Electronic Press Kit

Ike Willis & We Used to Cut the Grass

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 732-977-3157

Ike Willis Homepage W.U.T.C.T.G. Facebook // Twitter // Instagram Ike Willis, Frank Zappa’s lead vocalist and guitarist, appeared on over 30 albums and is most recognized for his performances on Zappa records such Joe's Garage (as the voice of Joe), Tinsel Town Rebellion, You Are What You is, and The Man from Utopia, and as the main character and narrator in Zappa's conceptual musical, “Thing-Fish.” As one of the longest playing members in any Zappa ensemble, Ike is still touring internationally and playing the music just as Frank had asked him to just before his untimely death in 1993.

Watch Ike Willis perform “Outside Now” with Frank Zappa

Ike Willis Homepage W.U.T.C.T.G. Facebook // Twitter // Instagram We Used to Cut the Grass is a unique brass-and-percussion-heavy ensemble performing music ranging from high energy afrobeat to difficult contemporary music; their audiences seamlessly shift from heavy grooving to staring with their mouths and ears wide open. Started as a duo between the neurotic multi-instrumentalist/arranger Cody McCorry and malnourished drummer Seamus Leonhardt, the ensemble has always had a lust for challenge and a taste for the bizarre. As the two quickly developed a following in Asbury Park, shows became crowded and hectic, and the group responded in kind by adding more melodic instruments with a heavy focus on brass (including trombonist and co-arranger Ian Gray) and a second drummer/percussionist, the cro-magnon Kevin Grossman, purported to be over seven feet tall on a good, sunny day. The group has since expanded to a ten piece ensemble, performing arrangements both meticulous and accessible with five horns, vibraphone, guitar, bass and two drummer/percussionists, and occasionally collaborating with other groups such as the Vanguard Strings for larger ensemble work.

Watch We Used to Cut the Grass perform Igor Stravinsky's “Tango”

Ike Willis Homepage W.U.T.C.T.G. Facebook // Twitter // Instagram Together, Ike Willis and We Used to Cut the Grass blend into a virtuosic Zappa ensemble like no other, dynamically mixing the band's contemporary/experimental chops with Willis' blues-infected approach.

Selected Video:

Promo Compilation “I'm the Slime/Pound for a Brown” “Echidna's Arf (Of You)/Don't You Ever Wash That Thing?”

Selected Press: “5 Must-Catch Asbury Music in Film Festival Concerts” – Asbury Park Press, 2015 “We Used to Cut the Grass to bring Jazz & Funk to Asbury in April” – Speak Into My Good Eye, 2015 “Watch We Used to Cut the Grass Re-Arrange Stravinsky's 'Tango'” – Speak Into My Good Eye, 2014

Ike Willis Homepage W.U.T.C.T.G. Facebook // Twitter // Instagram Ike Willis Homepage W.U.T.C.T.G. Facebook // Twitter // Instagram Ike Willis Homepage W.U.T.C.T.G. Facebook // Twitter // Instagram