El Magnifico

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El Magnifico
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, CA
Years active	1992 – 1994
Genre(s)	Alternative rock
Label(s)	RCA Records
Former Members
John Chase Johnny Lonely Jon Pikus Patrick Hildebrand

El Magnifico was a Los Angeles-based alternative rock band in the early 1990s. The band often played small rock clubs in and around LA with Weezer.

Weezer connections

El Magnifico was one of Weezer's most frequent collaborators in their pre-Geffen Records years. The bands played at least 8 independent shows together around Los Angeles. According to Weezer historian Karl Koch, the two groups saw themselves as like-minded bands striving to differentiate themselves from the prevailing musical trends on the Sunset Strip at the time. Koch described El Magnifico's sound as "sorta like Janes Addiction but stranger and noisier." In describing the bill of a June 1993 show that Weezer and El Magnifico shared, Koch said:

See Historic event: 06/07/1993

This would mark one of the rare BMF [ Black Market Flowers ]/Weezer/El Mag team ups, 3 bands, who along with Wax defined the mini-scene that weezer was a part of then, trying to forge a non-hair band -yet- non-grunge scene. - Karl Koch

As noted above, Weezer often referred to the band as "El Mag."

Studio work

See Weezer's third demo

El Magnifico drummer Jon Pikus was chosen to engineer Weezer's third demo, an independently produced, five-song cassette tape that proved essential in their eventual signing to Geffen. As Koch described, Pikus was "a capable but still learning engineer, and the tape, while being the best-yet representation of the band, was still flawed by some sonic strangeness, such as a snare drum that sounded kinda like a tennis ball hitting a racket."

For recording his parts on Weezer (The Blue Album), founding Weezer bassist Matt Sharp used a bass gifted him by El Magnifico bassist Johnny Lonely.

Shows played with Weezer

Date	City	Venue	Other band(s)	Bootleg(s)	Concert	Source
March 19, 1992	West Hollywood, CA	Club Dump	Black Market Flowers, Further, and Swirl	Videotaped, not circulating	Weezer concert: 08/20/1992
October 5, 1992	Los Angeles, CA	Club Lingerie	Black Market Flowers, Trancendental Hayride, Big Elf		Weezer concert: 10/05/1992
October 27, 1992	Los Angeles, CA	Coconut Teaszer	Sugartooth, Holy Water		Weezer concert: 10/27/1992
November 12, 1992	West Hollywood, CA	Club Dump	Monkey Paw, Joyride, and Silvertrain		Weezer concert: 11/12/1992
November 21, 1992	Santa Monica, CA	The Alligator Lounge	Joyride, Crux, Black Market Flowers, Missing Honey, Boys Named Sue, Silvertrain, Fast Eddie Lee, "DJ Cock"		Weezer concert: 11/21/1992
March 25, 1993	West Hollywood, CA	Club Dump			Weezer concert: 03/25/1993
April 29, 1993	West Hollywood, CA	Club Dump	Methadone Cocktail, that dog., 12 And Counting	Recorded by Karl Koch, not circulating	Weezer concert: 04/29/1993
June 7, 1993	Los Angeles, CA	Club Lingerie	Black Market Flowers	Recorded by Karl Koch, not circulating	Weezer concert: 06/07/1993

Discography

Albums

• Insanimo Blastimo - 1994 (RCA)

Singles

• "Hooray / Mindset" - 1993 (Red Planet Records)
• "Buzzkill" - 1994 (RCA)

Demos

• El Magnifico c. 1993 (Self-released)

Members

• John Chase - guitar, vocals
• Johnny Lonely - bass
• Jon Pikus - drums, production
• Patrick Hildebrand - guitar, vocals

See also

• Wax
• Black Market Flowers

External links

• El Magnifico at Discogs
• El Magnifico at AllMusic
• Jon Pikus's official website, discography page