the muffin men

Founded in 1990, by Roddie Gilliard, Mike Kidson, and a couple of others, British band the Muffin Men (based in Liverpool, UK) plays Frank Zappa compositions. They have performed with no less than seven original Zappa band members (Don Preston; Bunk Gardner; Ike Willis; Napoleon Murphy Brock; Mike Keneally; Denny Walley; and, most notably, original Mothers' drummer Jimmy Carl Black), regularly toured Europe, released a number of DVDs, played at Zappanale three times, and issued numerous.

During their concerts with Jimmy Carl Black, they've played (and recorded) some Don Van Vliet stuff as well.

In 2001, the Muffin Men collaborated with the Ensemble 10:10 to perform "When Worlds Collide". The concert was repeated in November 2003 and released on album as well. June 2004, When Worlds Collide was performed again (twice).

July 2003, The Muffin Men performed twice at Zappanale: the first time with Jimmy Carl Black and Eugene Chadbourne, and featuring Mike Keneally as special guest during the encore; the second time with Napoleon Murphy Brock and Ike Willis.

The picture on the right was taken by Tim Ellis on 2008/05/22 in Bradley, Bilston, England, and features Jumpy, Jimmy Carl Black and Roddie.

2010 / 2011 had the Muffin Men on tour again, celebrating their 20th anniversary. They brought Denny Walley along for the occasion. January 2010, they played in Larvik. August 2010, they played at Zappanale (for the third time!).

