larry 'wild man' fischer

aka: Lawrence Wayne Fischer

(*) 1945, Los Angeles, CA, USA - (+) June 16, 2011

In 2006, Ubin Twinz presented "Derailroaded", a documentary about Wild Man Fischer.

May 4, 2011, Arte TV did broadcast "Larry Wild Man Fischer", a german documentary by Till Passow from 2002.

discography

	various artists: the laminas ucla box     (1968, 7”, usa, the university of california communications board) - incl.various wild man fischer tracks
	wild man fischer: circle / merry go round     (1968, 7", usa bizarre 0781)
	wild man fischer: an evening with wild man fischer     (1968, lp, usa, bizarre)
	wild man fischer: go to rhino records     (1975, 7", usa rhino)
	wild man fischer: wildmania     (1977, lp, usa rhino)
	wild man fischer: pronounced normal     (1981, lp, usa, rhino)
	wild man fischer: nothing scary     (1984, lp, usa, rhino)
	zappa / mothers: our man in nirvana     (1991, cd, usa, rhino foo-eee records r2 71022)
	wild man fischer / smegma: wild man fischer meets smegma & sings popular songs     (1997, lp, usa, ??)
	robert williams: date with the devil’s daughter     (1998, cd, usq, casual tonalities) - feat.jeff morris tepper, bruce fowler, arthur barrow, wild man fischer
	various artists: rhino records 21st anniversary sampler     (1999, cdep-promo, usa, rhino) - incl. wild man fischer: 'go to rhino records'
	wild man fischer: the fischer king     (rhino handmade) - compilation
	various artists: zappanale 18     (2008, 2cd, ger, arf society) - incl. various artists playing frank zappa compositions
	various artists: zappanale #18     (2008, cd, ger, arf society) - incl. various artists playing frank zappa compositions

bibliography

biographical information

all-music guide biography:

a mentally disturbed street singer discovered by frank zappa. he recorded a double album for zappa's bizarre label, some of it with zappa and the mothers of invention, the rest of it solo, giving full vent to nonmetrical original material. he recorded again for the rhino label in 1977. an acquired taste to be sure, fischer may surface again. ~ cub koda

a certified paranoid schizophrenic and acid casualty, larry "wild man" fischer was one of pop music's most unlikely and most disquieting cult figures. born in los angeles in 1945, little is known of fischer's formative years; by the mid-'60s, he had become a fixture along l.a.'s famed sunset strip, where he embraced the burgeoning hippie culture in full. jobless and homeless, fischer's stock-in-trade was to harangue passers-by for small change, rewarding their charity with an impromptu musical performance sung in his crazed vocal style; his behavior produced his 1968 debut an evening with wild man fischer.

 from the outset, consensus on fischer was split; some felt his music was a valid form of artistic expression, while others criticized zappa for taking advantage of his protege's clear lack of mental stablity. a collection of autobiographical monologues, free-form rants and experimental soundscapes, an evening with wild man fischer -- complete with a jacket bearing the ominous image of a maniacal fischer holding a knife to the throat of a cardboard cut-out woman -- won the singer a small but intense following; although he made several subsequent live appearances with zappa's band the mothers of invention, the two soon suffered an irrevocable falling-out, and fischer largely disappeared from sight for a number of years.

in the mid-'70s, fischer resurfaced, making a handful of club and television appearances  which proved that his grasp on reality had grown even more tenuous in the intervening years. after cutting a single advertising the rhino records shop on westwood boulevard, he signed to the rhino label for a three-lp deal; wildmania appeared in 1977, and its primal intensity found support among members of the punk community. beginning with 1981's pronounced normal, he began working with the novelty duo barnes & barnes, who couched fischer's vocals in appropriately odd electronic backing tracks and sampled soundbites. nothing scary followed in 1984; upon its release, fischer visited the rhino shop and attempted to bully customers into purchasing his albums. he was ejected from the store, and his contract was not renewed; no other recording deal was forthcoming, and he again slipped into the ether. -- jason ankeny

 dick kunc on wild man fischer
from an interview by bill lantz - the engineer of an evening with wild man fischer talks about his experiences with larry.

