droll

Droll, an experimental virtual pop group was formed in 1996 by D.R. Wilke. This was Wilke's first independent musical venture since his musical collaboration with Peggy "Murph" Murphy in 1974. Aka The Droll7, the band managed to group for 3 live performances, their first in Jacumba, Ca at the first Telemagica festival in 2004. A second at The Paperheart, a former Phoenix, Art district club and last at The Sail Inn, in Tempe, Arizona. Live Band members were Read more on Last.fm …read full bio

Droll, an experimental virtual pop group was formed in 1996 by D.R. Wilke. This was Wilke's first independent musical venture since his musical collaboration with Peggy "Murph" Murphy in 1974. Aka The Droll7, the band managed to group for 3 live performances, their first in Jacumba, Ca at the first Telemagica festival in 2004. A second at The Paperheart, a former Phoenix, Art district club and last at The Sail Inn, in Tempe, Arizona. Live Band members were, Kara Kay, vocals, Skinny Bishop, bass, Gina Cotton, drums, Paul Taylor, keyboard, vocals, D.R. Wilke, Guitar, vocals. D.R. Wilke (musician) D.R. Wilke born in North Tonawanda, N.Y. In 1960 Wilke's family moved to Phoenix, AZ, for the warm weather and Wilke's poor health. Wilke attended Balsz Elementary School. Wilke met fellow classmate Bruce Connole while in the 2nd grade and for the next decade their lives were intent for music. Wilke's first instrument, the alto saxophone, took a backseat once he had his hands on a guitar. Wilke's first band Tree of Life with Rick Janzen, Jimmy Howell and Darrel Gleason performed covers at a Balsz School dance. While attending East High, Wilke played in a Blues/Rock & Roll band Samurai which evolved into an all original band Spoo. Wilke also took up viola and played in the high school orchestra as well as saxophone in the concert band. While in Samurai, Wilke met singer Peggy Murphy who would occasionally sing with the band. After high school Wilke & Murphy teamed up as a musical team as well as husband and wife. They honed their entertaining skills while performing around the valley with music majors from Indiana University followed with a b circuit tour of dive bars across the mid west ending in Phx where they formed a duo playing lounges in Phoenix. The couple split up but continued playing. At the time, Wilke was roommates with Connole. Another roommate had a stack of records that neither had heard. The Ramones, Pezband, Television, Cheap Trick etc. It was at this time Connole penned later to be Billy Clone & Jetzon song, "I Love You". This music resonated well with Wilke and he shared it with Murphy. They found themselves back as a couple, recorded a 3 song demo, took promo pictures and created a press package. Wilke sold a 1951 Gibson ES-175 guitar to finance a trip to LA where they used rolls of dimes to get their tapes heard by anyone in the music industry that was willing to listen. 2 of the songs from the cassette demo, "Tonight" & "It's You & Me" ended up on their first 7 song EP "Put On Blue Shoes". This EP also included their local hit "Better". The first time the song "Better" hit the airwaves was on local station 104.7 KSTM, Within weeks of release, "Better" was in high rotation on stations "KDKB" and "KUPD". Blue Shoes opened shows for, Talking Heads, The Ramones, Ian Hunter, The Producers, The Cretones, The Fleshtones, 20/20, Gary Myrick & the Figures and The Vapors. Blue Shoes music was spinning in the southwest region including LA as Brian Smith of the Pills recalled first hearing "Better" on KROC. Murphy & Wilke continued recording and performing music in various original musical outfits including, Red Alert, The Last Word, The Curse and Substance through 1995 and then split up. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

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…shrink me down again