On Gentle Bloated Flower, Tom plays with solo bass and alien vocals (“The Deep Blue Luv Pit”) builds an instrumental around Egypt-hop drums (“Tales Of Glory”) and makes like Jim Carroll fronting Pavement (“Hey, It Fits!”).

Demo Universe, 1997

PERSONNEL:
Tom Huff: Vocals, guitars, bass, samples
Matt Lindsey: Guitar, bass, drums
Marky Moon: Drums

All lyrics by Tom Huff
All music by Tom Huff and 2 Lb. Spread
Recorded at 2 lb. Studios
All songs published by Rootin’ Tootin’ Tunes

TRACK LISTING:
Side A:
1. Yee Haw
2. Hum Num Na
3. The Deep Blue Luv Pit
4. Tales Of Glory
5. Hey, It Fits!

Side B:
1. So, You Really Think
2. Settle Down, Speed Racer
3. Now For Something Real
4. Hum Num Na (Pulp Mix)

This obscure ribbon of loose, grimy, free-style stoner-rock emanated from the Cleveland suburbs in the mid-1990s, which was pretty much ground zero for this sound at that time. It is obvious Tom and his gang had a great fucking time recording this; two decades later, I can still smell the smoke and beer in every note. Hey, It Fits!

Tom Huff remains active, most recently as lead guitarist for The Tufted Puffins, a group of Cleveland underground rock scene veterans. They’re quite good, check ’em out: