Little Wing, Screaming Headless Torsos 1995

Step On My Shoes A, Black Cherry Acid Lab

For those who were left holding their breath after the first part of this series (on Marc Ribot), here’s part two: Dave “the Fuze” Fiuczynski. When I first heard “the Fuze,” he was the maniacal lead guitar player in the now legendary 90’s rock-rap-jazz-fusion group Screaming Headless Torsos.

They’ve recently reissued the Torso’s album entitled 1995, with a few tasty little extras, including a satisfying-ly darkened and dragged-through-the-mud treatment of Jimi’s “Little Wing” (included here for your listening pleasure). Fiuczynski’s intro is just so him, it’s not even funny. And the solo later on is appropriately angular, furious, and face-melting; “the Fuze” in fine form.

So where is he now? Actually, the Torsos are apparently active again (or were in 2005?), according to their website. Fiuczynski’s got some other fun side projects (not so recent, but fun to discover nonetheless) my favorite of which spawned the album Black Cherry Acid Lab, which is great for the name alone, but also seems to be a great life-beyond-grave-beyond-the-walking-dead version of where the Torsos may have gone if they hadn’t flown too close to the sun back in the late 90s. Here for a little taste is “Step on My Shoes A.”

Stay tuned for more guitar mayhem. Up next: the king of the 55 Bar, and an old buddy of mine from back in the day, who is at this very moment holed-up under the Williamsburg bridge, concocting new and exciting excursions into the realm of avant-guitar post-rock exploration…