Lutefisk (band)
{{Short description|American alternative rock band}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Lutefisk
| image = Lutefisk This Is Where The Stars Are Album Cover.jpg
| image_size =
| landscape =
| alt =
| caption = Album cover for Lutefisk's unreleased third album, recorded for A&M Records
| alias =
| origin = Los Angeles, California
| genre = Alternative rock
| years_active = 1990s
| label = Bong Load Custom Records
| associated_acts =
| website =
| current_members =
| past_members = Don Burnet (aka Dallas Don), Beale Dabbs (aka Frosting), Brandon Jay (aka Quasar), Jeff Watson, Greg Mora, Natalie Woodlawn, Brian McSherry{{cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-01-12-ca-18958-story.html | title=A Fine Tune of Events on Vinyl and Cassette | work=Los Angeles Times | date=12 January 1995 | access-date=6 September 2014 | author=Boehm, Mike}}
}}
Lutefisk was an American alternative rock band based in Los Angeles. It was active in the 1990s as part of LA's Silver Lake alternative music scene. During this time, it released two studio albums on Bong Load Records and recorded a third unreleased record for A&M Records.
History
Lutefisk's frontman, Don Burnet, was formerly the frontman of the band Plain Wrap during the 1980s, and led the band 3D Picnic from 1986 to 1992. Burnet had also played drums for Beck before becoming Lutefisk's guitarist. The founding of the band was related to the curing of a "premature midlife artistic crisis", faced by Burnet the age of 30. The name of the band refers to lutefisk, a dried fish dish of Scandinavian origin, prepared with lye. Its "window of success" as a recipe is rather small, according to Garrison Keillor's 2007 book Pontoon. According to Burnet, the band's name is about playing pop songs that are "hard to stomach".
Lutefisk released its first album, Deliver from Porcelain: Theme and Variations, in 1995 on Bong Load Custom Records. It was named the 10th best local album of the year by Mike Boehm in the Los Angeles Times.{{cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-12-29-ca-19142-story.html | title=1995: The Year In Review : Mike Boehm's Top 10 Albums Of 1995 | work=Los Angeles Times | date=29 December 1995 | access-date=6 September 2014 | author=Boehm, Mike}} In 1996, Lutefisk performed at Lollapalooza on the indie stage.{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ogkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA21 | title=LA's Silver Lake: Fertile Bohemian Spawning Ground | work=Billboard | date=13 July 1996 | accessdate=6 September 2014 | author=Reece, Douglas | pages=21}}
They released their second and final album, Burn in Hell Fuckers, on the same label in 1997. Its name derives from a phrase the band's frontman wrote on the wall of their recording studio after it was robbed, in hopes it might scare away the burglars if they returned.{{cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-03-07-ca-35639-story.html | title=Times Good for the Noise in the Band | work=Los Angeles Times | date=7 March 1997 | access-date=6 September 2014 | author=Boehm, Mike}} Lutefisk recorded Burn in Hell Fuckers on a four-track, which they wore out during the album's production.{{cite web | url=http://dailybruin.com/1997/05/07/lutefisk-adds-an-extra-fisk-fo/ | title=Lutefisk adds an extra 'fisk' for their fans in live shows | work=Daily Bruin | date=7 May 1997 | accessdate=6 September 2014 | author=Vander Zanden, Vanessa}} It received mixed reviews from critics, particularly pertaining to the band's cover of Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music". Critics who wrote favorably of the cover included Steven Mirkin, who praised the cover as "near perfect",{{cite web | url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,286800,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090421171419/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,286800,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=April 21, 2009 | title=Burn in Hell F---ers! | work=Entertainment Weekly | date=14 February 1997 | accessdate=6 September 2014 | author=Mirkin, Steven}} and Curtis Bonney, who wrote that it "plunges into the radioactive whirlpool and comes out mangled, nearly (and hilariously) unidentifiable."{{cite web | url=http://www.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/recordings/Content?oid=2134095 | title=Recordings | work=SF Weekly | date=2 April 1997 | accessdate=6 September 2014 | author=Bonney, Curtis}} Conversely, Randy Roberts said the band's decision to cover it "makes one question the band's musical judgment from the first note to the last."{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DS0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA36 | title=Burn in Hell Fuckers! | work=CMJ | date=February 1997 | accessdate=6 September 2014 | author=Roberts, Randy}} The album was awarded a three-star rating by Jeff Salamon, who described the album's sound as "a cross between the Grifters and Frank Zappa".{{cite web | url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/music/1997-03-14/527590/ | title=Record Reviews | work=Austin Chronicle | date=14 March 1997 | accessdate=7 September 2014 | author=Salamon, Jeff}}
The August 2009 issue of SPIN included Lutefisk in their article "SPIN's 100 Greatest Bands You've Probably Never Heard Of".{{Cite magazine |last=Eddy |first=Chuck |author-link=Chuck Eddy |orig-year=2009 |title=Unsung: the 100 greatest bands you've (probably) never heard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xGaz0_gZPzIC&pg=PA72 |magazine=Spin |date=August 2009 |publication-date=2009-08-01 |volume=25 |issue=8 |pages=72–3}}
Discography
- Deliver from Porcelain: Theme and Variations (Bong Load Custom, 1995)
- Burn in Hell Fuckers (Bong Load Custom, 1997)
- This Is Where The Stars Are (A&M Records, 1997, unreleased)