	the muffin men: stinky finger city (1991, k7, uk, private release) – incl. various frank zappa compositions
	the muffin men: gent festival 26-7-1991 (1991, k7, uk, private release) – incl. various frank zappa compositions
	various artists: zappa cover-competition (1992, k7, nl, gus productions) – incl. various artists covering frank zappa
	the muffin men: muffin men play zappa (1992, 7", uk, crime 002) – incl. ‘i'm the slime' ,'let's move to holland' (frank zappa)
	the muffin men: staining the sheets (1992, k7, uk, private release) – incl. various frank zappa compositions
	the muffin men: the muffin men (1993, cd, ger, muffin records cdm 001) – incl. various frank zappa compositions
1	the muffin men: say cheese and thank you (1993, cd, ger, muffin records cdmr 004) – incl. various frank zappa compositions; feat.jimmy carl black
	various artists: zuckerfabrik - volume II (1993, cd, ger, candy records) - incl.2 tracks by the muffin men
2	the muffin men: mülm (1994, cd, ger, muffin records cdmr 012) – incl. various frank zappa compositions; feat. zappa alumni
3	the muffin men: feel the food (1996, cd , usa, muffin records cdmrp 017) – incl. various frank zappa compositions, feat.ike willis
4	the muffin men: frankincense (1997, cd, eec, muffin records cdmrp 054) – incl. various frank zappa compositions, feat.jimmy carl black
5	the muffin men: muffinz (1998, cd, eec, muffin records cd 056) – incl. frank zappa and van vliet compositions, feat.jimmy carl black
6	the muffin men: ragged prayers (1990-1992) (1999, cdr, uk, private release) – incl. various frank zappa compositions
7	the muffin men: god shave the queen (1999, cd, eec, efa 03447-2) – incl.compositions by don van vliet and by frank zappa, feat. zappa alumni
8	the muffin men: kamikazi! (2000, cdr, uk, private release) - incl. improvisations, solos & events that happened while performing zappa
9	the muffin men: go-ape! (2000, cdr, uk, private release) - improv., solos & events that happened while performing 'king kong' (f.zappa)
10	the muffin men: more songs from the campfire (2001, cd, uk, private release) – incl. various frank zappa compositions
	various artists: eyeinhand sampler volume 1 (2001, cd, spain, vaso music vm 032) - all zappa related artists
	jimmy carl black: where's the &% beer? (2002, cdr, ger, inkanish records ir005) - incl.various van vliet compositions
11	the muffin men: live@thecavern (2003, cd, uk, private release mmcd 13/1) – incl.compositions by don van vliet and by frank zappa, feat. jc black
12	the muffin men: baker's dozen (2003, cd, uk, private release mmcd 13/2) - incl.various frank zappa compositions, feat. zappa alumni
	eugene chadbourne and jimmy carl black: live at the zappanalle #14 (2003, cdr, ger, inkanish) - incl. van vliet & zappa compositions / feat. mike keneally, martin smith & andy frizell
13	muffin men / ensemble 10:10: when worlds collide (2003, cd, uk, wwc 2003) - incl. various frank zappa compositions
	various artists: zappanale 14 - 2003 (2004, 3cd, ger, arf society) – incl. various artists playing frank zappa compositions
	various artists: zappanale 14 - 2003 (2004, dvd, ger, the arf society) - feat. various artists playing frank zappa compositions
	various artists: zappanale 14 - retrospective (2004, dvd, ger, the arf society) - feat. various artists playing frank zappa compositions
	various artists: zappanale # 14 (2004, cd, ger, arf society) – incl. various artists playing frank zappa compositions
	micky jones with ? and the muffinmen: s/t (2005, cd, uk, gpcd004) - feat.the muffin men and j.c.black, incl 'willie the pimp' & 'king kong' (frank zappa)
14	the muffin men: muffinz moovies vol.one (1990-1997) (2005, dvd, uk, private release) - incl.various frank zappa compositions, feat. zappa alumni
15	the muffin men: live in the kitchen of love (2006, cd, uk, ark-hive 931) - incl. various frank zappa compositions, feat. j.c.black
16	the muffin men: looks like noodles to me (2006, cd, uk, ark-hive 941) - incl. various frank zappa compositions, feat. ike willis
17	the muffin men: muffinz moovies vol.two (1998-2003) (2006, dvd, uk, private release) - incl.various frank zappa compositions, feat. zappa alumni
18	the muffin men: live at zappanale 14 (2007, dvd, uk, private release / nale 031) - incl.various frank zappa compositions, feat. ike willis & napoleon murphy brock
	jimmy carl black: where’s the $%&§#@’ beer? (2007, cd, usa, crossfire publications 9508-2) - feat.various mothers of invention
19	the muffin men: muffinz moovies vol.three (2004-2005) (2007, dvd, uk, private release) - incl.various frank zappa compositions, feat. zappa alumni
	various artists: zappanale 21 - promo-cd 2010 (2009, cd-promo, ger, arf society)
	movie / documentary: let's hear it for jimmy carl black (2010, dvdr, ger, arf society) - feat. moni black, geronimo black, helmut king, napoleon murphy brock, roy estrada, don preston, bruce bickford, ike willis
	the muffin men: zappanale 21 (2010, dvdr, ger, private release) - all compositions by frank zappa // feat. ike willis, ray white, robert martin, denny walley and ben watson
20	the muffin men: just another band from l4 (2011, cd, uk, private release) - feat. denny walley, robert martin, ben watson
	the muffin men: live at zappanale 21, bad doberan, august 2010 (2011, dvdr, ger, private release) - all compositions by frank zappa // feat. ike willis, ray white, robert martin, denny walley and ben watson
	the muffin men: powdered water (2012, cd/dvd-promo, uk, private release) - compositions by frank zappa & don van vliet // feat. denny walley
	muffin men: zappanale 25 (2014, dvdr, ger, arf society) - (almost) all compositions by frank zappa // feat. danny walley
	various artists: zappanale 25 - goodbye session (2014, dvdr, ger, arf society) - feat. school of rock, the muffin men, eric klerks, max kutner, denny walley // incl. various frank zappa compositions
	various artists: weasels re-ripped (2015, cd, uk, cordelia records cd062) - feat. various artists performing the music of frank zappa
	the muffin men: kamikaze (2015, cdr, uk, private release) - improvisations recorded during the performance of frank zappa compositions
	the muffin men feat. denny walley & ed mann, special guest candy zappa: zappanale 27 (2016, dvdr, ger, arf society) - compositions by frank zappa, don van vliet and jimmy carl black
	various artists: zappanale 27 - good bye session (2016, dvdr, ger, arf society) - incl. various frank zappa compositions, feat. ed mann, denny walley
	various artists: sons of mr. green genes (2016, cd, uk, cordelia records cd071) – all different performances of frank zappa's 'mr. green genes'
	the muffin men: 4fm radio special (2016, cdr--promo, uk, private release)
	muffinz power quartet: let's drink some tea (2016, cdr-promo, uk, private release) - incl. various frank zappa compositions
	muffinz power quartet: moo-ah - live at festival moo-ah corby uk 21st march 2015 (2016, cdr-promo, uk, private release) - incl. various frank zappa compositions
	muffinz quintet: a tale of steal city - live in the backroom at greystones sheffield 28the november 2015 (2016, cdr-promo, uk, private release) - incl. various frank zappa compositions
	the muffin men and denny walley: limited edition live in the north of england (2017, cdr, uk, private release) - incl. various frank zappa compositions, feat.denny walley
	various artists: unmatched - le grand oiseau (2017, cd, spain, hall of fame) - feat. various artists playing frank zappa compositions
	various artists: hall of fame records - the albums of 2017 (2017, download, spain, hall of fame records) - incl. various frank zappa compositions
	various artists: mappa zappa (2018, cd, uk, cordelia records) - all compositions by frank zappa
	the muffin men: (it's all) smoke and mirrors - live in the uk 2018 (2019, cdr, uk, private release) - all compositions by frank zappa
	various artists: would you like a snack? (2021, cd, uk, cordelia) - all zappa coverversions

