R.I.P. Dennis Flemion (The Frogs)

Dennis Flemion, co-founder of revered Milwaukee alt-pioneers The Frogs, drowned over the weekend. According to reports Flemion was boating with his family, went for a swim and never resurfaced. His body was identified yesterday. Dennis founded The Frogs with his brother Jimmy in 1980 and produced a number of improvised, home made cassettes. The group ended up releasing proper records on Matador, Homestead, Four Alarm and Scratchie records over the years but remained best known for their improvised and often controversial self releases.Over their life span they opened shows for Pearl Jam, Mudhoney and Urge Overkill, were sampled by Beck on his hit “Where It’s At,” had Ben Lee, Jim O’Rourke (Sonic Youth/Wilco), Kelley Deal (The Breeders) cycle through the group, appeared on several Smashing Pumpkins recordings (with Jimmy Flemion replacing the deceased Jonathan Melvoin on keyboards for a spell) and wrote several songs plus produced a video for Kurt Cobain.

Dennis Flemion was 57. Our condolences go out to his family, friends and fans.