the wife of musician and composer Frank Zappa and the trustee of the Zappa Family Trust. They met in Los Angeles in 1966 and married while she was pregnant with their first child, Moon Unit, followed by Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva. Gail was also the aunt of model and actress Lala Sloatman.
Bryan Beller is an American bass guitarist known for his work with Joe Satriani, The Aristocrats, Dethklok, Mike Keneally, Steve Vai, James LaBrie of Dream Theater and Dweezil Zappa, as well as his four solo album releases, View (2003), Thanks In Advance (2008), Wednesday Night Live (2011), and the progressive double concept album Scenes From The Flood (2019). He has been Joe Satriani's touring bassist since 2013, encompassing the Unstoppable Momentum tour (2013–14), the Shockwave (2015–16) world tour, and the G3/What Happens Next tour (2018), in addition to featuring on the Shockwave Supernova record. Beller is also the bassist of the rock/fusion super-trio The Aristocrats, and he managed the band from 2012-2018. The Aristocrats have released four studio albums, along with two live releases documenting the band's world tours in support of their debut album The Aristocrats and sophomore album Culture Clash. Their most recent studio album You Know What... was the focus of their world tour that began in the summer of 2019 and extended through to 2020.
Allan Zavod was an Australian pianist, composer, jazz musician and occasional conductor whose career was mainly in America.
Empath is the eighteenth studio album by Canadian metal musician Devin Townsend, released on his own label HevyDevy Records on March 29, 2019. It is his first solo album since Dark Matters, which was a part of the 2014 double album Z², and his first release to act solely as a solo album since 2007's Ziltoid the Omniscient.