d.k.: wild man fischer... oh yeah... that was a trip. my first task was to literally follow him around the streets for several days, carrying a uher two- track, chronicling whatever madness he got into. parts of that mission were plain scary! larry was truly certifiable then. the basement "sessions" were very strange, as you might guess. frank was gentle, encouraging, yet demanding of larry... as frank was with all who toiled under his baton. later, with the roving and basement stuff in hand, frank and larry and i went into the studio and hammered together that album, the one-of-a-kind assistance of the gtos and other supernumeraries. a guy named jerry hansen worked the knobs for the actual recording, and the control room entourage was truly amazing. as for technical nuances, i honestly don't remember. hell, that was 27 years ago! how old are you? i think it was about the same time that we did the gto's album, a wonder to behold. no, actually their "album" came a bit later. i had a secret crush on miss pamela back then. "ooo-ooo man" was my favorite tune.

         from: wnewitt
by the way.... i ran into frank at the arby's on sunset blvd in  '74. asked him what larry was up to and he said "you can probably find him on this street! but keep your distance! he's crazy!"

     date: fri, 08 jun 2001 20:43:57 gmt - from: gondola bob (g-bo@deltanet.com)
picked up a copy of l.a. weekly last night, and there's a listing for daniel johnston performing at the key club. july 7th, i believe. ok, i'd be happy to go, just to see him. but the opening act is wild man fischer??? whoa!! landmark event?

for some more information about larry, check out
brian belovarac's excellent  wild man fischer  pages.

http://www.erie.net/~bbelovar/wildman/

november 2004:

There's a Wild Man Fischer documentary in the making:

http://www.derailroaded.com/

It should also include a new Gail Zappa interview
 

Don't miss the world premiere of DERAILROADED at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX!

A shocking and sensitive journey through the Manic Depressive and Paranoid Schizophrenic mind of outsider music icon and Frank Zappa protege' Larry "Wild Man" Fischer.

An Ubin Twinz Production

Directed by Josh Rubin and Produced by Jeremy Lubin

Starring: Wild Man Fischer, Frank Zappa, Bill Mumy, Weird Al Yankovic, Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo, Dr. Demento, Gail Zappa and Solomon Burke

WORLD PREMIERE

• 2005/03/13 - 4:30 PM – ACC / 500 East Cesar Chavez Street, Austin, TX

• 2005/03/16 - 2:00 PM – ACC

• 2005/03/19 - 2:15 PM – Dobie / 2025 Guadalupe Street, Austin, TX

For more information on Derailroaded, please visit the web site at www.derailroaded.com

Ubin Twinz proudly presents the L.A. premiere of DERAILROADED inside the mind of Larry "Wild Man" Fischer

from 25th century quaker / alt.fan.frank-zappa
2007 02 24

Barnes & Barnes 'Voohaba' and Two Wild man Fischer Albums Reissued on Collectors' Choice Music

Barnes & Barnes gave the world "Fish Heads" while Wild Man Fischer is deemed "the father of outsider music."

http://prweb.com/releases/2007/2/prweb507023.htm

Los Angeles, Calif. (PRWEB) February 24, 2007 -- In one corner, we have Barnes & Barnes, a duo thrilled to hold the distinction of having recorded the most requested song in the history Doctor Demento's syndicated radio program. In the opposite corner, we have Larry "Wild Man" Fischer, arguably the most bizarre recording artist to emerge from arguably the most bizarre city, Los Angeles. What's the connection? Well, Barnes & Barnes produced two Wild Man Fischer albums as charter releases for the soon-to-be-multimillion-dollar Rhino label. And now Barnes & Barnes' classic Voobaha album, along with two Fischer albums -- Pronounced Normal and Nothing Scary -- will be reissued on Collectors' Choice Music on April 3, 2007.

