The Big Muffin Serious Band(BMSB)

 

The Big Muffin Serious Band has been performing around New Zealand since 1983. A busking band with a penchant for ukuleles, we have 2 CDs for sale. They are:

Heavens to Murgatroydmurgatroyd.html
Jabberwocky Goes to TownJabberwocky.html
Click on the album image above to find out more For those who have stumbled upon this site by accident or in ignorance some explanation may be in order. The Big Muffin Serious Band (the BMSB) formed in Hamilton, New Zealand, in 1983 as a 3 piece busking group incorporating a simple but lasting format. The ukulele was one of their instruments of choice, the other being the one string tea-chest bass. 
With this lethal combination no popular music was safe from their attention, especially when reinforced with such time-honoured instruments as the child's plastic saxophone (the blue ones are best), hedge clippers, elephantophone, carrot kazoo and with snare drum and brushes for a bit of drive.
The 3 members shifted from instrument to instrument, especially when any one showed signs of becoming too good at it- there is nothing like a good dose of musical virtuosity to kill entertainment value dead. The repertoire was chosen simply on the basis of tunes which were ironically unsuited to the instrumentation (punk, R&R etc) or great tunes of the past which were long forgotten, but deserved not to be. The music was tight, energetic and above all rather funny. By 1986 the band had added a 4th member to the group, who performed various non-musical roles and who was referred to as 'go-go dancer' not least because that is what he did. The tight musical combo was now visually enhanced and with this line up they toured Universities, Polytechnics, Folk Clubs, Music Festivals and main streets extensively and exhaustively throughout the '80s. Line-ups changed, the formula stayed the same. A spell of busking in Britain, twice performed seasons of 'The Eggplant That Ate Chicago', a humorous multi-media show (the first in '87, well before the word meant anything) incorporating music, drama and shadow puppetry, and latterly performing the busking show on stilts, several feet higher than expected with props and instruments exaggerated as well. To glean more background don't be afraid to go to our random photos. To buy CDs go to our Order page Photos/Photos.htmlBuy_CDs.htmlshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1