Wiggum (Punk/Rock)

Wiggum
Written Dec 1, 2004.


What were some of your favorite bands growing up?
Nofx, Green Day, Pennywise, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, MxPx, Minor Threat, Operation Ivy…and even some random stuff like Dave Matthews. What can I say he can write music.

Where is your favorite place to play shows at?
My favorite place locally would have to be Chain Reaction in Anaheim. Otherwise, I think we all would agree the Midwest rules.

What are your names and what is your position in the band?
I'm D. Jay Brawner I play Bass and do some singing in Wiggum. Casey Ryder plays Guitar and sings, and right now our friend Gabe Soriano is filling in on drums for us.

What made you come up with the band name?
Well, at the time we were going by Your Mom, which was a pretty stupid name if you ask me. We decided on naming it after the Simpsons, and finally one night I woke up in a cold sweat and said WIGGUM. Pretty simple I guess. Wiggum is the last name of Ralph and Chief Wiggum on the Simpsons.

What do you guys do for work right now, other than playing music?
I work for Lucky Artist Booking, and also am a promoter for Impact Presents and put on shows every week Casey goes to OTIS design school. And Gabe, well he works at Carl's Junior.

Who do you one day wish to play a show with?
Jesus.

Do you have a web site?
Wiggumrocks.com but check us also out at www.myspace.com/wiggum

Why do you play music, what made you strive to be heard?
Well, for all of us, music is a part of our lives, we live it, breath it, and play it. We all grew up going to shows and wanted to be that person on stage, and now we are doing our best to live out our dreams.

Why would anyone want to hear what you have to say in your lyrics?
Our stuff is fun, its not depressing its not emo. It's catchy, and it stuff you can goof around too. Why wouldn't you want to listen to it?

How many people in the band right now are the original band members? Hahahah, just me. But Casey and I are in it for the long run now.

What brought you guys together? Music.

Any funny or interesting stories?
One time our old drummer pooped his pants. That's pretty good right?

How long have you been a band? Wiggum has been a band for 2 years now.

If you guys could open for one band, who would it be?
Definitely NOFX.

Where do you want to be in 5 years? Oh man, I want to be huge in 5 years. I want people to know who we are. I'd like to have at least 2 or 3 full length albums by then, and be touring constantly on solid tours.

What's your favorite part of being in a band?
Having an excuse to not have a real job. Being able to hang out, see the country, make new friends, and have fun for a living. There really isn't anything better than that. It doing what you love.

Where was your first gig and how was it?
There has been two different first gigs for Wiggum. But I’ll talk about our first gig with Casey. We played at The Santa Fe Café in Fullerton, Ca with Go Betty Go, we played pretty good we messed up a bunch but there was a solid turn out, by our second show we were solid, and have been ever since. That first show is always hard no matter what band you are.

How old were you all when you started playing instruments?
Casey has been playing the longest out of all of us. He started playing drums in Junior High, then became a singer for the band Unjust Cause, now he plays guitar and sings in Wiggum. I started playing bass when I was 17, I got a late start I must say.

What's tour like for you guys?
Tour rules. It's a lot of fun. We like hanging out with each other and get a long really well. Our last tour was kind of shaky, but we made it through, and after the tour we got rid of our drummer, he was the bad apple. Haha.

What's your latest recorded cd, and what do you guys think about it?
Our last CD was "Brining Back '77," I pretty much hate that CD. Recording it was a bad experience for us, and the over all sound isn't what I wanted. The vocals were horrible, the energy was bad, and we hated the producer. I guess it's good, but, really not us. Our next CD is going to rule, we are going into the studio in the next couple of weeks. We will be recording at NRG in North Hollywood, everyone and your mother has recorded there and many MTV hits have stemmed from that place.

What did the fans have to say about it?
I think people liked it, but just wait till we have our new CD done, a lot more people will like that.