Roddie Gilliard : guitar, vocals
Paul Ryan : drums, vocals
Mike Kidson : saxophones, vocals
Ian Bamford : guitar, vocals
Naraish Nathaniel : bass
Andy Jacobson : keyboards
Ian Jump : guitar

Roddie Gilliard : guitar, vocals
Carlo Bowry : guitar, vocals
Andy Frizell : all saxes, flute, harmonica, vocals
Dave Dominey : bass, vocals
Stefano Baldessaroni : drums, vocals
Jimmy Carl Black : vocals

Roddie says:

the muffin men are currently in the studio finishing off some original material.

2009 has been a year of none-zappa activities for the muffinz, due in part to the sad death of singer/drummer jimmy carl black, along with the current/difficult climate for performing live zappa material.
next year sees the band performing selected gigs as part of their 20th anniversary celebrations.

it is still being decided which ways to release the original material, although some of it will be incorporated into the 4th volume of "muffinz movies" which is currently in production. an engineer on the sessions describes the material as "diverse, some very rocky, some very silly, pretty much what you would expect from them".
musicians involved include jumpy, waco, rhino, mikey and roddie

watch the website for updates.

http://www.muffinmen.co.uk/

2010 07 -- Celebrating their 20th anniversary, The Muffin Men will be returning to the Zappanale festival. Here's head-Muffin Roddie Gilliard.

UniMuta: Hello Roddie. Let me congratulate you with 20 years of Muffin Men.
It seems like Eindhoven and Guus' Zappadays happened only a couple of years ago...

Roddie / The Muffin Men: Well, who would have thought we would be here 20 years later, phew!

UniMuta: You founded The Muffin Men in 1990. At that time there were only a handful of bands performing the music of FZ. Could you ever imagine that, 20 years later, we would have big bands, baroque, classical and jazz ensembles, and of course, numerous rock bands, that would devote all their time and efforts into Zappa's music?

Roddie / The Muffin Men: Yes, there were only a few bands playing Zapper stuff back then: Marco's Bleeding Romeo in Holland, one in sweden and a few others. Back then I think we all just played Zapper because we loved the music and it was more of a challenge than a lot of other rock type stuff. We were just a rock band, with a few guys who had also a jazz background. But ultimately we were guys who liked playing in bars and having a good time. Later we developed and got a little more advanced with the material we played. Things progressed and we ended up working with people we never dreamed we could play with.

UniMuta: The Muffin Men performed at the second and at the third edition of the Zappanale Festival (1991 and 1992). You came back in 2003 and did two concerts on two days: the first one with Jimmy Carl Black and Eugene Chadbourne, the second one with Napoleon Murphy Brock and Ike Willis (released on DVD!!).
Can you share some of your recollections / favourite moments with us?

Roddie / The Muffin Men: That first european tour was a great learning curve for us. We got to meet a lot of great people who would become very important to the band development. The very first trip was put together with a few hardcore fans (Guus Veldhuis, Peter Gors and Harald Koob) on a shoestring budget. In fact, all the band paid a couple of hundred pounds each to do it - we had to hire a bus and a van for all the equipment, I think 11 people travelled.

Back in those days things were very different: no mobile phones or internet, and all the arranging and communication was by post. The itinery was ridiculous. Our first gig was near Frankfurt, then we went back to Eindhoven, then across to Weimar, back to Belgium and then all the way over to Stralsund to play for the Arfs, finally finishing with a two day drive back to England! The travelling was horrific but the gigs were great. I remember there was practically no infrastructure in the old east germany. It was a very interesting time. Over the following years we saw many changes in germany.

We kept getting asked back to europe, so over the following years we built a following and the tours got longer, the band got tighter and we got to play with some fantastic musicians who became great friends. We did play other shows for the Arf Society guys, although these weren't "Zappanale" shows: we played around Rostock, Berlin and quite a few towns in that region during the mid/late 1990's.

Our return to "Zappanale" in 2003 was a great time. We got to re-unite with Ike after 9 years, played with Nappy and Mike Keneally for the first time, as well as a nice set with Jimmy Carl.

There are so many good memories, along with a few low times from over the years. It would need a lot of time and space to tell it all. (maybe you should do a full interview to hear more details!)

UniMuta: The Muffin Men website says that Denny Walley will be joining you on stage at Zappanale. That's great. How did you talk him into it?

Roddie / The Muffin Men: Yes, Denny is joining us for Zappanale this year, and we are really looking forward to that! Denny is a fantastic person and a dynamite guitarist/singer. I worked with him for 5 weeks on the Magic Band tour and we became great mates. He is a dear old friend of Jimmy Carl too, so that made things so easy. We have wanted to play together for ages, but this is the first real opportunity we've had. We are discussing what to play, and Denny is in touch with all the other guys (Ike, Ray, Robert) to plan the set. We will have two days to rehearse our set. It should be a wonderful time!

UniMuta: What are the future plans for The Muffin Men? You said that you were recording original material. How is this evolving? Will you include any of this at the Zappanale gig, or will it be strictly zappa?

Roddie / The Muffin Men: Since Jimmy passed away things have been quiet for us. We wanted time out to think about ways forward. Jimmy became a big part of The Muffins. He was with us longer than he was in The Mothers. We didn't feel like playing live for a while, but we did spend some time recording some original stuff. We have about 6 songs finished. They will be available in the next few months, probably for free from our website. The website a now very old and out of date. The guy who built it went away, so all we get to do is update the news page occasionally. We need a new site building. That is one of the many things we need to sort out.

The internet has changed things drastically in the last few years. You play a gig and half of it is up on YouTube within a few days.

This year we have played a couple of gigs. Lots of video from them has been posted up on youtube, so you can see what kind of vibe the band has with this line-up. We will be playing a few more, but don't expect long tours like the old days. We are enjoying playing together. It's great to have most of the original band together again. The old spirit is back. We'll leave all the complicated chamber music to the "real" musicians. We are happy to be playing what we love best - good, honest, straight ahead rock/jazz/blues versions of Zappa stuff, played the way we like it.

The Muffin Men will be performing the main stage on Friday, the 13th of August at the Zappanale festival.
Their set will be featuring a couple of Zappa sidemen. This will be fun.

2010/01/30 "Zappa Festival", Larvik, Norway line-up Jumpy - Guitar * Mikey - Sax and Keys * Rhino - Drums and Vocals * Roddie - Bass and Vocals * Waco - Keys setlist Eric's Preamble, Willie the Pimp, Peaches en Regalia, City of Tiny Lites, Scouse, The Big Medley (Let's make the water/Harry you're a Beast/Orange County/Oh No/Lumpy Gravy), Jones Crusher, Pygmy Twylyte, Rhino breaks something, Zoot Allures, Yellow Snow, Black Napkins, My Guitar wants to Kill your Mamma, San Berdino, Road Ladies, Sofa, Wino Man encore: King Kong, Muffin Man
The Muffin Men 2010 01 30 -- Peaches En Regalia (FZ) - Larvik 2010 - posted on YouTube by Bazbo

