Your very own, Zug Izland
Welcome, welcome, Zug Izland
Welcome, welcome, Zug Izland
Zug Izland is an American Rock band, best known as being the Rock band that was formed by one of the members of Insane Clown Posse.
Zug Izland was originally formed by Violent J of ICP and Mike Puwal while writing The Wraith: Shangri-La. J loves Rock music and wanted to know how a "Juggalo Rock band" would sound like. They have described their music as "an exploration of imperfect human morality brought forth through the imagery of a pure fantasy". The band's name comes from the now-closed toxic industrial island of Zug Island, which plays a heavy part in their music, mostly their debut album.
To start, J wrote some lyrics and Puwal located some talented local musicians who were willing to join such a band. After some recording had gone by, J and Mike basically realized that J should stick to rapping instead of singing. So, the band had to find a new singer: Syn. Syn was perfect for the band, with a vocal style comparable to not only Eddie Vedder, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison and Axl Rose, but Violent J himself, except with a wider range. With a full-time singer in town, Zug Izland completed their first album, named Cracked Tiles with lyrics written by Violent J. The title of the album, in fact, held personal significance to J — when he was a kid, girls would warn each other not to step on a crack, or they'd have to "kiss the Bruce brothers", essentially dissing J and his brother Rob.
The album was successful enough to warrant Psychopathic Records founding a rock sub-label called Ax & Smash Records, intending to seek out other talented rock bands that would appeal to not only Juggalos but rock fans outside of ICP's fan culture so they didn't have to have a metaphorical sign on it that said "WE APPEAL TO JUGGALOS" for the mainstream. Syn and Mike wrote their second album, 3:33, entirely on their own, and even had a reasonably budgeted music video for the album's single, "Saved". Said music video would be nominated in the 2004 Detroit Music Awards for Best Music Video (Small Budget). The name of the album came from when they found out that most of the songs they recorded for the album were around that length. However, Zug Izland left Ax & Smash, and the sub-label was abandoned. They then left Psychopathic Records some time later, due to it being hard to find tours on a rap label.
Now recording independently and without any involvement from ICP, Zug Izland intended to release a third album, an EP, called The Promised Land but several of the tracks were leaked online and the band just decided to release the rest of the album on their myspace and laying low for several years. Even underground rock fans and Juggalos didn't know what they were up to. Until 2012, when the band appeared at the Gathering of the Juggalos and announced that not only would Cracked Tiles be reissued, with bonus tracks, (it's unknown if it ever even WAS reiussed, though it's speculated this reissue was just Toxicology) to commemorate it's 10th anniversary, but that Zug Izland had resigned to Psychopathic, and ICP would be writing lyrics for a new Zug Izland album. They proceeded to release a Greatest Hits Album, named Toxicology: Zug Izland's Dopest Hits.
It didn't really last long though, as even with promises of new albums and more music videos, Zug Izland fell off of Psychopathic once again for unspecified reasons. In 2016, we would finally see an official, independent release for The Promised Land in the form of The Promised Land / Nebula, an album which contained tracks from The Promised Land album years ago, and plenty of remixes of past songs. Syn would release a video in promotion of the album, a music video for the song "Promised Land", as well as stating that the group planned to drop 4 of these kinds of albums.
Lineup:
Current:- Syn (2001-2009; 2012-Present): Lead vocalist, writer and producer
- Mike Puwal (2001-2004; 2018-Present): Guitarist, writer, producer and secondary vocalist
- 2 Phat (2005-2009; 2018-Present): Drummer
Former:
- Guido Milligan (2001-2002, 2004): Bassist
- Rex Hamiltion (2004-2007): Bassist
- Dan Miller (2003-2004): Keyboardist
- Lil' Pig (2001-2004; 2012-2017): Drummer
- Joey V (2007-2009; 2012): Guitarist
- Nestor Hendricks (2003): Bassist
- Violent J (Pre-Cracked Tiles recordings): Vocalist and writer
Discography:
- Cracked Tiles (2003)
- 3:33 (2004)
- Toxicology: Zug Izland's Dopest Hits (2013)
- The Promised Land / Nebula (2016)
- The Promised Land / Event Horizon (2018)
Hey there troper, how's your life?