Barnes & Barnes was composed of Art & Artie Barnes, noms du disques for childhood friends Bill Mumy (yes, Will Robinson on "Lost in Space") and Robert Haimer, respectively. Their goal was never to make it big -- just to get played on their fave syndicated radio show hosted by Doctor Demento. Drawing on their mutual love of comics, including '50s EC (which specialized in horror, crime and sci-fi), '60s pre-superhero Marvel comics, and R. Crumb, the songs were
demented from the get-go. In 1974, they submitted "The Vomit Song" to Demento, though the good Doctor felt it would have an "emetic" effect on his audience. But he loved "Fish Heads" and "Boogie Woogie Amputee," and the former made Barnes & Barnes darlings of Dementia overnight. The tune's accompanying short film went on to air on MTV, VH1 and Comedy Central, and was named #57 video of all time by Rolling Stone. They even recruited a heavy manager (Bill Siddons, who managed the Doors).

The Voohaba album was issued in 1976, then digitally remastered and reissued as a CD on Rhino. Robert Haimer went back to the original source tapes to prepare for the Collectors' Choice reissue in 2007, and Barnes & Barnes have added some previously unreleased tracks: "I Gotta Get a Fake I.D.," plus alternate takes of "Political Statement," "Boogie Woogie Amputee" and "Fish Heads."

As Mumy wrote in the notes, "We basically broke every rule in the recording book. And you know what? It worked. Or not."

The saga of Barnes & Barnes would ordinarily begin and end there if not for their academic interest in a forgotten and occasionally homeless Los Angeles singer/songwriter named "Wild Man" Fischer.
Recorded in the late '60s by Frank Zappa for Bizarre Records, Fischer's inaugural album, An Evening With Wild Man Fischer, portrayed on its cover the singer holding a knife to his elderly Jewish mother. 
It spawned the underground hit "Merry Go Round" and the brief monologue "I Used To Be Shy." Fischer went in and out of mental institutions and seldom kept an address for longer than a couple of months. His second album was released as one of the very first Rhino long-players, Wildmania (which was previously reissued by Collectors' Choice). But that didn't mean that Rhino founders Richard Foos and Harold Bronson could readily locate him. Barnes & Barnes, however, were up for the Alan Lomax-like challenge and at some point, somehow located Fischer. They were delighted to find that he was a fan of "Fish Heads." The session for Pronounced Normal ensued -- its title inspired by the song "The Wild Man Fischer Story" from his first album -- at both Mumy's and Haimer's home studios. But it wasn't easy to get him into the studio. He failed to show up, moved without informing his producers, or just lacked "the pep" to record. But when he had the
pep, the recordings flowed naturally. 

One track, "The Bouillabaisse," was intended to be a psychedelic dream, his own outsider Sgt. Pepper interlude -- all good until Fischer, according to Mumy's liner notes, became convinced of subliminal messages in the song, and that Barnes & Barnes, Doctor Demento, Frank Zappa, "Weird Al" Yankovic and others were joined in conspiracy to sever his penis, throw him in the ocean, chop him into little pieces and throw him to the sharks. Although he fled soon after, he began to phone Barnes & Barnes again around the album's 1981 release -- sometimes many times a day. The two producers seized the mood to take on one more album, the 32-track Nothing Scary, with the mission of it being an album with which Fischer would be happy and proud. The 1984 release contains gems like "Derailroaded," "Larry & the New Wave" and "Music Business Shark."

"We never expected to make much money from working with Wild Man Fischer," wrote Mumy. "We choose to do it because we were personally moved by his talent. We know him to be a powerful, unique artist and we wanted to help him realize that vision."

Fischer is often omitted in discussion of outsider artists such as Daniel Johnston, Captain Beefheart, Syd Barrett and Jonathan Richman. The reissue of Pronounced Normal and Nothing Scary should restore him to the outsider hall of fame.

So for the price of roly-poly "Fish Heads," we got Barnes & Barnes' Voobaha, which in turn begat two rather improbable Wild Man Fischer albums. Together they prove that whether cultivated or genetic, outsiderdom has always been more fun than what's on the radio (except when Doctor Demento's on).