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Clinton McKinnon
Background information
Birth name	Clinton McKinnon
Also known as	Bär McKinnon
Born	(1969-12-24) 24 December 1969 (age 51) Crescent City, California
Genres	Experimental, experimental rock, avant-garde, pop, rock and roll, ska punk, metal
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Saxophone, keyboards, various woodwind instruments and vocals
Years active	1986–present
Labels	Amphead (Distribution), Romero Records
Associated acts	Mr. Bungle, Secret Chiefs 3, Eyvind Kang, , UMLAUT,

Clinton "Bär" McKinnon (born 24 December 1969) is an American musician, perhaps best known for being a saxophonist in the San Francisco-based band Mr. Bungle.

Bär, pronounced "bear", is a childhood nickname, given to him by his older sisters. In 1989 Bär joined Mr. Bungle and studied music at Humboldt State University, where he met Trevor Dunn and Trey Spruance.^[1] His primary instrument is the saxophone, but he plays a number of other instruments including flute, keyboards, guitar, drums, percussion, bass and other assorted woodwinds.

He was a member of Mr. Bungle from 1989 to their disbandment in 2000, and has written and performed with Secret Chiefs 3, Dieselhed and Humboldt County hip hop/reggae/rock fusion band Lakota. He has also appeared on the Melt-Banana album Charlie, on the Carl Hancock Rux album Rux Revue, on the album , on Eyvind Kang's album The Story of Iceland and on the album One Part Thomas Edison. Bär McKinnon performs around Melbourne with his band Umläut and contributes to a remote supergroup formed in 2020 by the name of High Castle Teleorkestra.

Mr. Bungle[]

Mr Bungle's lead singer Mike Patton had by the start of the 1990s achieved success in mainstream rock and metal with his other band Faith No More, which ultimately helped secure Mr. Bungle a record deal with Warner Bros. The band released a self-titled album (produced by John Zorn) in 1991, followed by the highly surreal Disco Volante in 1995. Their third album was California. As a multi-instrumentalist, Bär provided a distinct style both as a player and songwriter, most notably on California. The album takes inspiration from Burt Bacharach and The Beach Boys, influences close to Bär's heart. The album allowed more freedom for all members of Bungle in the songwriting process. California blended lounge, pop, jazz, funk, thrash metal, Hawaiian, Middle Eastern, kecak and avant-garde music.^[2] The band did 5 tours to support this record. For the most part, perhaps with the exception of the Sno-Core 2000 tour where they were often booed, the band did have success attracting an audience.^[3][4] The main three members of Mr. Bungle (Patton, Spruance, and Dunn) reunited in 2020 to record a fourth album, which McKinnon did not take part in.^[5]

UMLAUT[]

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (September 2021)

Umlaut is an experimental progressive band based out of Melbourne, Australia. It is the culmination of years of work for McKinnon. Umlaut’s eclectic musical stylings reside in the same vein as McKinnon’s previous bands Mr. Bungle and Secret Chiefs 3- injecting an energetic and whimsical blend of pop, jazz, avant-garde metal, symphonic atmosphere and electronica into its sound.^[6]  

When Mr. Bungle officially disbanded, Bär was left with a mountain of material he had written for the band, so he decided to apply it towards a solo venture.^[6]  Many of his Umlaut bandmates found him based on his prior music affiliations.  According to McKinnon: "Melbourne is a very hip place as far as music and musicians and there’s no shortage of good musos so I’m super lucky that I ended up here, it just made the most sense. Musos sought me out, perhaps on the back of Bungle’s notoriety, I mean who knew a Mr Bungle member was living in Melbourne?”^[7]

Despite seeing many incarnations and line-up changes through the years, Umlaut has found a comfortable niche in the Melbourne music scene and continues to attract dedicated fans both locally and internationally.

The band has accompanied comedian Neil Hamburger as well as Secret Chiefs 3 on their various tours in Australia.^[6]

Band members

• Bär McKinnon- tenor sax, flute, clarinet, keyboards, guitar, lead vocals
• Angus Leslie- guitar, backing vocals, keyboards
• Olaf Scott- keyboards
• Hudson Whitlock- drums, percussion
• Julian Langdon-bass
• Shane Lieber- bass
• Gareth Thompson- drums
• John Myatt- bassoon
• Rob McDonald- vibraphone
• Pieta Hextall- bassoon

Guest performers:

• Mike Patton- vocals (2009 album track "Atlas Face")
• Matt Lieber- drums (2009 album)
• Jeff Lieber- guitar (2009 album)^[8]

Studio albums[]

Umlaut[]

Release Date: 10 October 2009 Label: Orchard

The album’s single "Atlas Face" features Mike Patton, Faith No More frontman and fellow Mr. Bungle bandmate, on lead vocals.

Review from Consequence of Sound: "Sporadic bursts of circus-themed noise. The sludgy guitar grind of heavy metal. Unpredictable blasts of horn instruments. There’s no denying the influence of Mr. Bungle in every note of Umlaut's self-titled album, and how can comparisons not be drawn when the band is the musical venture of Mr. Bungle's saxophonist Clinton "Bär" McKinnon. But though it's easy to see where McKinnon is drawing from, the Australian-based Umlaut is a wholly original project that takes a proven, experimental concept and makes it all its own".^[9]

To Your Poverty Quietly Go[]

Release Date: 29 August 2014 Label: Romero Records/ Orchard

From MusicTrust: "Unlike the many other bands that seem bent on simply reveling in mad energy generated by constantly shifting and juxtaposing interludes and sections within the one 'song', there is a much higher level of compositional delicacy at play here. It’s obvious that Umlaut has thought long and hard about what should and shouldn’t go into the cauldron. The creation of multilayered textures on 'To Your Poverty Quietly Go' is something lacking in much of the music that gets made using a similar chop and change sensibility".^[10]

Arunachala[]

Release date: 19 April 2019

Label: Romero Records.^[11]

From Romero Records: "A very festive new EP from Umlaut, the brainchild of Bär McKinnon (Mr. Bungle, Secret Chiefs 3), 'Arunachala' is equal parts circus jazz, oddball pop and melancholic soundscapes. Sonny Rollins meets Brian Wilson, Pennywise the Clown and the Easter Bunny?"^[12]

Kintsugi

Release date: 31 October 2019

Label: Romero Records

From Romero Records: "Just six months after their Easter-themed EP 'Arunachala', more new music from Umlaut... and this time it's Halloween!

Meditative and charmingly addictive forays into experimental pop from the mind of Mr Bungle saxman Bär McKinnon, with some help from Melbourne legend Angus Leslie (Sex On Toast).

'Kintsugi' is more of a vocal affair than Umlaut's previous releases, think Bungle with a bit of Beach Boys, Beatles and Badalamenti."^[13]

High Castle Teleorkestra[]

High Castle Teleorkestra (HCT) is a remote music ensemble formed during the pandemic of 2020. The group name is in reference to the work of literary great Philip K. Dick. Ensemble members have played in various ground-breaking bands such as Estradasphere,  Mr. Bungle, Farmer's Market, Umlaut, Probosci, I.S.S., Don Salsa, Secret Chiefs 3 and more, earning a status of "supergroup" for the avant-guard genre.

"Comprised of middle-aged collaborators scattered about the globe, HCT focuses on superbly-produced, pluridimensional, enigmatic recordings. HCT was initially spearheaded by a couple of working stiff dads, and recovering former professional musicians who cannot seem to shake the lure of music"^[14]

McKinnon is a stand-out member of High Castle, donating personal archives of unfinished compositions (some originally intended for use in the now defunct 1990's line-up of Mr. Bungle) towards HCT's musical arrangements. He has contributed woodwinds, keyboards and vocals to many songs thus far and his work is heavily featured on the A side of the second double-single for the band called Valisystem A.

"Valisystem A marks the first time that HCT has recorded one of Bär McKinnon’s compositions. While he initially demoed it on a cassette 4-track, with the intention to keep it sparse and minimal, we must truthfully report that this did not happen. The project has ballooned to 250+ tracks and the host barely has the CPU to render the mix. While HCT is still working out the kinks of international collaboration, with the disparate moving parts and warbly back-and-forth communications, the initial results are nonetheless stunning. This selection features the distinctive drumming of Danny Heifetz, who also tickles the shimmery vibraphone here, an impressive multi-part string section crafted by Timba Harris, the vintage guitar stylings of Chris Bogen, guest french horn and bassoonist, a hodgepodge of basses (upright, p-bass, synth bass, hollow bass), tenor sax, clarinet, flute, wild throngs of lead and background vocals by Bär, tape-saturated percussion, Tim's real grand piano, the rare Hohner Pianet N electric piano, a kooky and morphing assortment of oddball synths and lo-fi keyboards from asynchronous eras, male choir, an emotionally-moving interlude, the vague looming threat of becoming a full-blown pop song that never quite materializes, multiple unclassifiable genres, a repetitive instrumental 'chorus' that exhibits spaghetti western traits, and indescribably more. Valisystem A takes the listener on a blustering ride across the universe atop the pink beam of an ancient satellite."^[15]

Discography[]

Mr. Bungle[]

• 1988 – (demo)
• 1989 – (demo)
• 1991 – Mr. Bungle
• 1995 – Disco Volante
• 1999 – California

Secret Chiefs 3[]

• First Grand Constitution and Bylaws (1996, Amarillo Records)
• Second Grand Constitution and Bylaws: Hurqalya (1998, Amarillo Records)
• Eyes of Flesh, Eyes of Flame live album (1999, Web of Mimicry)
• Book M (2001, Web of Mimicry)
• (2000, Web of Mimicry)
• Second Grand Constitution and Bylaws: Hurqalya Remastered (2000, Web of Mimicry)

Umlaut[]

• Umlaut (self-titled) (2009)
• To Your Poverty Quietly Go (2014)
• Arunachala (2019)

High Castle Teleorkestra[]

• Ich Bin's / The Days of Blue Jeans (Deluxe Single) (2020)
• Valisystem A / Klawpeels: Mission Checkup (Deluxe Single) (2021)

Songwriting credits[]

• 1991 – Mr. Bungle
• 1995 – 'Disco Volante

1. Untitled^[16]
2. "After School Special" (words: Dunn/McKinnon/Patton, music: McKinnon) – 2:47
3. "The Bends" (music: Patton/McKinnon/Spruance) – 10:28
   1. "Man Overboard"
   2. "The Drowning Flute"
   3. "Aqua Swing"
   4. "Follow the Bubbles"
   5. "Duet for Guitar and Oxygen Tank"
   6. "Nerve Damage"
   7. "Screaming Bends"
   8. "Panic in Blue"
   9. "Love on the Event Horizon"
   10. "Re-Entry"

• 1999 – California

1. "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare" (words: Patton music: Patton/McKinnon) – 3:55
2. "Goodbye Sober Day" (words: Patton music: Patton/McKinnon) – 4:29

• 2009- Umlaut (Self-Titled) (words/ music: McKinnon)
• 2014- To Your Poverty Quietly Go (words/ music: McKinnon)
• 2019- Arunachala (words/music: McKinnon)
• 2020-"Ich Bin's" / "The Days of Blue Jeans" (Deluxe Single) (Tenor Saxophone)
• 2021- "Valisystem A" / "Klawpeels" (Deluxe Single) (Composer; Co-Producer and Co-Arranger; Lead and Background Vocals, Tenor Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet, Multiple Synthesizers and Keyboards)

Guest appearances[]

• – (1998)
• Carl Hancock Rux – Rux Revue (1998)
• Melt-Banana – Charlie (1998) (with Mr. Bungle)
• Eyvind Kang – The Story of Iceland [Tzadik] (2000)
• –
• – Lakota (1994)
• The Ribbon Device – Saturation Day (2006)
• – "" [Anon Islet Records] (2011)
• Twelve Foot Ninja – Silent Machine (2012)

References[]