Worm Quartet

Shoebox of Worm Quartet performing in 2012.

Worm Quartet is a one-man (Timothy F. Crist, A.K.A. -=ShoEboX=-) Comedy Synth Punk band portrayed on album covers as a group of four worms. The "band" has a growing cult following thanks to exposure on the Dr. Demento show. Worm Quartet's music, all written by Crist, is characterized by wild logorrhea, taking words that might never have been in the same sentence before and forming odd images that flash past the listener's ears but remain imprinted on their engrams. His sophomoric sense of humor is occasionally tempered by outrage or satirical criticism. Worm Quartet had the #1 Most Requested Song of the Year on the Dr. Demento Show in 2004 (Great Idea For A Song) and 2005 (Inner Voice with Sudden Death). He has additionally collaborated with Rob Balder under the name "Baldbox"[1] to release one CD ("The Dumb Album") and several follow-up songs, which have also been played frequently by Dr. Demento and other terrestrial radio shows.[2]

History

Pre-Music

The four worms (then Bob, Leon, Rodney, and Celia) were first created by Tim during a high school science class period in an attempt to alleviate boredom and amuse a friend named Frankie. The original four worms were depicted at various times singing songs with 'unbelievably dumb' lyrics or on mock record covers for such classic as Worm Quartet Sings The Songs Of Barry Manilow While Puking And Pissing On Lobsters.

Line Up Changes

The first of the two line up changes to bring about the worms we know today was nothing but a slip up on the part of the creator, when he accidentally christened Rodney as Elroy.

A short while later Celia, the only female worm, was replaced with fan favorite Chutney, mostly due to the very sophomoric senses of humor of Frankie who would invariably find a way to insert a drawing of a penis near her mouth.

Later still Chutney fell victim to an accident (reportedly involving a jackhammer, a 747, and a giant robotic dog) which both mutilated his body and drove him insane. This would be the cause of the later "Chutney songs".

We Are The Music Makers

Around 1991 Tim decided that, since Worm Quartet was after all a band, they should put out a tape. With nothing but a Yamaha PSR-6 Keyboard and some recording equipment Tim went to work on "Pass the Potatoes", the Worm Quartets debut album. Though it admittedly suffered from low production values Tim decided to keep going, eventually recording 10 more tapes of Worm Quartets very different style of music. (Tim denies any knowledge of all music prior to the original recording of Urine Sampler.)

It was also around this time that Tim got his first (1200 baud) modem for his Atari 130XE computer and christened himself on various bulletin boards as "Shoebox", citing a somewhat obscure line from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy spoken by Trillian (He wasn't so much a leopard, more a sort of... well, you know... shoebox.). This in turn turned into ShoEboX and eventually -=ShoEboX=-, which when read in only lowercase reads "hobo" and only uppercase reads SEX". The former is unintentional, but the latter was described by ShoEboX as describing (at the time he created the alliteration) that which he would never have.

A Three Man Quartet

In 1993, upon graduating High School and entering College, -=ShoEboX=- drafted two friends into the single man Quartet. Tony "Coffee" Roche on guitar and Kevin Morgan on drums filled out the WQ sound. The now Three Man Quartet eventually took Tim's DIY spirit to heart and got around to recording the No Talent Implied semi-demo in Tony's Garage and Tim's bedroom. This tape was accidentally left at someone's house one night, which led to copying and distribution around the Southbridge, MA area.

The first Yamaha

When Tony left the band (with no hard feelings) Kevin moved up to guitar and something that would eventually go on to shape the future sound of the music happened, -=ShoEboX=- purchased a Drum Machine. After polishing some of the older songs and writing some new ones the band drafted the help of Mr. Ben Dean and his Tascam Portastudio 424 and went to recording the first official Worm Quartet tape, "Urine Sampler".

Discography

Studio albums

Other releases

Members

Real

Current

Past

Worms

Current

Past

References

  1. ↑ "The Official World Wide Dr. Demento Streaming Site". Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  2. ↑ "Disc-overies: Baldbox, "The Dumb Album" - Canandaigua, NY - MPNnow". Retrieved 2009-11-10.
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