Here's something you might be interested in.
Billing themselves as the "Jesters of Rock,” Collage Menage has gone through around two dozen members since forming in 1988, with identical twins Hans and Fritz Jensen as the sole constant core. “To fit in with this band, you definitely have to have a strong stage presence and be part of a whole elaborate show,” says Fritz. “It’s like Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd [and] Kiss, but with a sense of humor. We dress up from head to toe, we have props, TV screens and videos we shoot for all our songs…sometimes we wear a different hat for every tune. It’s just as important to fit in visually as it is to fit in musically.”
“We build our stage sets and we make and hand-paint the costumes ourselves,” says singer Hans. “There’s a lot of cardboard, foam rubber, Elmer’s glue, spray paint, and duct tape…we’re going for an elaborate look with a very low-tech budget.”
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/13/47381/
The Jensen twins recently shot their own full-length Batman fan film, with Fritz and his son as the dynamic duo Batman and Robin, and Hans as the Riddler (playing it up like a cross between the Jim Carrey AND Frank Gorshin incarnations).
Other family members and friends take on the roles of Harley Quinn, Catwoman, Commissioner Gordon, and an extra-demented Joker cut from the crazy quilt established by the late Heath Ledger (albeit far less homicidal - the Bat-flick is billed as "family friendly," after all).
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/13/47382/
Clocking in at an hour and twenty minutes, the film is full of colorful costumes and handmade sets, not to mention several props familiar to anyone who's caught College Menage's mini-Pink-Floydian prop-heavy performances. With soundtrack music by Dennis Batis, and sound effects and sound editing by Ed Cormier (using MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 17 Plus), there are even miniatures and models on display, especially in scenes of the Batmobile taking off from the secret Bat-Cave and racing through the streets of mini-Gotham.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/13/47387/
Collage Menage has self-released several CDs. "The band formed in 1988 for St. Patrick's Day," Fritz tells the Reader. "We did a show at Party Central Avenue. Now it's Hywy 15 and El Cajon Boulevard. We played a yard party and got our first sound permit for the show, a couple of kegs of beer, and we set up a big stage with drum riser and lights. We jumped from the risers and knocked our guitars out of tune all night."
They promote their shows and CDs with their own handmade stickers that they and friends affix all over town. "I put them on cigarette machines in bars and on public trash cans, video game consoles, power poles, places like that," says singer Hans Jensen. "Or someplace where somebody else has already stickered." The group gives out band stickers at their shows.
"[The band's original paper labels] were indestructible and would stick so hard that, to peel them up, you had to shred them with a razor," says Hans. "Then we'd get in trouble when some idiot would stick it on someone's Rolls-Royce."
Several years ago, according to Hans, somebody stuck one of the Collage Menage stickers on a prize-winning pig at the Del Mar Fair. "We were supposed to play there and didn't know anything about the sticker.... They banned us from ever appearing at the fair."
The stickers now passed out by the band are manufactured on easy-to-peel plastic. The most videogenic band in SD - http://www.youtube.com/user/collagemenage has a newly compiled collection of all 19 of their handmade MTV-quality videos.
You can watch the entire Batman fan film below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtgsNFfYXJY
Billing themselves as the "Jesters of Rock,” Collage Menage has gone through around two dozen members since forming in 1988, with identical twins Hans and Fritz Jensen as the sole constant core. “To fit in with this band, you definitely have to have a strong stage presence and be part of a whole elaborate show,” says Fritz. “It’s like Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd [and] Kiss, but with a sense of humor. We dress up from head to toe, we have props, TV screens and videos we shoot for all our songs…sometimes we wear a different hat for every tune. It’s just as important to fit in visually as it is to fit in musically.”
“We build our stage sets and we make and hand-paint the costumes ourselves,” says singer Hans. “There’s a lot of cardboard, foam rubber, Elmer’s glue, spray paint, and duct tape…we’re going for an elaborate look with a very low-tech budget.”
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/13/47381/
The Jensen twins recently shot their own full-length Batman fan film, with Fritz and his son as the dynamic duo Batman and Robin, and Hans as the Riddler (playing it up like a cross between the Jim Carrey AND Frank Gorshin incarnations).
Other family members and friends take on the roles of Harley Quinn, Catwoman, Commissioner Gordon, and an extra-demented Joker cut from the crazy quilt established by the late Heath Ledger (albeit far less homicidal - the Bat-flick is billed as "family friendly," after all).
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/13/47382/
Clocking in at an hour and twenty minutes, the film is full of colorful costumes and handmade sets, not to mention several props familiar to anyone who's caught College Menage's mini-Pink-Floydian prop-heavy performances. With soundtrack music by Dennis Batis, and sound effects and sound editing by Ed Cormier (using MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 17 Plus), there are even miniatures and models on display, especially in scenes of the Batmobile taking off from the secret Bat-Cave and racing through the streets of mini-Gotham.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/13/47387/
Collage Menage has self-released several CDs. "The band formed in 1988 for St. Patrick's Day," Fritz tells the Reader. "We did a show at Party Central Avenue. Now it's Hywy 15 and El Cajon Boulevard. We played a yard party and got our first sound permit for the show, a couple of kegs of beer, and we set up a big stage with drum riser and lights. We jumped from the risers and knocked our guitars out of tune all night."
They promote their shows and CDs with their own handmade stickers that they and friends affix all over town. "I put them on cigarette machines in bars and on public trash cans, video game consoles, power poles, places like that," says singer Hans Jensen. "Or someplace where somebody else has already stickered." The group gives out band stickers at their shows.
"[The band's original paper labels] were indestructible and would stick so hard that, to peel them up, you had to shred them with a razor," says Hans. "Then we'd get in trouble when some idiot would stick it on someone's Rolls-Royce."
Several years ago, according to Hans, somebody stuck one of the Collage Menage stickers on a prize-winning pig at the Del Mar Fair. "We were supposed to play there and didn't know anything about the sticker.... They banned us from ever appearing at the fair."
The stickers now passed out by the band are manufactured on easy-to-peel plastic. The most videogenic band in SD - http://www.youtube.com/user/collagemenage has a newly compiled collection of all 19 of their handmade MTV-quality videos.
You can watch the entire Batman fan film below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtgsNFfYXJY