Mr. Bungle Return with "Raping Your Mind" from The Raging Wrath of The Easter Bunny Demo with Scott Ian & Dave Lombardo (Ipecac Recordings)
Mr. Bungle was Mike Patton's pre-Faith No More band, originally active from 1985-2004 and covered a gamut of styles ranging from Experimental Rock to Alternative Metal, Avant-garde Metal to Ska Punk, Thrash Metal to Jazz Fusion, and more. Mr. Bungle's core members from 1985-2000 (when they played their last live show) included Patton, along with guitarist Trey Spruance and bassist Trevor Dunn with additional members including Theo Lengyel, Jed Watts, Luke Miller, Scott Fritz, Hans Wagner, Danny Heifetz, and Clinton "Bär" McKinnon. In the 20 years since their initial dissolution, Mr. Bungle's members went on to form and play with Tomahawk, Fantômas, Dead Cross, Lovage, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Peeping Tom, Secret Chiefs 3, Faith No More, Weird Little Boy, Trevor Dunn's Trio-Convulsant, The Melvins (Lite,) Melt-Banana, Link Wray, UMLAUT, and many more.
Mr. Bungle suddenly returned out of nowhere earlier this year to announce a few shows playing their 1986 The Raging Wrath of The Easter Bunny Demo to wildly successful results. However, this newly reunited iteration of Mr. Bungle did not only include Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn & Trey Spruance, but Scott Ian AND Dave Lombardo, as well. Ian, of course, of Anthrax, The Damned Things, and Storm Troopers of Death (S.O.D.) fame and Lombardo of Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies, Patton's own Dead Cross, and also recently reunited The Original Misfits. After quietly releasing a not-so-quiet cover of The Exploited's "USA" with proceeds raised through July 4th going towards MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund. Now, Mr. Bungle have returned with one more triumphant announcement: a re-recording of their aforementioned 1986 demo tape, The Raging Wrath of The Easter Bunny.
It features 11 tracks originally written by the Eureka, California-bred band for their 1986 cassette-only demo, as well as a re-imagined cover of the S.O.D. classic "Hypocrites / Habla Español O Muere" (AKA "Speak English or Die") and Corrosion of Conformity's "Loss for Words." The album was produced by Mr. Bungle, recorded by Husky Höskulds at Studio 606, and mixed by Jay Ruston. Rhea Perlman, Ian's wife and Meatloaf's daughter, narrates "Anarchy Up Your An*s." Mr. Bungle have, additionally, released an animated lyric video to accompany The Raging Wrath of The Easter Bunny Demo's first proper single, "Raping Your Mind," created by Eric Livingston. "Recording THIS music with THESE guys was an enormous head-rush of virtuosity and surprises every day in the studio," explains seasoned frontman Mike Patton.
"Trey's video game-esque solos, Scott's bionic right hand and cyborg-like precision, Dave's caveman-meets-Bobby Brady-like drum fills, Trevor's solid foundation and laser-focus to detail. There is nothing sweeter than getting your a$$ kicked by true comrades... where everyone has a singular drive and mission." Trevor Dunn adds: "recording this record felt like we were finally utilizing our Ph.D's in Thrash Metal. All we had to do was go back to our original professors for some additional guidance and talk them into joining us. Turns out, we were A+ students. We even went for extra-credit by re-visiting some tunes that we'd given up on back in the day. It was less like a trip of nostalgia and more like the refining of an original, worthy document. We were haunted for 35 years by the fact that this music wasn't given it's due respect. Now, we can die." Mr. Bungle's The Raging Wrath of The Easter Bunny Demo is now available for pre-order in multiple formats and will see a wide release on Friday, October 30, 2020, via Ipecac Recordings.
