Biography

Alice Donut formed in the punk underground of New York City's Lower East Side in 1987, eventually releasing six studio albums and one live LP (recorded at CBGB's) before their initial break-up eight years later. Jello Biafra was an early encouragement for the group, and he signed them to his Alternative Tentacles label, where Alice Donut released all of their albums of the '80s and '90s. The band's punk style was occasionally leavened with elements of oddball country and funk, but by 1993's Pure Acid Park, the sound was commercialized a bit, much like fellow psychedelic punks the Butthole Surfers. Alice Donut couldn't cash in, however, and broke up in 1995. Each member went his separate way; drummer and trombonist Stephen Moses played for a short while with Rasputina, while vocalist Tomas Antona and bassist Sissi Schulmeister started a family together. Schulmeister, Moses, and guitarist Michael Jung began playing together again for fun in the late '90s and after a couple of years of basement practices, the three convinced Antona to join in as well. An unpublicized reunion show took place in August of 2003, which served as a CD release party for their equally unpublicized reunion album, Three Sisters. The live DVD London, There's a Curious Lump in My Sack appeared in 2004, and another studio album, Fuzz, followed in 2006 on Howler Records. The band continued playing live, and returned to Alternative Tentacles for their tenth album, 2009's Ten Glorious Animals. Alice Donut celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2011 with a documentary, Freaks in Love, including interviews with Jello Biafra and Curt Kirkwood, among others. ~ John Bush, Rovi