Wall of Voodoo was an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States. Though largely an

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ...

act for the majority of its existence, the band came to prominence when its 1982 single " Mexican Radio" became a hit on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

and

alternative radio Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. Radio format Mod ...

. The band's unique sound during its most successful lineup fused

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

and

dark wave Dark wave (also typeset as darkwave) is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as be ...

elements with

Spaghetti Western The Spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

music and

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

lyrics drawing on iconography of the

American southwest The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, N ...

History

Formation

Wall of Voodoo had its roots in Acme Soundtracks, a

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

business started by

Stan Ridgway Stanard "Stan" Ridgway (born April 5, 1954) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and film and television composer known for his distinctive voice, dramatic lyrical narratives, and eclectic solo albums. He was the original le ...

, later the vocalist and harmonica player for Wall of Voodoo. Acme Soundtracks' office was across the street from the

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

punk club

The Masque The Masque was a small punk rock club in central Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, California which existed from 1977 to 1978. It is remembered as a key part of the early LA punk scene. History The Masque was founded by Scottish-American rock ...

and Ridgway was soon drawn into the emerging punk/new wave scene.

Marc Moreland Marc Moreland (January 8, 1958 – March 13, 2002) was an American rock musician. He was the former guitarist for rock band Wall of Voodoo, punk band The Skulls, and rock bands Pretty and Twisted and Department of Crooks. He also released a solo ...

, guitarist for the Skulls, began jamming with Ridgway at the Acme Soundtracks office and the soundtrack company morphed into a new wave band. In 1977, with the addition of Skulls members

Bruce Moreland Bruce "Ravens" Moreland (born January 22, 1959) is an American rock musician and songwriter. He has worked with such bands as Wall of Voodoo (with his brother Marc Moreland), The Weirdos, Nervous Gender, and Concrete Blonde among others. As of 20 ...

(Marc Moreland's brother) as bassist and Chas T. Gray as keyboardist, along with

Joe Nanini Oliver Joseph Nanini (1955 – December 4, 2000) was an American rock drummer, most famous for being the percussionist and a founding member of new wave group Wall of Voodoo during their heyday in the 1980s. He was known for playing with pots, ...

, who had been the drummer for the Bags, the Eyes, and

Black Randy and the Metrosquad Black Randy and the Metrosquad was an American punk rock band from the late 1970s and early 1980s in the Los Angeles punk scene. They gained notoriety not only for their surreal and smutty sense of humor, but also for their amalgamation of pro ...

, the first lineup of Wall of Voodoo was born. The band was named Wall of Voodoo before their first show in reference to a comment made by Joe Berardi, a friend of Ridgway's and member of

the Fibonaccis The Fibonaccis were an American art rock band formed in 1981 in Los Angeles. The band consisted of songwriters John Dentino ( keyboards) and Ron Stringer (guitar), Magie Song (vocals), Joe Berardi (drums) and later Tom Corey (bass). Formation Th ...

. Berardi was listening to some of the Acme Soundtracks music Ridgway and Moreland had created in their studio. When Ridgway jokingly compared the multiple-drum-machine- and

Farfisa Farfisa (Fabbriche Riunite di Fisarmoniche) is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professiona ...

-organ-laden recordings to

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

Wall of Sound The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of session m ...

, Berardi commented it sounded more like a "wall of ''voodoo''" and the name stuck. According to Ridgway, "I've always been interested in Phil Spector and his wall-of-sound approach to recording. And Wall of Voodoo seemed to describe best what we were doing."

1977–1983

Wall of Voodoo released a self-titled EP in 1980 which featured a synthesizer-driven cover of "

Ring of Fire The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. The Ring o ...

." The second half of "Ring of Fire" features a dissonant guitar solo covering the theme to the 1966 film ''

Our Man Flint ''Our Man Flint'' is a 1966 American spy-fi comedy film that parodies the ''James Bond'' film series. The film was directed by Daniel Mann, written by Hal Fimberg and Ben Starr (from a story by Hal Fimberg), and starred James Coburn as maste ...

