current wigglers:
Megan Tormey is our featured singer and percussionist. She's a recent grad of U of C(hicago) and from Urbandale, Iowa (20 min. outside of Des Moines).
TL aka "Buck" plays guitar and vocalizes.
"Gnarley" Ned Bowen was born in Las Vegas, grew up in Reno and plays trumpet, triangle, other stuff.
MC "Commodore" Mike Perry is from Cincinnati and he plays trombone and percussion.
Lead guitarist and vocalist Steve Mend grew up on the Chicago's north side.
Bass player Marc Garfinkel is from Pittsburg.
Drummer Walter Kiefer is from Cleveland.
Jim Lynch (when he's in town from Detroit - sax, moves).
Influences
hmm... Ben Ratliff's review (in the 8/18/06 NY Times) of an X show lamented that "Having imagination, bad habits and no money isn't celebrated in our culture anymore... X arrived at the end of the romantic-failure tradition" and influence(d) the Red Wigglers.
Other influences include Joe Henry, the Minutemen/Mike Watt, Alex Chilton/Big Star, Billy Bragg, the Beautiful South, Yo La Tengo, JB, Mudhoney, Gun Club, Lou Reed/VU, Howlin' Wolf, Eleventh Dream Day, Sonic Youth, Marvin Gaye, Reivers, Pavement, Mekons, Chocolate Genius, early Replacements, Uncle Tupelo, Talking Heads, Sonic Youth, the EZLN and subcommandante Marcos, Trudell/AIM, Rosellini, Bresson, Tarkovsky, Bertolucci, Gramsci, Marx and Engels, de Beauvoir, Galeano, Cesar Chavez/UFW, Russian and Latin American lit, Sartre, Freire, Edward Said, 'Trane, Che, Lumumba, Stoli, The Red Krayola, LaCrosse beer, rye whiskey, et al - Peace, Love and Justice!
Sounds Like
A big frickin' train! Not really - we've got a varied sound. Since we have so many influences and are easily bored, our CDs sound like mixtapes. We sound different live - we're a mix of an English pub band and, sometimes, a noisy Yo La Tengo show. We think you'll like both the recorded and live versions.
It's been a year since Walter became our drummer after Co-Z left the band to devote more time to his expanded family (with the arrival of Justin Gibson Sippel). Ned earned his PhD arround that time as well.
At the time we wrote: "Since the band has always been an organic process, chewing up and spitting out, er, welcoming new members and bidding adieu to those who must move on, we're not totally dismayed to lose the only drummer we've ever had. Hmm... We had cats from Pittsburgh and Cincy and an occasional Clevelander but now we've got one full-on. And he's another Northwestern student... As the worm turns... the Wiggler family grows! And we're thrilled to have Walter on board.
Beyond that, hmm... where to start telling our saga of wow and woe, the warp and woof of a decade or so of wiggling... Well, we've certainly no secrets, except, maybe, from our (pre-college) students! You'll have to come out and see us - if you're of age - and see 4 yrself. Are we now or have we ever been members of the ____ party? Well, it depends who's asking. And there've been almost 20 Wigglers so some of this doesn't pertain to a lot of us individually but moreso to the lot of us - as a group. We're a diverse bunch, but here's Chairman Meow's take: "There's some info on our increasingly obsolete site, www.redwigglers.biz, managed from Jakarta, Indonesia (where we're quite big although most of us have never been). You can ask us/me directly but, for starters, the wigglers have always been an organic process fueled by a punkrock/DIY ethos and we continue to evolve. Buck's life changed when, drumming for the punkers The Next Step in college (Normal/Bloomington, IL in the mid-80s), he picked up the Minutemen's "Double Nickels," the Huskers' "Zen Arcade," The Meat Puppets' "Up on the Sun," the Chili Peppers record produced by George Clinton and the Mats' "Let it Be." After relocating to Chicago we saw such awesome acts as Alex Chilton, the Reivers, 11th Dream Day, Precious Wax Drippings, Big Dipper, Soul Asylum, etc. (Our influences are listed elsewhere on this site). We formed Screaming at Alice which morphed into Buzz Orchard which devolved into a few bands, including Van Go and Yardshaker (in Copenhagen, Denmark). After a brief sabbatical, Buck got the itch to write and start a band. He had never fronted a band and Amy's music experience had been limited to choirs and piano competitions in Minnesota but they formed sURLY and thee Tormented Souls in their basement. They became thee Red Wigglers with the addition of Duckie Berkowitz aka Spider Wilson (Bob Foyut who resides in Bloomington, IN - bass and viola da gamba) and Dave "Co-Z" Sippel (Champagne, IL), who had never played drums in a band before (and now plays Buck's vistalite Ludwigs from the late '70s), and others. That was, methinks, '98."
We've been/are known for leftist politics, having too many degrees and/or other excesses, and more (and less) - and much of it is or has been true of many of us. Buck's got an MA, an M.Ed. and a little more (teaching special ed credits) each quarter. Amy earned her PhD and fled to Seattle. Co-Z's got a Doctorate in Rock. Duckie's a philosophical machinist who lives too far away to wiggle with us in person on a regular basis. Besides, gamba players spend 90% of their time tuning and 10% of the time playing out of tune!
We recorded our first CD, "Let's Wiggle," in 2000 at the Maus House and added the horns after the 2nd CD, "Bucktown Spring," was recorded in 2002 in Humboldt Park. "Commodore" Mike (from Cincy and another NU PhD) Perry, "Gnarley" Ned (from Reno, a PhD candidate at UIC - he'll defend his dissertation on 12/12!) Bowen and sometimes Jim Lynch (an NU PhD who now lives in Detroit) add fun dimensions to the songs. Another Northwestern cat, lead guitarist/bassist Alex "Geezer" Agrios (Amherst, MA), played with us until he earned his PhD and fled to France (he's currently in Sweden, wethinks).
We've had various bass players since Spider Wilson, including Cool Papa Patrick Boyle (MBA). Scott Jelinek (Cleveland) played some shows as Dr. Bassenstein but he switched to lead guitar and has gone on to form the Right Tidys and still plays in Van Go and another band or 3. (Dr., really, he's an abdominal organ transplant surgeon) Marc Garfinkel (Pittsburgh) took over on bass in November, 2006.
There are a few copies of the "Samizdat" CD recorded by Steve in the Wiggleroom (also in Humboldt Park) in 2004 available. We released our 3rd full-length CD, "Absolutely Western Avenue," in early 2006. When Amy scrammed, we spent time with no femme vox as a smaller, lean and, well, tight combo... The definition of the latter may vary. Want more info?! Don't hesitate to ask. Now Megan and Steve are here and we're thrilled!
Check us out!
Check out our other pages,if you find time, if you would want to know more about us. The first ones on this page. Sinds you like this,you could request the other pages too and please read well before jumping to conclusion......
In the meanwhile, keep doing what you do best and stay yourself! You know allready.
Regards,
Bugz B,J.Blaze and Kane D Goreson, from Winners n sinners.
We are all winners and sinners, the balance is now, The key is gratitude. No fear,no keeps.
Hope that weekend ties up right ! <:) Have a splended one !
Hola ,como estas? Venimos a darnos otra vuelta por tu perfil para anunciarte la nueva cancion que estamos estrenando ,la cancion se llama Saturno y agradeceriamos mucho que te dieras una vuelta por nuestro space y la escucharas(es la primera en el player). En fin esperamos que estes rebien y esperamos verte por nuestro perfil. Saludancias Fosforecentes! The Plastics Revolution
Hey BAU Fan, Episode 8 is AVAILABLE NOW!!!! Check it out. Please send your feedback and don't forget to watch Episode 9 Next Wednesday!! Thanks! -BAU ..
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