It was just about a month ago that I first happened across the following article in the Entertainment News section on the Film Industry Network site. It’s a given that something titled, Musicians shoot music video with a flame thrower Saxophone, is going to my attention. 
After watching the remake of the 1960’s Ellie Goulding tune, Burn…
… I had a bunch of questions running through my mind. Questions like:
- Did he get any lacquer burns on his bell?
- How about himself? Did he burn or singe his fingers, or maybe any hair anywhere?
- Would I do this to my horn?
- How much would I have to get paid to do this to my horn?
- What controls the amount of flame coming out of the bell?
- What generated the flame?
Being the curious type, I did some research about this flamethrower sax. That research answered a number of these questions for me.
The first thing I immediately recognized was the name of the baritone player: Stefan Zeniuk. I first came across his name almost a year ago to the day, when he appeared playing bass saxophone with Vampire Weekend on SNL.
It turns out Stefan has written about this flamethrower sax on his website. There he explains, in general terms, how it works. Not only that, but there’s contact info provided in case you want to buy one of these babies for your very own… 
This is what Stefan says about this flamethrower sax—which he calls a Flame-O-Phone, BTW:
The Flame-O-Phone (©-pending) is a one-of-a-kind modified baritone saxophone that spews up to 5 feet of flame out of the bell. The initial conception dates back to 2007, when I was on tour with a traveling burlesque troupe, but the horn itself didn’t materialize until 2010 when I met Ben Bartelle, a master fire scultor. We built an initial prototype, and, though completely and totally awesome, the horn was bulky, awkward, and malfunctioned frequently.
Around 2012 Ben Bartelle & I decided to make a fully operational, totally slick design. I used a beautiful 1920 King White Model baritone sax. His new design featured a single propane tank attached to the side of the horn, a propellent device rigged up just below the left-hand octave key, and a trigger that controls the amount of propane, thus giving me dynamic control for the flame.
The Flame-O-Phone has been used in events all around NYC, from high-end hotel bars to punk-rock clubs. There have been zero injuries of any kind…
We are now marketing this to the general public. If you would like to inquire about purchasing your very own Flame-O-Phone, contact flameophone@gmail.com
I can see it now… Passive aggressive arsonists will be learning how to play saxophone, so that they can use a flamethrower sax and be able to accidentally burn down the club that they’re playing in. 😈
Seriously though, I hope for Stefan’s sake he has great legal advice, because I see the potential for the zero injury rate to go up; potentially way up. It just takes one incident, in one crowded venue with a low ceiling—with say perhaps some hanging decorations—and things are definitely going to burn, burn, burn.
What I saw in this video looks just like the sort of flame that a sponge soaked in Everclear™ would make.
I’m not familiar with Everclear™, but I did think that it was a very dirty burn. I wouldn’t think that propane would produce such a black smoke. :scratch: