Hey, Stagger! (You drunken stoned freak!)
I checked out your vegetable-contraband site. You guys are f**king weird. I like it. I laughed my ass off (which kind of messed up my chair). And that was before I even listened to any songs! I dug the tunes, too. Especially the ones on the "Johnny Stagger" album. I like "Ballad of J.S.," "I'm Gonna Be on Cops," and "Goth Queen" (funny sh*t!), but my absolute favorite is "Brain Lobotomy." Very catchy tune that stayed in my cranium for several minutes after listening to it, until, due to damaged brain cells, it slowly faded into a dull distant throb. I can give you my address to send a couple extra discs, which I will present at the next 4:20 Records meeting. No zucchini pipe-bombs, though, please. Although, perhaps a zucchini pipe-bong might be in order. Hey, there's an idea! Have you guys made a bong out of a zucchini yet? I wouldn't put it past you at all. Well, take'r easy, you Rutle-huggin' looney.

"the second release from local band Illegal Zucchini – "the legend of Johnny Stagger" is like floating on an inner tube into a cartoon city – peopled by old friends dressed in indifference and cruising around the little animated village on beer bubbles… the wicked little mr. stagger is a guise changing rollercoaster – rolling past the past – reflecting on lost love – and reinstalled just in time… and at the other end of this eclectic spectrum – there's the "novelty" tunes… imagine if Lee Perry was born in Alabama – instead of Jamaica – then the oddity of country meets bizarro-land sampling "i'm gonna be on cops" might start making a little more sense. luckily for modern music – it doesn't… what makes the track for me are the mandolins that shouldn't fit over left of center production – but they do… what's expected from track to track – isn't what you get from track to track…
the curveball, no set structure, twists and odd turns are what make this disc an album – not a collection of singles… the shining moments are the good-time-you-didn't-see-coming-tunes like "beneath the tree"… imagine a smoked-out Elvis impersonator serenading his lady friend while packing a bowl with a songbird on his shoulder… Husker Du-ish riffs and solos put chills on the spine of the inwardly reflecting "mother, i can't call you mom"… the vocals hit the target in the center – when they aim at the what-seem-to-be-painful lyrics… but the pain is transformed to optimism through the soaring, almost visceral guitars… instead of a bummer-trip end to the ride – there's more of a feeling of just keepin' keepin' on… and reflecting over the past, not being held back by it…"

Illegal Zucchini’s CD "Candy Bubbles" was recognized in Cincinnati City Beat in the category of "The Best of The Rest". (www.citybeat.com).

"Illegal Zucchini are like Guided By Voices in that they're from Ohio and they sing with British accents. They also play a derivative of the same mid-1960s Beatles stuff (but much cleaner than GBV's version) with songs about sunlight and happiness instead of songs about being a forty-year-old heavy drinker who lives alone."