A cropped image of the smiley face character from the Hey Won't Somebody Come and Play album cover.
A cropped image of the smiley face character from the Hey Won't Somebody Come and Play album cover.

WONT SOMEBODY COME OUT AND PLAY?

A cropped image of the smiley face character from the Hey Won't Somebody Come and Play album cover.
A graphic of Otis Fodder and Mildred Pit, the members of the Bran Flakes, from the old Bran Flakes Website.

The Bran Flakes are an American-Canadian sound collage duo that have been around since the early 90s. They consist of two members: Mildred Pitt (also known as Andy Arkley) from Seattle, Washington, and Otis Fodder from Quebec, Canada. Here's one of my favorite fucking music artists ever; definitely a second to the Residents.

I shall now talk about most of the Bran Flakes' work because this ain't the Residents so this is doable in reasonable time. Btw, Huh is not here for this one. They don't care about the Bran Flakes as much as I do.

Album Breakdown

A graphic from the bran flakes' old website. It reads: COOL AND STRANGE MUSIC! Magazine presents: Friendly Persuasion with Mr. Otis. F. Odder. There's a shopping bag with a question mark on it next to 'Friendly Persuasion'.

I Remember When I Break Down (1996)

The album cover for I Remember When I Break Down. The front cover features a man with his hands on his head screaming. The backside includes the track list and a picture of a group of ladies angrily yelling at the camera.

This is my favorite Bran Flakes album. This album isn't their first album (I'll talk about their earliest/earlier albums later), for clarification.

Hey Won't Somebody Come Out and Play? (1998)

The album cover for Hey Won't Somebody Come and Play?. The picture is of some kind of cardboard diorama of a yellow stick figure with zigzag limbs standing in a field with wavy mountains in the back.

Their first studio album I think.

I Don't Have A Friend (2000)

The album cover for I Don't Have a Friend, which also appears to be a cardbaord diorama. The title and group name are in white cursive writing. The cover consists of a dark blue, smiling stick figure with wavy arms and star shaped eyes. In the background is an abstract purple and red carousel, as well as some pointy mountains.

I know I said I Remember When I Break Down was my favorite album of theirs, but OH MY GOD this one's also my all time fave. It's so hard to choose between these two albums!

Bounces (2002)

The album cover for Bounces. It only consists of the album name, the group name, and some abstract shapes in the background. The group name is divided into three stars, and the album name is in the center.

First album I got physically!

Bubbles (2007)

The album cover for Bubbles. It consists of the group's name in the center, surrounded by many smiley faces. The color scheme is of reds and pinks.

neat thing about this albums is never got a physical release; it's only available digitally!

I Have Hands (2009)

The album cover for I Have Hands. It consists of a curious looking, light blue stick figure with three arms behind a pink and red background. The figure is holding two of their hands up as the album name swooshes past them.

The first Bran Flakes album I ever heard, so I got nostalgia for this one lol.

Lost Bran Flakes Albums

Value Vs. Dosage (1994)

The album cover for Value vs. Dosage. The front cover features the group and album name with a simplistic smiley face in the middle. The spine of the casette cover has a skull and cross bones on it, as well as a parental advisory warning on it. The middle side of it includes the track listings and wingdings on the side. The back side has a map on it on the top and a picture of a man captioned: Mr. Otis F. Odder, Fun is my middle name. There's also a definition for a word that can't be deciphered due to the image quality, but the word might by 'syndrome'.

One mysterious as fuck album. I'm very sure this one is lost media. Looking at the cover, it seems like this album was made before Mildred joined, since it only credits Otis Fodder. Honestly this album really unsettles me by the track names alone. "Age of Consent", "Cesspool of Humanity", "The Final Countdown to Extinction"... There's more creepy titles on this album that leave a true sense of fearful curiosity in me. Whatever this album is like, I imagine it's even darker than I Remember When I Break Down.

However, not all of it is lost! The first track, "The Final Countdown to Extinction", has been archived by the radio program "Some Assembly Required", alongside some music made by others. WARNING: A segment of this song features themes of beastiality, so very much listen at your discretion. I don't know the entire context of this segment since it's been a good while since I've listened to it, but from my speculations, it might be connecting to this motif of exploring the dark side of humanity, considering the other track names for this album. Nonetheless, it is fucking nasty and I wouldn't be surprised if the Bran Flakes hopes that the rest of this album never enters the internet or some other outlet.

I Like to Share (1998)

The album cover for I Like to Share. The front features a black and white picture of a man smiling. The middle side includes a picture of a lady smoking a cigarette, with the track names overlaid on them. The back side consists of credits for the tracks, and an old address for the Bran Flakes.

This one is also quite mysterious, and is also pretty much lost media. From what I recall from a response to an email that my friend got from Otis Fodder (buttermilk@thebranflakes.com I think it is), the Bran Flakes were formerally part of the Subgenius Foundation parody cult and probabaly made this with a couple of friends they made in that group. I say "probably" because I can only remember so much from what this friend told me, and I cannot find the original conversation we had about this in DMs. So yeah, DEFINITELY take this with a side of salt because I'm pretty uncertain about it.

What's also odd about this enigmatic album is that there's credits for keyboards, bass guitar, and vocals on the tracks. This is not totally unheard of for the Bran Flakes, since I believe that "The Girl That I Used to Be" had original drumming done for it (also take this with a pinch of salt as well since I don't remember where I heard this, and the discogs page for the album doesn't list any drum credits), but this is still very odd. It only raises even more curiosity for what this album sounds like.

A year or two ago, I did some digging for this album and eventually found this. It's not really much, but it's crazy to think that this album was broadcasted on radio. Insane stuff.

Conclusion

Funny Photoz

A photo of Otis Fodder and Mildred Pit standing in a field, wearing big purple smiling masks. One is wearing a light blue suit and the other a purple one with a diamond pattern. The Bran Flakes once again donning smiling masks, but this time they have their backs against each other and their arms crossed. They are in a black background. A photo from one of the Bran Flakes' live shows. There is a small group of people holding out signs that spell that name 'Bran Flakes'. There's also a lady in a hot dog suit. A shot of a crowd from one of their concerts. They are all waving orange foam hands that say 'I Have Hands' on them A group of people wearing the same smiley face masks that the Bran Flakes have worn.

Link Library

And This One's Introduced By... Bran Flakes Radio Special
Incorrect Music Radio Show Feat. Otis Fodder
KBOO Bran Flakes Interview
Old Bran Flakes Website Archive
Otis Fodder's Website
"Scumpland" Bran Flakes flash amvs/games
Some Assembly Required Bran Flakes Interview
"The Final Countdown to Extinction" Some Assembly Required Archive

*WARNING: the Scrump page can be very loud, specifically when you hover over the center logo. Also not every flash file doesn't seem to work, but most of them do.