THE GURUS OF GARAGE GRUNGE CELEBRATE 46 YEARS OF FUZZ & FURY!
More than any other band, it’s The Fuzztones who are responsible for initiating the Garage Movement that began in the '80s and continues to this day. Their fiery brand of Garage-Psych Punk pre-dated the entire "Garage Revival" of the 1980s and has influenced hundreds of groups, from The Hives to The Horrors. Born in the summer of 1980 in the bowels of NYC's Lower East Side, The Fuzztones were soon regulars at legendary NYC hotspots such as CBGB, and the Mudd Club. By utilizing the fuzzbox (an antiquated effects pedal used by many 60s groups to achieve overly distorted "psychedelic" guitar sounds), the band created a raunchy sound they referred to as "Grunge"...(On their 1984 debut single, "Bad News Travels Fast,” lead guitarist Elan Portnoy is credited as playing "lead grunge,” at least a decade before the Seattle Grunge Invasion), and the band was nicknamed "The Gurus of Garage Grunge." Donning paisley and leather attire, genuine human bone necklaces, skin-tight black jeans, black leather biker vests with the famous Fuzztones’ skull and crossed Vox Phantom guitar logo) and Beatle boots, The Fuzztones influenced the fashions of musicians as diverse as the Hoodoo Gurus (who also modified the Fuzztones infamous logo for use on one of their album covers) to Ian Astbury and Marc Almond (who aped The Fuzztones by wearing black turtlenecks with bone necklaces) to the Dwarves, whose X-rated logo was stolen from the Fuzztones "Lysergic Ejaculations" cover. Mudhoney member Mark Arm has cited frontman Rudi Protrudi as a main influence. German superstars Die Artze even sport Fuzztones t-shirts in their promo photos, as do platinum-selling Finnish rockers, 69 Eyes. The band's classic video for "Ward 81" even inspired the legendary Ramones, whose "Psychotherapy" video copies several scenes directly from the Fuzztones' masterpiece, as did the glitter-rock docu-film "Velvet Goldmine"!
The band's first European tour in 1985 - a 3 month onslaught of England, Wales, Scotland, Germany and Italy - firmly established the band with a dedicated, and avid following that continues to this day! Their 1985 debut studio LP, "Lysergic Emanations" has achieved major cult status, and has been released by 5 different labels over the last 16 years, and is currently enjoying it's sixth resurgence on Germany's Houndgawd label.

The Fuzztones have toured Europe fervently since 1985, and have headlined major venues in Italy, Spain, Greece, France, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Wales, Scotland, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Portugal, Denmark and Finland, as well as Canada, Israel, Prague, Serbia, Croatia and Mexico. They have appeared on over 80 vinyl and CD releases, including at least 15 albums, countless singles, and compilations, not to mention 5 videos, several television and radio appearances, and countless major press articles (NME, Sounds, Melody Maker, Rockerilla, Hit Parade, US,and more) and were the only band involved in the '80s "Garage Revival" to obtain a major label record deal (RCA).

In 2009 the band was featured on the iconic German TV show, Rockpalast.

In 2016 England's Easy Action label released "Psychomania," a 7 cd/1 dvd boxset as well as the entire Fuzztones back catalogue on vinyl (with the exception of "Horny As hell" and "Preaching To The Perverted").
The same year saw Germany's FanPro Publishing release Fuzztones frontman, Rudi Protrudi's long awaited autobiography, "The Fuzztone" to rave reviews.

Finally, 2016 was the year frontman Rudi Protrudi & organist Lana Loveland achieved their greatest collaboration, conceiving their daughter, Twila May. From that point on Lana has only made infrequent appearances with the band, while Nico Secondini handlies much of the touring duties.

The Fuzztones busied themselves during the 2020 lockdown by recording “NYC,” a tribute album to the city that originally spawned them and music that inspired Rudi to move there in the first place, including their very own versions of tunes by Patti Smith, Richard Hell, NY Dolls, and even Frank Sinatra’s “New York New York”!
The album was followed by their 2021 release, “Encore,” as well as Rudi’s 360+ page photo history of the band, “As Times Gone (The Lysergic Legacy of The Fuzztones)” available now from FanPro).

In 2023 Area Pirata released “The Fuzztones - Live at the Dive ’85,” and Cleopatra released “Fuzztones and Fiends,” - “A fiendishly eclectic collection of recent mixes and recordings from the kings of retro garage rock, The Fuzztones! Includes a murderer's row of legendary musical figures such as Screamin' Jay Hawkins, The Grass Roots, Ann-Margaret, Blue Cheer, Sonny Burgess and more!”

In 2024, the MIG label released “the Fuzztones live at Rockpalast 2009” CD/DVD.
The same year, Punk documentarian Danny Garcia (of “Stiv,” “Looking For Johnny,” and “The Life and Death of Brian Jones” fame) and Chip Baker Films premiered the documentary, “The Fuzztones Vs The World.”
Plans are currently underway for the release of the film on DVD, distributed by MVD Entertainment.

The current band consists of Rudi Protrudi (Lead vocals, Guitar, blues harp), Nico Secondini (organ, vocals), Pablo Rodas (bass), Marcello Salis (guitar, vocals) and Marco Rivagli (drums). Although this has basically been the same line-up of the past 9 years, Lana Loveland (organ) still performs with the band occasionally.








The group's name is derived from FuzzTone, the commercial name of a guitar distortion booster invented in 1964 and whose distinctive sound was popularized in the 1965 hit song by "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones.