About Me
We're taking some time off to work on new songs but we've got shows set for October, November and December. "French Club" is our newest song (written by Steve) the one that has caught the ear of many at our recent shows. The intro noise is "Barn Boss!"Although Co-Z has left the band to devote more time to his newly expanded family (congrats on the arrival of Justin Gibson Sippel!) , we're glad to know that he'll always be our brother and in the fold, so to speak.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. Come on out and meet our new drummer, Walter Kiefer, from Cleveland. 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... Walter is on track to be ready for our upcoming shows (12/12 at the Gallery with a bunch of friends' bands - the night of the day that ned defends his dissertation, 12/28 Alex Chilton b-day party at the Empty Bottle, and 1/9 at Silvie's). As the worm turns... the Wiggler family grows!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!
