"Well, well, the renovations haven't really been coming along as fast as we would hope, but that's fine. Plenty else has been going on in the world of WMAS to make up for it..."

That's a quote from September 2002.

For those of you with your heads in the sand in Boston, the All-Stars have been playing out so much lately. Following up their "Edutainment" extravaganza last fall, we've played two shows showcasing different lineups and completely different music each time. The first, at the Chopping Block in Mission Hill with New Planet Make a Rising, included Walt, Johnnie, and Robbie doing a set of heavy atonal noise-rock that went over suprisingly really well with everyone. In fact, we were even mistaken for music students. The second show was at the Midway in Jamaica Plain and we opened for the Elad Love Affair. That show found Walt, Johnnie and Mayor Zach Berger reprising the music from Yankee Doodle Dice Game (the one where we rolled dice to write all the songs) and played the whole album more or less faithfully. It was good. The atonal noise-rock set is about to be released on Copperpot Records. Email us for ordering info as usual.

The All-Stars haven't recorded a real album in almost a year now. This is by far the longest stretch ever, and we're headed back to the "studio" today actually to begin work another tasty nugget for you. We hope to be getting some album reviews to post for you in the near future, and maybe get the site redesigned. We just don't know what the point is right now. We'll let you know the answer when we find it out for ourselves.

For sideprojects--RYBTP still rules. Ho-Ag went on tour and has a real album now on Mister Records. 9-Volt Gimmick's drummer ran away. Eric Wrong fired his drummer. See ya later.



OLD NEWS

First to be reported is the live show in Boston. Opening for Jason (from Incu) Coen's goth-rock variety show type thing (complete with solo piano, guitars, violins, and bellydancing) and The Prids, we knew less of what to expect than anyone else at the show. We got on around 9 and finished about 45mintues later. It was quite a set, highlighted by the fact that we forgot to bring a mic stand and had to duct tape it to the two-foot high metal railing in front of the stage (which made nice thunder noises when kicked). No one hated the show and we've been invited to play more shows around town thanks to that appearence, (All of which have been turned down so far, because we apparently that kind of band). See photos here. The whole thing was caught on tape and can be found on the new CD A Live Time with Walt Meadornack and His All-Stars, which contains not only the entire show but also the complete rehearsal demos for it, recorded live in at the Sound Museum. Real value. The program, which was informally dubbed "Infotainment" by Mayor Zach Berger, pulled a few pieces from 54 and Sound Museum I, as well as adding some loose improv pieces for the Broken Amp, the new Trash Drums, and some Saxophone/Melodica duet kind of stuff. There was one new composition for the set, and plenty of other suprises. More info on the album will be up soon.

Work 54 B-Sides has finally been completed and is up for grabs. Despite the name, this actually WMAS Work #57. It's a collection of lots of discarded material from the sessions leading up to Work 54. It's just as varied and random as that masterpiece, and just as rough to sum up in a few words. Lots of dungeony sounds, strange tape-recorded bits, accidental noises, etc.., A few more sing-a-long bits on this one that were branded too cheesy for the real album are let loose for everyone to hear on this one, so there goes our self-restraint (which lasted about 2 months).

Due to a fortunate crossing of paths in November, East and Mid-West All-Stars were able to collaborate in Boston in a one-night noise melee, resulting in our newest CD, the excellent Bogbull (Sound Museum Sessions Vol. II). This one is charactarized by big epic noise-rock improvs, nothing really out-there (for those of you as jaded as us). It's all live and sprawling and just goes all over the place with lots of energy. Again, more info on this later.

Quick 'Side-Project' bunch of news: Ho*Ag got to play with Melt-Banana, Skeleton Key, Party of Helicopters, and (of course) The Rancid Yak Butter Tea Party this fall. They're hiding in a cave right now working on secrets. The RYBTP is kicking a$$ as usual, recently playing with Tubring in Columbus. Eric Wrong and the Do-Right just got a new drummer, saying "Adios y no mas llorar" to fill-in monkey Pachuco Esqueleto. That's all I know about everybody.

Check the DRA 2001 page to see what WMAS works are now available on CD.

Keep coming back, we hope to have major renovations here soon.