- Accentuate the Negative: In "Fire":
- Album Title Drop: While not being a song on the album, the "Syn Will Find You" skit namedrops Cracked Tiles.
- Album Intro Track: Cracked Tiles and Toxicology contain one, both of which repeat the same lines used at the top of this page.
- Alternate Album Cover: Not quite an album, but there is an alternate cover art for the single of "Cry" that depicts the band on a bridge.
- Audience Participation Song: Often, when playing "Sunny Day" live, Syn will call upon the audience to sing "Just you, for you".
- Bilingual Bonus: In "Dreams" a girl can be heard in the intro and bridge talking in French, talking about how anything is possible in dreams, like the Dark Carnival.
- B-Side: "Sunny Day" on the Fire single.
- Bowdlerise: Played for Laughs in "So Perfect": Mike Puwal intentionally cuts his verse short from getting too rowdy because his mom might hear the record.
- Call-Back: Syn's song that he sings in the skit at the end of "Promised Land" would later become a real song, with a feature from Sewerside.
- Careful with That Axe: "SAID IT'S YOU WHO COMMITTED SUICIIIIIIDE!!"
- Clip Show: The music video for "Promised Land" consists of various protests and clips of the band's live performances.
- Cover Version: "Cry", "Another Brick In The Wall", "Not For You"', and "Twilight Zone". The band also usually starts their live shows with "War Pigs".
- Digital Piracy Is Evil: Downplayed. A lot of the content from the Promised Land albums were leaked online and the band just decided to give them out for free as downloads on myspace, before going on a long hiatus.
- Drugs Are Bad: "Days From My Life" has themes of anti-addiction.
- Editorial Synaesthesia: "Fly" and "Dreams" imagine vivid scenery, from China's mystic forests to being lost in an exit-less maze.
- Establishing Series Moment: "Fire" serves as an introductory song to the band.
- Fanservice: The music video for "Saved" is one half of the band playing and the other half being half-naked women.
- The thumbnail for "Promised Land"'s music video features an almost barely nude woman, covered up by Donald Trump.
- Free-Handed Performer: Syn, who leaves guitar duties to Mike Puwal.
- Friendship Song: A common theme in their music, seen in "Always" and "Feel".
- Subverted in "Idiot", which talks about how great of a leader "you" are, before admitting that "you're just an idiot"
- Greatest Hits Album: Toxicology, which mostly contains tracks from Cracked Tiles. Justified, as it was released to commemorate the album's 10th anniversary.
- Hidden Track: In 3:33, after "Live" ends, there is a "track 13" which is simply an unnamed track that is 5 seconds of total silence before going into the hidden track, a remix of "Virgo's Tale". On streaming services this unnamed track is given the name "Interlude" and physical releases have it unlisted on the back of the CD, simply skipping from "12. Live" to "14. Virgo's Tale (Remix)".
- Hypocritical Humor: The skit at the end of "Synplicity" and "Sunny Day (Lucas Larry Jesus Pieces Remix)" has Syn constantly contradicting himself.
(Known by none?)
By many!
- Idiosyncratic Cover Art: The Promised Land albums seem to have a space theme going on.
- Indecipherable Lyrics: In "Sunny Day" you can hear somebody rambling about something in the background, which is very hard to hear. The lyric site Genius has attempted to figure out these lines being spoken, to varying degrees of success.
- Kids Rock: The "ay, ay" in the chorus of "Promised Land" is done by a chorus of kids.
- Loudness War: The final minute and a half of "Sunny Day" crams the loud solo, the chorus lyrics, the incoherent rambling, and the repeated usage of "yeah" into one level of sound.
- Miniscule Rocking: "SLAM!" is the group's shortest song, clocking in at 1:56 and one of their few songs that isn't three or four minutes long.
- Motor Mouth: Violent J in his verse in "Fire".
- The random woman who talks between the interludes of "Sunny Day" gets progressively sped up each time.
- Music Is Politics: Mike Puwal has stated the Promised Land albums are about the band's experience with Psychopathic Records.
