Gothic Theatre
Hairy Apes BMX
Hairy Apes BMX (HABMX) from Austin, TX, are a band knitting their own deep pocket in the Post-Modern Experimental Revolution. They combine Mike Dillon, vibes, tablas, percussion, vocals, E Clarke Wyatt on keyboards and electronics, John Speice on drums, percussion and JJ “Jungle” Richards on bass. Habmx will rock your world with music that is infectious, innovative and extremely energetic. The group was put together in Austin, TX in late 1997 by members of such heroic monster bands such as Critters Buggin’, Billy Goat, Cottonmouth, TX, and Whitey. With an exciting new sound and a unique instrumentation, this group has been flooring audiences and raising a chorus with music fans from New Orleans to Seattle, and has begun rousing open-eared listeners in the rest of the world while showcasing to ferocious music industry fanfare at 1999’s CMJ Conference in New York, 2000 NAMM Conference (L.A.) and the 2000 and 2004 South by Southwest (SxSW) Conferences. After just 6 months writing songs together, the band recorded material at 70 Hurtz Studio in Denton, TX, for what would become their debut CD, EXPATRIAPE, released by Artist Workshop/V&R Records in April of 1999. Quickly, the album’s sexy cumbia “Situboquita Fuera” ranked in the Top 10 of MP3.com’s rock-en-español chart for months, receiving thousands of downloads. While the band built a manic fanbase touring, the acid jazz/’turntablism’ cut “Relapse King” & ”$100” spun on college radio and commercial specialty shows. Those two cuts were also included in pro BMX biker Matt Hoffman’s special on EXPN. In the last two years the band has played over 100 shows, both headlining & supporting acts like Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, 2 Skinnee J’s, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, and DJ Logic, wowing agape groove-junkies with a deviant and infectious live show that schools while it entertains. When off the road, HABMX’s percussionist Mike Dillon plays with Seattle phenomena Critters Buggin’, Kansas City’s Malachy Papers, Les Claypool of Primus and the Jazz super group Garage-A-Trios. Keyboardist E Clarke played with Mr. Marco’s V7 and can currently be seen playing with Mystery Sister, and Les Afrodeliques. Their triumphant rhythm section of JJ Richards and John Speice started Mister Resistor in Austin and have a devoted following of their own). Impressed by the energy and musicianship of Hairy Apes BMX, Dave Abbruzzese (Pearl Jam) invited the guys into the studio to record. Dave produced and mixed the last release “Out Demons,” HABMX’s second full-length recording. “Out Demons” became an instant classic with the espanol anthem “No Guerra” and the experimental “Swordfish.” But it was the tender ballot “Speed Queen” that ended up being placed on the IMA compilation and resulted in HABMX being named Austin Independent Music Award Winner for The Musician’s Atlas (2001). Watch out! Hairy Apes BMX, just dropped their current album “Beautiful Seizure” and the Butt Moving Xperience is taking over.
