Fuzz at the Bowery Ballroom

Charles Moothart

In 2011, Charles Moothart, the second guitarist in the Ty Segall Band, was looking to create a vehicle for his heavy guitar riffs. Segall moved from guitar to drums, and Fuzz was born. The garage-rock trio presently also features bassist Chad Ubovich, and all three musicians sing lead. Fuzz's second album, II, was released on October 23, 2015.

Fuzz was an appropriate name for the band's performance tonight at the Bowery Ballroom. While the three instruments were played clearly, there was an overall fuzz to the sound and even to the mood of the songs. Hearkening back to the bluesy acid rock sounds of early classic rock, Fuzz looked and sounded like Blue Cheer, a late 1960s mega-thrusting, ear-bleeding trio also from the Bay Area of California, but probably owed more to the heavy rock influence of Black Sabbath and Jimi Hendrix. Powered by Moothart's riffs, riffs and more riffs, Fuzz was pure stoner rock with a  dash of punk vocals. The question remains whether Fuzz will continue as a side project or if it will disappear and melt its sound back into the Ty Segall Band.