The Muffin Men 2010 01 30 -- Pygmy Twylyte (FZ) - Larvik 2010 - posted on YouTube by Bazbo

The Muffin Men 2010 01 30 -- Road Ladies (FZ) - Larvik 2010 - posted on YouTube by LudzNL


2010/08/13 concert "Zappanale 21", Bad Doberan, Germany line-up Roddie, Rhino, Jumpy and Mikey special guests Ike Willis, Ray White, Robert Martin and Denny Wally. Ben Watson appears as a poet on 'Pygmy Twylyte' setlist Preamble, Willie the Pimp, amp problems, My Guitar wants to kill your Mama, Pygmy Twylyte (feat Ben Watson), Cold Winter Gail, The Illinois Enema Bandit, City of Tiny Lites, Doreen, San Berdino, Magic Fingers, Bamboozled By love, Outside Now, Crew Slut, Whippin Post, Heavenly Bank Account an audience recording of this concert got seeded on Zappateers http://www.zappateers.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=20607 below pictures by Steffen Schindler

The following pictures were taken from the DVDR recording




The Muffin Men feat. Denny Walley - Eurotour in april 2011 Denny Walley - slide guitar, vocals Roddie Gilliard (roddie) - bass, vocals Paul Ryan (rhino) - drums, vocals Ian Jump (jumpy) - lead guitar, vocals Phil Hearn - keyboards, vocals
2011/04/07 concert 'spirit of 66', Verviers, Belgium (www.spiritof66.com) 2011/04/08 concert 'Franzis', Wetzlar, Germany (www.franzis-wetzlar.de) 2011/04/09 concert "Georg's Gig", Westerwald / Siegen, Germany (genilius at aol dot com) 2011/04/10 concert 'Kantine', Köln, Germany (www.kantine.com) 2011/04/12 concert 'Objekt5', Halle, Germany (www.objekt5.de) 2011/04/13 concert 'Ursprung', Rostock, Germany (www.ursprung-rostock.de) 2011/04/14 concert 'Quasimodo', Berlin, Germany (www.quasimodo.de) 2011/04/15 concert 'Bluesgarage', Hannover-Isernhagen, Germany (www.bluesgarage-hannover.de) 2011/04/16 concert 'Schuhfabrik', Ahlen, Germany first set Zoot Allures, Don't Eat The Yellow Snow, Black Napkins, San Ber'dino, Crew Slut, Preamble to Cold Winter Gale, Cold Winter Gale (The Muffin Men, dedicated to Jimmy Carl Black), Dead Girls Of London, City Of Tiny Lights, Jones Crusher, Preamble to Denny and Beefheart, Suction Prints (Captain Beefheart) second set My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama, Peaches En Regalia, Preamble to Pygmy Twylyte, Pygmy Twylyte, Tryin' To Grow A Chin, Band Introduction, Suicide Chump, Whipping Post (Allman Brothers), Wonderful Wino, Denny Walley speaks, Camarillo Brillo, Muffin Man, Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance encores Eat That Question, In France, Magic Fingers a 140-minute audience recording of this concert got seeded at Zappateers http://www.zappateers.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=21892 2011/04/19 concert 'Barkers On The Market' Stockport, UK (arnie.furniss@hotmail.co.uk) 2011/04/20 concert 'Cavern Club', Liverpool, UK (http://www.safeconcerts.com/gigs.asp?gn=188718)
2011/08/28 concert 'The Abbey', Liverpool, UK
2013 03 09 concert "Moo-Ah", Corby UK setlist introduction, Zoot Allures, Dont You Eat the Yellow Snow, Black Napkins, Preamble, Pygmy Twylyte, San Berdino, Cold Winter Gale, City of Tint Lites, Jones Crusher, Wheres Chato, Eat That Question, Whipping Post, Village of The Sun line-up Jumpy - guitar / vocals * Roddy - bass / vocals * Phil- keys / vocals * Rhino - drums / vocals special guest: Chato appeared on the last 3 songs.