DigHayZoose
Kansas City, Missouri7 reviews across 4 releases
DigHayZoose was a Kansas City, Missouri, band formed around 1990 in the Christian alternative scene. Its early music joined funk bass and hard rock guitar to punk energy, with a loose, improvisational feel that made the group difficult to keep inside one style. The homemade Demo drew attention for deep grooves, larger hooks and direct Christian lyrics, while the 1991 debut Struggle Fish pushed the same attack into alterno-metal, with funked-up Zeppelin echoes, moody passages and Phil's controlled, sometimes wailing vocals. By Magenta Manta Love Tree in 1993, the quartet had expanded its palette: harmonies and jazz touches softened the crunch, while samples and abrupt stylistic shifts sat beside songs about racism, AIDS and personal pain. A Mister Rogers sample and a parakeet-training excerpt captured its taste for the unexpected.
After Brainstorm Artists released the band from its contract in 1994, DigHayZoose announced a breakup at Cornerstone, where the farewell performance was recorded. The decision did not hold: by the time Ascension 7: Rocketship to Heaven appeared in 1996, the group had changed its mind, and David Coonce had joined as a fifth member during the search for another label. The live set preserved the band's rough concert sound, including guest appearances by Dan Michaels and Allan Aguirre. David G. Andersen left in 1996, after which the remaining members reorganized as Infrared; that group made a demo and disbanded in 1997. In 2005, DigHayZoose reunited to rerecord material from the Infrared period. Phil Schlotterer later worked with the Sky Kings, renamed the Day Birds, while Bil Brown played in Silvermen.
4 releases reviewed
Struggle Fish
MagentaMantaLoveTree
