WHO IS WCKR SPGT?

The official starting point is hard to pin down in that a series of events lead to the eventual realization of Wckr Spgt. The best place to start would probably be with the band The Love Bunnies. Formed in 1981 by Tim Kirk, David Carpenter, Julian and Dominique Dibbell, Sam Deese, Todd Hughes, Paul Herman, Naomi Mezey, Marka Carson, Howard Drucker, and John Malmquist, The (Psychedelic) Love Bunnies played only two shows infusing a New Wave / Punk sound with a quasi-ironic cuteness in songs like "Hippity Hop" and a cover of the Nixon's Revenge song "Good Mood". From there, Dave was looking for another project along the same lines when he met Mark Givens through a mutual friend. Dave and Mark were also in several high school classes together, affording them the time to discuss music and art at length. Dave knew Joel Huschle through his involvement with the theater and when the issue of a lead singer for the new band arose, Dave suggested Joel.

WCKR SPGT IN 1982

Joel Huschle

Joel was involved in the theater in high school and established himself as a charismatic leader there. His off-beat sense of humor has become the cornerstone of the Wckr Spgt building. Joel writes the majority of the lyrics for Wckr Spgt and has a stage presence to die for. He is also a certified Psychiatric Technician and computer enthusiast. Joel and Kim Dillbeck were married in 1994 after 10 years of sinful living. Joel established the tape label Car in Car Disco Product in 1992 then hutboy in 1995. His successful solo project Furniture Huschle has evolved into a full-fledged rock band. Joel is currently working on a video/tape/CD release, as yet unnamed.

Mark Givens

Mark began recording sounds in 1980, experimenting with sound collage and construction before picking up a guitar for Wckr Spgt. After the departure of Dave, Mark assumed the role of "musician" for Wckr Spgt. He continues to act as the musical director for the constantly changing Wckr Spgt line-up. Mark and Berit Nilsen were married in 1997 and lived in Wisconsin until 2003 while Berit Givens finished up her PhD in Mathematics. They moved back to California in 2004. Mark has played with several bands and contributed to several other artists recordings (see "Other Projects"). Mark has also designed flyers, covers, catalogues, and logos for Wckr Spgt and others (see Tensile Pennon, Inc.). He writes computer code for fun and continues to work on Cash Nexus and all its variants. Mark and Berit welcomed Trygve, their son, into the world in 2005.

Dave Carpenter

Around 1980, Dave played guitar with the infamous Nixon's Revenge. In 1981, Dave helped found The Love Bunnies. Their final show with The Stepmothers and Red Brigade in late 1981 helped put the Wckr Spgt gears in motion. Dave attended Yale from 1982-1986. While at Yale, Dave started playing bass and quickly became one of the most sought-after bass players around. After graduating with a Masters Degree in English and returning to Southern California, Dave began working in Hollywood writing and editing scripts. He played bass with Desperation Squad, The Immigrants, and Wckr Spgt and guitar with The Mistaken before swearing off all music, except Wckr Spgt, in 1990. Dave and Aimee were married in 2005 and are the proud and happy parents of FOUR wonderful boys.

RECORDING, AND WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

The recording history of Wckr Spgt began while Mark was house-sitting for a doctor in West Covina, California. Several tape machines, an empty house, and summer vacation resulted in two recordings of the Huschle-penned "Apathy" (Mark singing one and Joel singing the other), as well as "(I'm On) No-Doz Again", "Meet the Johnsons", a song about Dave's final project for his history course called "Pakistan in '78", and several experimental pieces. The next recordings were made at Paul Herman's house and included the songs "The Joy of Generics", "Fly, Robin, Fly", and the immor(t)al "Making Love In The Pew".

Dave went off to Yale in 1982, leaving Joel and Mark without a real musician to fall back on. The future of Wckr Spgt was in question. "Lady On The Beach" was the first attempt by Mark and Joel to record a song without Dave, and used a recording style that would become the preferred method for many years. The tape recorder was turned on, Mark started playing guitar to a drum beat (in this case, with Synsonics), and Joel started singing. This improvisational technique was used for the majority of the recordings between 1983 and 1985 and added a freshness and vitality to the songs. Never intending to be a band that played live shows, this "new" Wckr Spgt was not concerned with being able to duplicate their material later. This opened them up to experiment with different ways to combine sounds, weaving each layer into a thin fabric of rhythm, overdubbing each thread of sound into the musical cloth until the resulting music-shirt could be worn. And that's when Wckr Spgt really began.