Gregg Turkington

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Gregg Turkington performing as Neil Hamburger in Portland, Oregon
Gregg Turkington performing as Neil Hamburger in Portland, Oregon

San Francisco artist Gregg Turkington (born November 25, 1967 in Darwin, Australia) rose to prominence in the mid-1980s as the co-publisher of underground zine Breakfast Without Meat, which brought punk respectability to “square” musical artists such as Tiny Tim, Jimmy Webb, the 101 Strings and Richard Harris through feature articles. A frequent contributor was Derrick Bostrom of the Meat Puppets. In the 1980's, Turkington also performed in obscure San Francisco bands such as Hello Kitty On Ice, Bean Church, and was rumoured to have been a founding member of Caroliner.

In the early 1990s Turkington operated the Amarillo Records label that released works by many artists from San Francisco’s burgeoning post-punk avant-garde music scene. He was a member of the Totem Pole of Losers and the Zip Code Rapists (with John Singer). He collaborated with Trey Spruance (Mr. Bungle) in the Three Doctors, Faxed Head, the Secret Chiefs 3 and the Bon Larvis Band. Many of these bands appeared on the landmark representative Amarillo Records 1996 compilation CD You Gan’t Boar Like An Eabla When You Work With Turkrys along with other seminal experimental acts like Sun City Girls, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, U.S. Saucer, Harvey Sid Fisher, Dieselhed and Church of Satan founder Anton Szandor LaVey. He was also a tour manager for both Link Wray and Mr. Bungle.

By the late 1990s Turkington had abandoned Amarillo Records and all of his musical projects and moved to Melbourne, Australia. Since then, he has written the book Warm Voices Rearranged: Anagram Record Reviews with fellow Three Doctors alumnus Brandan Kearney (of World of Pooh, Caroliner, and Archipelago Brewing Co). He was also a contributing editor to the British version of Maxim magazine in 2005-2006.

Gregg is now best known as producing comedian Neil Hamburger, “America’s Funnyman.” He started off recording prank phone calls to comedy clubs and pizza parlors but ended up developing a full-figured character comedian. His pacing is off, and he clears his throat non-stop through his entire routine, which is all part of the ultimate goal: to be the world's worst stand-up comedian. Neil's unique brand of comedy has thrilled, perplexed and repulsed audiences worldwide. Turkington is rarely - if ever - seen in public not as Hamburger. Since 1998 he has released a number of records on the Drag City record label. Recently he has appeared on the TV shows, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Tom Green Live, and in the short film, Left For Dead In Malaysia. In 2005 and 2006, after 10 years of inactivity, his crazed musical duo Zip Code Rapists began doing sporadic shows again, playing shows in San Francisco and Minneapolis, Toronto, and Montreal.

Turkington was born November 25, 1967 in Darwin, Australia and grew up in Tempe, Arizona. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his Australian wife, Simone Turkington.

[edit] Discography

  • The Easy Goings - The Easy Goings - Bee-Fast 1989
  • Great Phone Calls - Amarillo 1992
  • Zip Code Rapists - Sing And Play The Three Doctors Amarillo 1992
  • Zip Code Rapists - The Man Can't Bust Our Music! EP Ectoplasm 1993
  • The Easy Goings - Cigarettes - Nuf Sed 1993
  • Totem Pole of Losers - Amarillo 1993
  • Zip Code Rapists - Sing And Play The Madator Records Catalog EP Ecstatic Piss 1994
  • Three Doctors - Back To Basics-"Live" Amarillo 1994
  • Three Doctors - Archaeology Of The Infinite Amarillo 1995
  • Zip Code Rapists - 94124 EP Amarillo 1995
  • Faxed Head - Uncomfortable But Free Amarillo 1995
  • Zip Code Rapists - Live "In Competence" Beast 666
  • Neil Hamburger - America's Funnyman Drag City 1996
  • Faxed Head - Exhumed At Birth Amarillo 1997
  • Neil Hamburger - Raw Hamburger Drag City 1998
  • Neil Hamburger - Left for Dead in Malaysia Drag City 1999
  • Neil Hamburger - Inside Neil Hamburger (EP) Drag City 2000
  • Neil Hamburger - Fifty States, Fifty Laughs Million Dollar Performances 2000
  • Faxed Head - Chiropractic Web of Mimicry 2001
  • Neil Hamburger - Laugh Out Lord Drag City 2002
  • Neil Hamburger - Live at Phoenix Greyhound Park DVD Kung Fu 2003
  • Zip Code Rapists - Here At Last... Live!!! Freedom From 2005
  • Neil Hamburger - Great Moments At Di Presa's Pizza House Drag City 2005
  • Neil Hamburger - The World's Funnyman DVD Drag City 2005
  • The Golding Institute - Final Relaxation Ipecac 2006

[edit] External links

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