History
The band was formed by Wesley Willis on vocals, Pat Barnard on lead guitar, and his friend Dale Meiners on guitar and bass. Dale Meiners previously played guitar in Billy Corgan's pre-Smashing Pumpkins band, the Marked. In 1992 Willis began writing songs, and soon after, Meiners took Willis into his studio to record them. After many drummer changes, Meiners, Barnard and Willis formed the Wesley Willis Fiasco with Dave Nooks on bass and Brendan Murphy on drums. Their name was coined by early second guitarist Michael Cates.
They released only one studio album in 1996, Spookydisharmoniousconflicthellride (a reference to Willis's description of his schizophrenic episodes), which is found on the Urban Legend label. Various live albums are available, though most are bootlegs. After the band broke up, Willis went on to record his own solo albums. One of his songs on his solo album "Rush Hour" is about the Fiasco.
The Fiasco band covered the song "Girls on Film" by Duran Duran, which appeared on the Duran Duran Tribute Album in 1997. They also released a much sought after and hard to find 7" vinyl split with Sublime, as well as a split with Milwaukee's The Frogs.
The Fiasco toured with many bands, most notably Rocket from the Crypt, Sublime, and Lordz of Brooklyn. The band was also noted for charming Eddie Vedder, lead singer of Pearl Jam.
Due to conflicts between the Fiasco band's shows and Willis's solo keyboard shows, the band broke up while on tour in Ohio in 1996. Willis stated that the demons in his head worsened, causing him to constantly yell at the band unintentionally.
After the breakup, Pat Barnard sold his equipment and moved to Lake Tahoe, where he died in a drowning accident at the age of 27. Murphy, who briefly played with The Jesus Lizard, lives in Chicago, working for an indie label. Dale Meiners builds custom furniture. Dave Nooks got married and was a member of the Chicago based punk and roll band The Symptoms for a time. Willis continued his solo career until his death in 2003, age 40.
Read more about this topic: Wesley Willis Fiasco
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“When the history of this period is written, [William Jennings] Bryan will stand out as one of the most remarkable men of his generation and one of the biggest political men of our country.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“Three million of such stones would be needed before the work was done. Three million stones of an average weight of 5,000 pounds, every stone cut precisely to fit into its destined place in the great pyramid. From the quarries they pulled the stones across the desert to the banks of the Nile. Never in the history of the world had so great a task been performed. Their faith gave them strength, and their joy gave them song.”
—William Faulkner (1897–1962)
“A country grows in history not only because of the heroism of its troops on the field of battle, it grows also when it turns to justice and to right for the conservation of its interests.”
—Aristide Briand (1862–1932)