- Mythology Gag: In "So Perfect", Mike's verse contains a sample of "Juggalo Homies", a song that he also produced on an album that Zug Izland played a huge part in.
- New Sound Album: 3:33 provides a lighter and more radio-friendly sound for the group to play on. The Promised Land albums also contain some electronics.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Syn's real name is one of the best kept secrets among Psychopathic Records.
- Performance Video: The music video for "Saved" simply has the band performing on a stage, along with random cuts of half-naked women.
- Piss-Take Rap: Syn has said that while he's a good singer, when it comes to rapping he "rap[s] like Danny K", who was a Michigan local rapper known as a joke to everybody there.
- The Promised Land: "Promised Land" is about how the band was led to believe Psychopathic Records was their "promised land" but turned out to have been a lie.
- Rape as Backstory: An interview with Syn shows that his character in "Prison Song" killed his mother because of this.
- Rearrange the Song: "Idiot" uses the same riffs and song structure as a song from the previous album, the song in question being "Life".
- Record Producer: Mike Puwal, who has been the only consistent producer throughout the band's history. Syn occasionally gets into this as well.
- Recycled Lyrics: The skit in the remix of "Sunny Day" is the exact same as the one from "Synplicity". There is 0 difference between the two.
- Repurposed Pop Song: "Fire" and "Sunny Day" are used in the soundtrack to the game Backyard Wrestling: Don't Try This At Home.
- Re-release the Song: "Licks Of Flames" from Toxicology would appear again in Nebula.
- Both "We Live" and "Y" originally appeared on ''Psychopathics from Outer Space 2'' and were re-released for 3:33.
- Revolving Door Band: The band has gone through several members in it's span. Originally just comprised of Syn, Mike, Guido, Dan, and Lil' Pig, and the only members to have stayed since it's founding were Syn and Mike. Dan and Guido (RIP) were the first to leave, with Guido being replaced with Nestor Hendricks, only to be replaced by Guido a year later. Lil' Pig left after the release of 3:33 and was replaced by 2 Phat. It has been pretty inconsistent from there and only features Syn, Mike, and 2 Phat.
- Rock Trio: What the band has consisted of since 2004.
- Sexy Packaging: The music video's thumbnail for "Promised Land" has an entirely nude woman covered up by Donald Trump. Neither of these two appear in the actual video.
- Shout-Out:
- In "Hiroshima", Syn states that "I love Dark Lotus, and she loves The Cure"
- Also from "Hiroshima": "SHE DON'T LIKE THE ROCK!!"
- The band also have several references to the Insane Clown Posse.
- In "Cry" Syn makes a few references to Joker Card characters from the group's Joker Card mythology. A given, considering the album was written by Violent J.
- Syn talks about him and some other lady being in Hell's Pit in "Days From My Life".
- "We Live" mentions living in Shangri-La.
- Sophisticated as Hell: From "Life":"Yesterday's a memory, tomorrow is a visionBut today, it's a bitch.."
- Step Up to the Microphone: Mike Puwal finally gets a shot at his own verse in "So Perfect".
- Studio Chatter: Can be heard at the end of the remix of "Everything" in Nebula.
- Thanking the Viewer: To celebrate 20 years of the release of Cracked Tiles, Syn sung "Always" for the audience
. Mike P. also did this around the same time, with his video having him do the riffs for "Prison Song" and "Juggalo Homies" at the start and end respectively. - Surprisingly Gentle Song: "Always" and "Feel" are much softer songs than the albums they're from. They don't feature much guitar and are lighter, being about friendship.
- The End of the World as We Know It: "Licks Of Flames" has lyrics about the world ending and living the fun of it.
- The Not-Remix: The remixes of "Saved" and "Y" in Toxicology aren't really remixes as much as they are remasters.
- Unreplaced Departed: After leaving, there has not been a single replacement for Dan Miller as keyboardist.
- Unplugged Version: The acoustic version of "Cry" in Nebula.
- There also exists an acoustic version of "Prison Song" that was handed out as a free download on the band's site.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: Zug IZland.
- SYn.
