Fuzz: Three of a kind

Don’t let the presence of garage-punk songwriting powerhouse Ty Segall fool you. The Los Angeles-based trio Fuzz is the shared vision of three veteran musicians communing over loose, heavy jams in the spirit of ’60s proto-metal à la Blue Oyster Cult, Black Sabbath, etc.

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Fuzz materialized in 2011 with Segall playing drums and singing alongside the Moonhearts’ Charlie Moothart on guitar. After releasing a pair of 7-inches, the band’s self-titled debut LP of Blue Cheer-inspired guitar rock was released in 2013 via In the Red. Over time, Chad Ubovich (Meatbodies, Mikal Cronin’s live band) settled in playing bass. Fuzz returned October 23 with a follow-up album, and in staying true to Led Zeppelin’s Roman numeral motif, II (In the Red) delves even deeper into the group’s transcendental riff excursions.

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Album cuts on which Segall sings over tempestuous riffage, such as the Sabbath-esque burner “Pipe,” cull from each member’s record collection. But it’s the instrumentals, including the 14-minute title track, that capture the heaviness and freeform nature of those great bands that bridged the gap between psychedelia and arena rock. Both are the result of Fuzz’s members coming together as a collaboration. “Everyone does their part, especially when we get together and work out songs,” Ubovich says.

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Most of Fuzz’s songs start out as riffs, usually carved out by Moothart. Once they’ve taken shape, Ubovich and Segall tweak things out when the three members are all in the same room, locked in on a groove.

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Now two albums deep, Fuzz’s collaborative nature is often lost on listeners who view each release as just another notch in Segall’s belt. More often than not, the press Fuzz receives contextualizes the band as Ty Segall’s Fuzz, or builds around an angle that champions II as one of Ty Segall’s albums of the year. The same media virus has attached itself to Meatbodies and the Moonhearts as well. “I have to look at it and realize these people are ignorant or are lazy writers if they are going to review who is in the band and not the actual music at the show or on the album,” Ubovich says. “It’s the true Fuzz fans who know it’s a band, and know it’s not about egos or who is playing in the band.”

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With its members dividing their efforts among other projects, Fuzz goes into hibernation mode at times. But don’t tell Ubovich that the group plays second fiddle to any other bands. “When people talk about Fuzz it’s as a side project or a recording project,” he says. “It’s neither one of those. It takes us time to muster together some songs. Then we wait for the right time, and we all know when it is Fuzz time. That’s when we go into our little Fuzz caves and start working on Fuzz stuff.”

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What is Fuzz, then? “The essence of the group is three guys coming together and playing as one, using the same brain to make a song,” Ubovich says. “It’s a way of us living out our three-piece rock group dreams. All three of us have this desire to play really loud and headbang. That’s something you learn when you first start playing guitar.”

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In some ways, Fuzz is like a first band — three buddies just wanting to jam while listening to Black Sabbath. Here it’s a group of veteran musicians, not wide-eyed teens, chasing that timeless rock ‘n’ roll dream.