Cartoon -

Cartoon was an American avant-rock band from Phoenix that released two albums and a live disc between 1981 and 1983 on self-press Twelve Tone Productions. Three-fifths of the band recorded two subsequent albums as PFS.

Members: Scott Brazieal (keyboards), Mark Innocenti (guitars), Gary Parra (drums), Herbert Diamant (reeds), Craig Fry (violin)

Background

Cartoon formed in 1979 in Phoenix when keyboardist Scott Brazieal and guitarist Mark Innocenti recruited drummer Gary Parra. Brazieal and Innocenti met at Camelback High School and continued their musical partnership after graduation through rehearsals in Phoenix. Parra played drums professionally from age 12 and stocked European imports at a local record store. Innocenti met Parra at the store after Cartoon auditioned several drummers for compositions with shifting meters.

Cartoon developed “Shredded Wheat,” “Apathy in America,” and “Shark” over several months of rehearsal. Brazieal applied his classical training to scored versions of “Ptomaine Poisoning” and “Anemic Bolero.” The trio cut “Flotsam” and “Apathy in America” at Synchestra Studios in May 1979 for an Arizona-band sampler. Arizona sampler organizers rejected both tracks, and Cartoon repackaged the recordings as a demo for clubs and record companies. The group organized independent concerts amid the club rejections, including a debut at a Scottsdale Unitarian church.

Steve Feigenbaum of Random Radar Records responded to the demo and urged Cartoon to produce an album independently. Feigenbaum also offered distribution through the Wayside Music mail-order catalog. Cartoon continued at Synchestra Studios with producers Jon Wilson and Ed Van Fleet, who captured the material on eight-track tape. The group completed the final mix in 1980, but depleted funds stalled post-production and packaging.

Brazieal moved to San Francisco for the fall 1980 term at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied composition with John Adams and piano performance. Roommate and drummer Randy Sanders introduced reed player Herbert Diamant to Brazieal through apartment improvisation sessions. In Phoenix, classically trained violinist Craig Fry contacted Innocenti and Parra after the pair sought an adventurous string player. Innocenti, Parra, and Fry moved to San Francisco in summer 1981, where Cartoon rehearsed as a quintet with Brazieal and Diamant at an Oak Street apartment. Friend Alex Alvarez covered the remaining post-production and packaging bills with winnings from a horse-racing trifecta, clearing the self-titled album for manufacture on Twelve Tone Productions.

Discography: