Developed for amusement in the early '90s, the band was the demented brainchild of Russell Porter and Ed "the Creep" Rancourt, who began writing songs using a toy guitar with a built-in speaker and a voice-altering microphone. Recording to a four-track, the duo began demoing material under the moniker Warthog 2001UK. When they were able to secure opening slots in Austin's scummiest dives, Porter was handling both vocals and drums.

After an incident with security at Austin's famed Emo's nightclub in 1992 in which Porter tried to retrieve his wife from within the club after hours, he went home and sticker-taped the words "Fuck Emos" on his kick drum. The next morning, Warthog 2001UK became the Fuckemos. A simple story. Shortly after, Porter began handling vocals, trombone, and Casio exclusively, handing the drum reins to Sean Powell. Catching the ears of local pop artist Frank Kozik, the band recorded its first album, Fuckemos Can Kill You, in 1994, through Kozik's Rise Records (reissued via Man's Ruin in 1999).

Fuckemos

The Fuckemos mixed slurred, druggy detachment with punk rock irreverence and undeniably catchy songwriting to become one of the most unlikely Red River-bred success stories of Austin's early 1990s. Initially formed in 1991 as Warthog 2000, the Fuckemos moniker took hold a year later when vocalist/keyboardist/trombonist Russell Porter was unceremoniously kicked out of Emo's. According to Porter, at least 16 people played in the Fuckemos during the band's decadelong lifespan. After Porter, guitarist Ed Rancourt and drummer Sean Powell were the most consistent members. The oft-rotating bass chair was filled by Mike Belyea (Unicorn Magic), Marc Fort (Bo Bud Greene), Brent Prager (Cherubs), Arman Mabry (Hamicks), and Wade Longenburger (Squat Thrust), among others. The group first achieved local renown in 1993 with a free cassette they handed out around town. Their sing-along ditties about pedophilia, impotence, gay sailors, and Nazis were made even more depraved by Porter's demonic pitch-shifted vocals. In an ironic twist, the band became one of the most popular selections on Emo's jukebox by year's end. Rise Records reissued the band's first cassette as Fuckemos Can Kill You in 1994. Two years later, Hi. What Stupid Band Are You In? spewed forth the fist-pumping regurgitation anthem "Barf Baby" as well as an improbable cover of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." In 1999, Porter co-starred in Bob Ray's Rock Opera, a celluloid portrayal of Austin's low-rent punk rock subculture interwoven with a storyline about a pot deal gone bad. The Fuckemos stopped performing regularly after the release of Airshow 2000, but the band has continued to reconvene for periodic reunion shows. – Greg Beets

 
Numerous singles and drunken, unrehearsed shows followed. In 1995, the band recorded the follow-up, Lifestyles of the Drugged & Homeless, on poster artist Lindsay Kuhn's No Lie imprint (now out of print). A year later, the band returned with Black Helicopters, later to be reissued on Man's Ruin. By 1997, Porter and Powell had gone through lineup changes too numerous to mention, but secured bass player -- and former Cherubs drummer -- Brent Prager and guitarist Brian McGee and created the oddball, upbeat Celebration!, their first album release through Man's Ruin. In 1999, Kozik reissued Can Kill You and Black Helicopters. The band followed in 2000 with Airshow 2000, perhaps its most involved and sophisticated recording.