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Tony Panzica began playing experimental music in 1989. Prior to that year, he was in both a hardcore band and a rap group, but then became a founding member of Deaf Duke. The trio was essentially a straight-forward rock band that incorporated some rather non-straight-forward techniques, such as strange time signatures, bizzare instrumentation, and tape manipulation. Following the disintegration of that band after a full year, he started the industrial band Prenatal Dentistry with future Abstinence sideman Michael G. Roberts. The duo made a solid effort not to sound like the current industrial bands on the scene, most of which seemed to be metal bands that used samples. Instead, Prenatal Dentistry combined harsh beats (courtesy of both drum machines and metal percussion) with overly distorted funk licks and a heavy dose of power tools, all of which served as a backdrop to their extreme left-wing lyrics. Due to both equipment problems and academic opportunities, the band split up in 1991.
Tony took some time off from music, but returned in 1994 with a solo project called Anomic Control. Under the wing of DJ/musician Daryll Hell, he released 4 cassette tapes and gave several live performances, most of which featured non-stop tape loops and collages, walls of noise, and just the occasional hints of actual melody. In very few instances, did any of his recordings or performances resemble actual songs. In fact, his live performances were frequently half-hour long blasts of noise. His intention was simply to challenge people's perceptions of what music should sound like. Much to his chagrin, he found a very accepting audience. His attempts to shock failed, as people seemd to have a much more open mind about music that you would expect. Due to academic demands, as well as ennui, he terminated Anomic Control in 1998.
Five years later, wanting to start performing experimental music again, he did just that, this time under the moniker the Urban Shocker (named for the 1910s-20s St. Louis Browns/New York Yankees pitcher). In a way, he picked up where Anomic Control left off. Many of the "new" compositions are actually pieces he recorded as Anomic Control, but which were never released. And while noise and tape collages can still be found, the Urban Shocker focuses more on actual songs, featuring beats (often industrial or techno), samples, real musical instruments (mainly bass guitar and synthesizer), and vocals (usually spoken word rather than sung, and always reflecting his leftist leanings).
The Urban Shocker has, as of this writing, not released any recordings. The Urban Shocker has performed live numerous times at the Brighton Bar, sharing the stage with such bands as Captured! By Robots, the God Complex, the Sketchy Testates, Skeleton Key, Phasmida, the Horny Worms, No Use for Humans, Ghostland Observatory, the Graboids, Sudden Ensemble, Son of Dad, Gollum, Wet Rats, Tilt-a-Whirl, the Takers, JFK's LSD UFO, Xylophone of Wrench, Quentin Quayle, Bombyx Mori, Mothguts, Tuffy McGee & the Instigators, the Beating War, Green Machine Music, Dyssonance, and Long Gone Day.
Tony Panzica also is one half of the experimental music duo Albino Midget Showdown, along with fellow multi-instrumentalist Mike Noordzy. They have also performed at the Brighton Bar and look forward to more shows.Slideshow from Multi-Media Show at Lousyland on November 2, 2008
