Butterfly Joe is both a man (former Dead Milkmen leader Joe Genaro) and his band, which is a gang of merry men compiled from the best of the Philly indie scene. After the breakup of the Dead Milkmen in 1995, Genaro pulled together a group consisting of his former bandmate, drummer Dean Sabatino, and Big Mess Cabaret Orchestra members Andy Bresnan a multi-multi instrumentalist and former member of Baby Flamehead) and bassist Joe Quigley (who also toured with Lisa Loeb). A marimba player, Randy Rudolph, was around for a few shows, but tired quickly of lugging his marimbas up multiple flights of stairs for almost no money. The material for their shows was mined from a series of self-produced cassette "albums" that Genaro made at home from 1984 to 1995 with titles like I See Weasels, Halvin' My Baby and The Bland Years. In May of 1999, their first self-titled recording was released by Razler Records, by the beginning of the next year the album had been picked up for distribution by WEA. ~ Stacia Proefrock