gowheels

This is a page for the fans, friends, and curious for the Go Wheels. The original Go Wheels line up started in the fall of 1994 it had Scott Clise on guitar and singing, Anthony Alaverez on drums, and Julian on bass and singing. During this time period the 'Wheels would practice at the Duke Coffee House, as it had a P.A. with monitors, and they also shared practice space at the Soccer house. Soccer was another Chapel Hill band that included at one time or another Gavin O'Hara, Mike "Sock-boy" Gonzales, Jay Sprungin, Frank, Amy, Paul Cardillo, and John Howie on drums. Sock boy also had another band called Aftertax, and John Howie played in Finger and June, and also now plays The Two Dollar Pistols and Tiff Merrit. Paul Cardillo also had a couple of other bands and now works for a record label. It was a fun time. The Go Wheels played their first and only show with this line up at a small club/cafe in Chapel Hill NC. This small club/cafe under went several name changes, which included the Lizard and Snake, and now no longer exists. The line up for the 'Wheels changed frequently from show to show during this time period. One of the biggest problems, as always, is that the demand for good drummers far exceeds the supply. To deal with this issue, the 'Wheels were using three different drummers, on a rotating basis, depending on which drummer was available for a particular gig. Roy was one of the drummers, who the movie "Sideways" is rumored to be about. Mike Scott was another drummer who wound up leaving to play in Japan for awhile. This rotation system was obviously not the ideal way to run a band, but it did allow the 'Wheels to keep playing in front of people on a regular basis. Around this time Scott Thorn had became the bass player and the Go Wheels started gigging pretty regularly around the area, and also going out of town for gigs as well. Their regular practice space during this time was the kitchen in a house on North Greensboro Street in Carrboro NC. It was a crummy house, but they shared it Alex Vance who had a alt-country band called Shinola. Anthony Alvarez was also the drummer for this band. Alex now lives in New Orleans and has a band called Chef Mentuar, they sound a little like My Bloody Valentine. This set up allowed everybody to practice and not have to spend a lot of money, which was perfect. The Go Wheels and Shinola also played a number of shows together. As with most bands in the Chapel Hill scene at the time, everybody knew everyone else and would try to help each other out with shows, recording, etc, etc. One person would be playing with one band on a Friday night and on Saturday be playing a gig with a different band. Thats how it worked in those days. Andy Schull, from Minerva Strain, and several other bands, played a lot of shows on drums with the 'Wheels during this time period. Last we heard, Andy now has a Joy Division Cover band. Knowing Andy, its probably pretty cool. Scott Thorn left the band, and was replaced by Marc Sloop. This represented the start of the high water mark for the Go Wheels, when everything finally started to fall into place. Scott had actually met Marc years before, in front of a club called 506. Marc was wearing an Eraser head shirt and was introduced to Scott by Sock boy, who he also had just met. Scott's inital reaction to Sockboy was "What kind of a person calls himself Sockboy?" Marc previously played in a band called All American Breast Dinner. Marc was also known as the guy who hosted Sloop-a-Polza, a two day festival where 60 or so Chapel Hill bands would play in the house that he rented. The festival would attract hundreds of scenesters, as well as a few of the neighborhood crackheads looking to steal a guitar or two. You get the picture. The house was in bad shape in a bad neighborhood and a girl lived on the porch. For some reason the police and neighbors never seemed to care about any of this. Marc and Scott had been friends for a long time and had similar musical influences and knowledge, but had always been busy with other things. They started practicing together and working up new songs. Matthew Levy was then talked into joining on drums. Matthew was very skeptical of this whole rock thing at first, having been a Jazz drummer, notably known for his work with an outfit known as Kismet. Matthew also proclaimed that had no idea how to rock, but he practiced hard and Scott and Marc showed him the way. It worked. Sockboy was added as a second guitar player. They soon played their first show with this line up a month or so later. The show was pretty rough, as it was played during when the remnants of a hurricane were passing through, and the club was actually flooding. A band member or two were experiencing some electrical shocks while playing, and Sockboy did not know the songs. So the Sockboy experiment was declared a failure and the band moved on as a three piece, still on good terms with Sockboy however. The 'Wheels would go onto to play gigs with Sockboy's other band Aftertax. This line up recorded the CD "Postscript", as well as some other songs that have not yet been released. Its an 8 song CD that clocks in around 32 minutes and has been described as a cross between Yo La Tengo and Joy Division, with maybe some Versus thrown in. Whether that is true or not, you decide. The 'Wheels then began to play frequently. They also became known as the band that would play anywhere at anytime on two hours notice or less. Frequently bands who had booked gigs would cancel shows, and when that happened the venue, or another band, desperate to fill the bill, would call in the 'Wheels that same day to play, sometimes with only an hour notice. The 'Wheels, like their name suggested, were always ready to show up and go, and they actually got a lot of gigs this way, and as a result were pretty busy. The 'Wheels, as a result of their almost nonstop playing and constant self-promotion, built up a small following of people in the know. However, like all things in life, time moves on. Matthew eventually needed to purse some other things and moved to Texas to get a Phd. David Perry, who played in a band called Wingnut, and later Jetrink, replaced him on drums, and the 'Wheels continued to gig for about another year with this line up. Scott then decided he finally was going to move to New York City. As a result, it appeared that this was the end of the line for this band. The Go Wheels played their last show at Henry's on Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Currently the 'Wheels are inactive, although they do have some unreleased material that may soon see the light of day. It is also possible that there will be more gigs and recording in the future. Marc is in Carolina these days, and Matthew is living in Tacoma, while Scott is still living in New York City. Marc, Scott, and Matthew remain friends and are in contact with each other, so anything is possible.