Milwaukee, 1992. Tom Gillard and friends had a mutual taste in music and attitude which drove them to decide to start a band in Schroeder Hall’s music room at Marquette University.Their influences include Big Black, John Denver, Butthole Surfers, The Undertones, That Petrol Emotion, Captain Beefheart, Motörhead, Mudhoney, early Metallica, Fugazi, The Stooges, Loop, Funkadelic, Can, Belgian New Beat, Trance, Techno, Hip Hop (Public Enemy) and Jazz (John Zorn).Rehearsing in Gillard’s bedroom after class and when Chris had time off from the factory he worked in, they put together their early material with Dane on drums, Tom on vocals, Chris on guitar and John playing keyboards and the shaky egg. They go to a small studio on Belfast’s Lisburn Road and put down their first demo, including: Outside & Waterboy. Needing a bass guitar to complete the band, Tom sells instrument to John (Tom later tries, unsuccessfully, to buy the bass back from John at a much lower price but we don’t need to get in to that right now). John, an energetic and enthusiastic metal fan, is influenced by the same music as the boys but also adds to the party.They decide on the name: WOE—it’s short and easy to remember.That summer they do their first Milwaukee tour supporting The Birds at the End of the RoadAt an MU gig later that year John gave a copy of their single to Blackpool studio exec who immediately books them for demo. The summer of 1993 they depart for a Chicago tour and about this time it became apparent that all was not well with WOE. Mismanaged funds led to temporary shutdown of all operations. Still committed to a hefty European tour until Christmas, the band gathered equipment and shipped out.This year got off to a bad start with drummer Dane breaking face after a bad fall. With no label, no drummer and a foul keyboardist, Dorch and Gill holed themselves up for weeks in the basement of Maryland Court Apartments writing new material. They started writing songs for the band’s album. Having been disillusioned with the world of corporate rock that they had found themselves in, they began pounding out riffs, noises and feedback as if their life depended on it. Spring brings release of album in Weybridge UK and thus begins eventual demise of the boys in countryside.Be on the lookout for the bands triumphant return to mediocrity in the summer of 2015 as they will be touring Milwaukee to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their dismemberment.