Trey Spruance

Photo courtesy of Daria Dykes

Trey Spruance

For an area that prides itself on diversity, Humboldt County's bland blend of Grateful Dead rip-offs, folk acts and ska bands proves it's a bit skimpy on musical variety.

This is just one of the reasons why Trey Spruance, guitarist for former Eureka band Mr. Bungle, left Humboldt County with his band mates in 1990 in search of larger audiences and friendlier venues.

"The crowds were always great," Spruance said, referring to Mr. Bungle's early years in Humboldt County. "It was just hard for us to get a gig. There were too many 'big-time-minded' promoters trying to act like Bill Graham or Goldenvoice. They would rather have their evil house band play Creedence covers to a crowd of 20 manic depressives than have a youth-oriented local band draw 300."

Spruance formed Mr. Bungle in 1984 with high school chums vocalist Mike Patton, bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Jed Watts. The band played its first show that November at the Bayside Grange Hall. Fourteen years and a couple of drummers later, Mr. Bungle has found huge underground success, due in large part to a very active, loyal fan base that charts the group's every move on Internet mailing lists and bulletin boards.

Mr. Bungle released its self-titled, major label debut in 1991 with a sound reminiscent of death metal circus music. The follow-up to "Mr. Bungle," "Disco Volante," signaled a radical new direction for the band as it began to experiment heavily with song structure, sound and instrumentation.

One thing remained consistent, however: Mr. Bungle's ability to simultaneously mimic, mock and pay homage to more genres of music than most folks knew existed.

Photo courtesy of Heather Scott

Trey Spruance as Neck Head, guitartist of Faxed Head.

Spruance's work with Mr. Bungle, Faxed Head and Secret Chiefs 3, exemplifies the diversity and richness of his musical vocabulary. Faxed Head's blitzkrieg assault of thundering bass and drums, machine-gun guitars and shrieking electronics effects sound nothing like Secret Chiefs 3's delicate Mid-Eastern melodies and thick, layered textures or Mr. Bungle's free-form heavy metal jazz. Recently, Spruance started yet another band, FORMS, with world-reknown percussionist and UC Santa Cruz Professor William Winant.

Like many underground music artists, Spruance has taken publicity into his own hands. He set up his own web site, the "Web of Mimicry," to act as an official information booth for fans on the Internet.

The site (http://www.humboldt1.com/~mimicry) allows fans to contact Mr. Bungle and Secret Chiefs 3 directly or buy band merchandise and albums. Additionally, large fan-created sites provide web surfers much information on Mr. Bungle and Secret Chiefs 3. Bungle Fever was created in 1996 by Heather Kennedy, while Secret Chiefs 3 was created by Heather Scott, another fan. Spruance also frequently posts messages to fan e-mail lists and discussion groups -- especially when fan speculation and rumors about the bands' activities get out of hand.

It's not what you'd expect from a former Eureka metalhead, but then again, Spruance isn't the stereotypical head-banging, glue-sniffing hesher.

Spruance discussed his musical development and thoughts on avant-garde music via e-mail.

Photo courtesy of Heather Scott

OSPREY: Who or what were the primary forces that got you interested in making music?

TS: Devo, first of all. The first tape I ever owned was Devo, and I listened to it for about two years straight before being forcefully obliged to expand my musical horizons to include the dominant hesher metal at (Jacob's Junior High School). I was then set upon the standard early-'80s path of relentless guitar over-rehearsal, a la Eddie Van Halen.

But I can say, without hesitation, that our Eureka High music teacher, Dan Horton, had the most profound musical impact on Trevor (Dunn, Mr. Bungle and SC3 bassist) and myself. The guy would go so far as to teach us twerp neophytes the inner workings of bebop jazz over his summer break. We learned three years of chord theory and ear training before we hit Humboldt State. My senior year (at Eureka High School) I had three hours of music classes with (Horton) every day.

During that time, Stravinsky and Slayer hit me simultaneously. I would be banging away at the piano, all narcissistic and angst-ridden, but (Horton) could see that I was going somewhere with it. That was important, to have encouragement from someone you respect -- a mentor really -- who is a great musician and also seriously gives a shit.

OSPREY: What else got you interested in music?

TS: Slayer, Mercyful Fate. Later it was the Specials, Fishbone. Then we moved to San Francisco and got all sophisticated. Now we are improv snobs who rule the avant-garde universe by night, and poor, fucked-up hipsters by day.

OSPREY: I noticed the "thank yous" in the liner notes for Mr. Bungle mention Eugene Novotney, a professor here at HSU. How did he influence the band?

TS: Eugene Novotney was a percussion mentor for both Danny Heifetz and Mike Patton (of Mr. Bungle). He's a real gem of a guy.

OSPREY: How do your projects differ? What are you trying to accomplish with Secret Chiefs 3 and how is that different than what you are doing with Mr. Bungle or Faxed Head?

TS: Secret Chiefs 3 is perpetually engaged in "Kashf al majub" -- literally "the unveiling of what is hidden." Specifically, it is an ever-unfolding document of the soul's exile and return. Accordingly, the music is simultaneously a lament and a victory march. But also, we fucking rock.

Photo courtesy of Heather Scott

Spruance doubled as guitartist and keyboardist during a Secret Chiefs 3 performance in Tuscon, Ariz. last August.

Mr. Bungle isn't at all about rocking. It's more attuned to the post-rock avant-garde mindset, and thrives on dashing not just the expectations of early '90s funk metal fans, but also those modernist pretensions held so dear by the aforementioned avant-retro snobs, ourselves included. And look, Faxed Head is just a mostly paraplegic true death metal band from Coalinga.

OSPREY: How do you decide which group a piece you've written belongs to? Is it ever difficult to separate projects like Faxed Head, Bungle, or Secret Chiefs 3?

TS: Nah, they all have different structures. Mr. Bungle is a dyed-in-the-wool democracy; Secret Chiefs 3 is a series of temporary "collectives" -- each with the same resident dictator (me); and Faxed Head is a tornado caused by strong winds in cooperative opposition.

OSPREY: Some people would say much of your music is just a bunch of noise. What messages do you feel you're able to communicate to listeners through noise? What do you believe the role of noise is in a musical composition?

TS: If they think that's noise, well! I have done "noise" projects in the past, and they have been nothing like Mr. Bungle or Secret Chiefs 3. For me, "noise" is like an eraser on a chalk board -- it might be erasing a bunch of ugly scribbles to make way for a Rembrandt, or it might be erasing a Rembrandt to make way for a bunch of BS. It's all in how it's used. As a compositional tool it's great in moderation, but increasingly it has become a crutch or cop out.

OSPREY: How much artistic freedom does a major label allow a band like Mr. Bungle?

TS: We have more freedom than anyone on any "indie" label has, believe me! No pressure to make the music a certain way, huge recording budget, massive distribution. No, let everyone else fawn over themselves for having "indie credibility" while being forced to suck up to corrupt megalomaniacs who run shit record labels that will eventually be sold to the majors anyway (if they haven't already). We have it very good.

The bottom line is this: The artist gets screwed, so you'd better be doing it for the love if it. Even in the "best of all possible situations" that we are in now, none of us can support ourselves financially with Mr. Bungle. So you find another way to make it all happen.

In short, the music is your sole saving grace once you start dealing with the predatory vermin infesting every facet of the entertainment world. We hire a good lawyer, count our blessings and move on.