FruitCake-SuperBeing
Biography
Providing an ode to an unusual blend of musical spices, FruitCake-SuperBeing mixes a stew of genres, ending with a satisfying hiccup that spreads eagle throughout the Texas music scene. A remarkably entertaining staged event, The FruitCake-SuperBeing Show exudes a persona that paints the music with characters straight out of a trailer park full of barbeques and redemption of Southern souls.
Since the release of their debut full-length CD "Electronically-Challenged Blues Hop From Texas", FruitCake-SuperBeing have propagated their music across the state winning over audiences with delightful shock and memories of good times. Now with the latest album for 2006 completed, entitled "Developmental Texas How Now", they are prepared to light the fires once more!
Dance Pardoners
FruitCake-SuperBeing has had the fine pleasure to have shared the stage with a great variety of artists, and have participated in some rewarding concert festivals, as well as several media appearances including radio and television.
- Eryka Badu
- Bob Schneider
- Deep Blue Something
- Wesley Willis
- South FM
- Willie Nelson Pre-4th of July Picnic
- Ron and Don Radio Show
- The Travel Channel
- True Music – HDTV
- 106.9, The Ranch – Corsicana TX
- 3 Songs featured in The Secret Spot – Documentary, Dallas Film Festival Audience Award Winner
- Commercial song "Chipotle" about burritos written for the the restaurant chain Chipotle
- Two Requested & Rejected Dallas Mavericks Theme Songs
Press
Keyboard Magazine
Having said that, I'd like to commend the contestants who have sent quality promo packages: Fruitcake-Superbeing from Dallas, Texas, for example. Their slick promo kit came complete with photos, a bio, a bumper sticker, and a impressively packaged CD with pro graphics and catchy logo.[www.fruitcake-superbeing.com]. Everything about their kit said "good time." Hats off to Fruitcake and other bands who have taken extra care and pride in their presentations. May we never forget that the music business is a business, and attention to every detail can only help.
The Eagle - College Station, TX
Fruitcake Superbeing is the musical equivalent of the fountain drink "suicide" I made as a 10-year-old. That's when I took all the spare change from my room to the local convenience store and mixed every available soda flavor.
The result: An explosion of cavity-causing, sugary goodness that tasted awesome (although the same mixture might gag me now). With the exception of the gagging part, Fruitcake Superbeing successfully combines elements of jazz, blues and electronica much as the same way the "suicide" quenched my thirst for a three-hour sugar high.
The group's music assaults the eardrums but is polished enough that it makes sense even though the different influences wouldn't seem to they'd mix well.
Harder Beat Magazine
However, Fruitcake-Superbeing takes what the genre has been doing for years and spices it up with some Texas flavor. Fruitcake focuses heavily on funk, blues and hip-hop style samples. But it’s not that simple. Constantly there’s a new style being tossed into the mix, whether it’s Texas bluegrass, 60’s rock, 80’s pop or disco. Listening to the album is like eating a big bowl of gumbo, filled with a million different flavors that oddly blend well.
North Gate Music Festival
YOU WERE WONDERFUL AT THE NORTHGATE MUSIC FESTIVAL!!!!!!!!! THE BEST I HAVE EVER HEARD DURING THE 4 YEARS I HAVE BEEN WORKING WITH THE TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY STUDENTS THAT COORDINATE THE EVENT!!!
DO HOPE YOU WILL BE BOOKED IN COLLEGE STATION AGAIN VERY SOON!!
The Eagle - College Station, TX
You might imagine that a conversation with a person named Fruitcake would be odd. "Hey, this is Fruitcake,"greets the person on the other end of the phoneline, as if his name is Bob or Joe or Steve. Named for a funky Christmas dessert, Fruitcake sounds rather normal.
Fruitcake, whose real name is Mark, owns a company in Dallas — a far stretch from the retro suit-wearing, harmonica-playing zealot that is his musical alter ego. His onstage persona waddles onstage with a walker, then hops around like a Baptist tent revival preacher on speed. The fruity name is just a part of the shtick of the funk/blues/soul/electronica hybrid Fruitcake-Superbeing (Superbeing is the guitarist). The Dallas five-piece’s flavorful identity doesn't’t stop with its sound. Flintavo, the bassist, usually dons a Girl Scouts beret onstage, and Superbeing layers on the polyester, suede and denim to become a funked-up hippie disco rock freak. Mix all of this with numerous references to the band’s insatiable craving for Texas barbecue, and you have what Fruitcake calls a hiccup in the popular music scene. The band’s name alone is enough to prepare you for something different."There’s usually a big smile,"says Fruitcake about people’s first reactions to the odd moniker. "It’s really a perfect name. On one end you have this nutty Fruitcake and then the master of all things, Superbeing. But most people don’t get it."
To "get it,"Fruitcake suggests taking a listen to their rambunctious music. Along with its unmistakable ode to the blues, the group intertwines rock with electronica, dance and hip hop as Dash (-) in his floppy zebra-print hat and bell-bottoms manning the turntables. Or, as they call it, "the grill."Put simply, the group focuses on funk, blues, hip hop and electronic samples, spicing things up with its own special blend of Texas secret sauce.
"It’s not that difficult to reproduce the sound live,"Fruitcake said about the group’s intricate layering of electronic sounds on top of harmonica, guitar, bass and drums. "It really is organic. It’s a little more honey mustard live."The title of the group’s debut album may provide the best answer to who and what Fruitcake-Superbeing is: electronically challenged blues hop from teXas. It usually helps to clear things up, Fruitcake said. But Fruitcake insists that there is a serious side to all the craziness.
Many of the group’s songs have hidden meanings locked within the often-cryptic lyrics, which include rants about rubber bands and fun-to-say titles such as tango with el mango, pitta patta and wak-go-go-boogie. "I hope that our shows are a little bit more of an experience rather than just music,"Fruitcake said. "I don’t know where it all comes from. We are just trying to get in there and do something different.
Rio Grand Mud.com
Pass the mustard, please. I'm not talkin' Grey Poupon. I'm talkin' good old generic Yellow in a tubby plastic squeeze bottle. It's time for Fruitcake-Superbeing - dipped in fat, thrown on a hot fire 'til the juices are sealed right in, and served on a paper plate with a side of mustard potato salad and baked beans.
Fruitcake-Superbeing are taking a fresh approach to music, combining the best elements of blues and hip hop and blending in their own comedic slant on life, resulting in a sort of white trash musical comic book starring the inimitable Fruitcake on vocals and blues harp, and Superbeing on the git-fiddle. Take some of G Love's special sauce, mix in a dash of Ween, pour it on an 808, serve with a side of George Clinton and you've got yerself Electronically Challenged Blues Hip Hop from Texas - the feel good album of the summer. You can't help but enjoy this backyard BBQ on a disc: chock full of greasy slide guitar oozing between slick loops and samples, topped with an occasional layer of crisp horns and gospel-like backing vocals packed tightly in a toasted bun of lyrical wit. Kick back, pop open a cold one, put yer sungoggles on, and dig the sound, Baby.
Discography
An impressive number of original songs have been released.
- You Got Cable? (1997 out-of-print)
- Third Big Toe (1998 out-of-print)
- Electronically Challenged Blues Hop From TeXas (2000)
- Developmental Texas How Now (2006)