Inspired by a wide array of freakbeat, psychedelic, garage and power-pop sounds — but mostly by that brief window of time in the late Sixties when British mods started dropping acid and wearing frilly shirts and eyeliner — The Fancy Trolls were a total anomaly in post-hair-metal Los Angeles. Though they lasted barely a year, played only a handful of gigs, and never officially released anything, the Trolls are still fondly remembered by power-pop tape traders and the few who actually saw them work their paisley-colored power-trio magic.
Formed in LA in early 1994 by Chicago refugees Dan Epstein (ex-Lava Sutra) and Eric Colin (ex-Mystery Girls), The Fancy Trolls had trouble finding a bassist on a similar musical wavelength, until they hooked up with local glam guitarist Bumper and convinced him to switch to "lead bass". Their lone three-song demo tape was produced by Rusty Squeezebox and David Green of psychedelic pop wizards Baby Lemonade, who later became internationally renowned for backing Love leader Arthur Lee during his final decade on Earth. The Trolls also recorded a live document of their penultimate show — an appearance at the 1995 SXSW festival in Austin, Texas — tapes of which are rumored to have recently resurfaced.
The Fancy Trolls disbanded after their final gig at The Roxy in April, 1995. Dan left music to concentrate on his career in journalism (though he was briefly lured back in the late Nineties, to do two years before the mast with Michael Quercio in the Jupiter Affect). Eric moved back to Chicago, where he's since drummed for a number of bands, including The Civilized Age, The Deccas, The Sonnets, Roxie Stardust and Asparagoose. As for Bumper... well, nobody quite knows what happened to Bumper.