.'' The band's first full-length album, '' Dark Continent'', followed in 1981. Much of the material from this record would feature in live shows over the next few years, such as "Red Light", "Animal Day" and fan favorite "Back In Flesh". Bruce Moreland left the band for the first time soon after this, and Chas Gray performed both bass and synthesizers during this time. The band recorded their biggest-selling album, '' Call of the West'', in 1982. A single, " Mexican Radio," about

border blaster A border blaster is a broadcast station that, though not licensed as an external service, is, in practice, used to target another country. The term "border blaster" is of North American origin, and usually associated with Mexican AM station ...

radio stations, became an international hit, peaking at #18 in Canada, #21 in New Zealand and #33 in Australia. It also reached #64 in the UK, and was their only Top 100 hit in the United States. As well, the video received considerable exposure on the newly formed

. Bill Noland was added as a keyboardist soon after the release of '' Call of the West''. That same year, Wall of Voodoo opened for

the Residents The Residents are an American art collective and art rock band best known for their avant-garde music and multimedia works. Since their first official release, ''Meet the Residents'' (1974), they have released over 60 albums, numerous music vi ...

on the cult band's inaugural tour, "the Mole Show," at Perkins Palace in Pasadena, Halloween 1982, and for

Devo Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...

's ill-fated televised 3-DEVO Concert in October. Wall of Voodoo opened for

Oingo Boingo Oingo Boingo () was an American new wave band formed by songwriter Danny Elfman in 1979. The band emerged from a surrealist musical theatre troupe, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, that Elfman had led and written material for in the ye ...

on their '' Nothing to Fear'' tour at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara in March 1983. Stan Ridgway claims that the situation around the band was increasingly chaotic during this era, with a great deal of drug use and out-of-control behavior on the part of the band members, as well as shady behavior by the band's management and

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

. Wall of Voodoo appeared at the second

US Festival The US Festival (''US'' pronounced like the pronoun, not as initials) was the name of two early 1980s music and culture festivals in southern California, held east of Los Angeles, near San Bernardino. Background Steve Wozniak, cofound ...

on May 28, 1983 (the largest concert the band had performed), immediately after which Ridgway, Nanini, and Noland all left the band. Stan Ridgway soon went on to a successful solo career. He appeared as a guest vocalist on a track on the ''

Rumble Fish ''Rumble Fish'' is a 1983 American drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It is based on the 1975 novel ''Rumble Fish'' by S. E. Hinton, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Coppola. The film stars Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Vincent Span ...

'' score and released his critically acclaimed debut solo album ''

The Big Heat ''The Big Heat'' is a 1953 American film noir crime film directed by Fritz Lang starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, and Jocelyn Brando about a cop who takes on the crime syndicate that controls his city. William P. McGivern's serial in ''The ...

,'' which included the single "

Camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the ...

", a top ten hit across Europe, in 1986. Joe Nanini soon resurfaced in the

country rock Country rock is a genre of music which fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal s ...

band Lonesome Strangers.

1983–1988

The remainder of the band, Marc Moreland, Chas T. Gray and a returning Bruce Moreland, carried on under the name Wall of Voodoo. Soon after,

Andy Prieboy Andy Prieboy (born April 17, 1955) is an American musician, songwriter, and author. He was lead singer of the band Wall of Voodoo from 1983 to 1988. He went on to record solo albums, musicals and wrote a novel. Life and career Prieboy was bor ...

, formerly of the San Francisco new wave band Eye Protection, joined as singer and Ned Leukhardt was added as drummer. They issued a UK-only single "Big City" in 1984, and contributed a track to the film '' Weird Science'' in 1985. Later that year, they released ''

Seven Days in Sammystown ''Seven Days in Sammystown'' is the third studio album by American rock band Wall of Voodoo, released in 1985. This was the first Wall of Voodoo album to include Andy Prieboy on vocals and Ned Leukhardt on drums—following the departure of fron ...

''. The first single, "Far Side of Crazy", did well in Australia, reaching number 23 on the ARIA charts. The song is still heard today on the Austereo Triple M network. In 1987, the band released their fourth studio album, ''

Happy Planet Happy Planet is a private company in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, known for making organic juices and smoothies. The company was started in 1994 by Randal Ius and Gregor Robertson. They originally started out with one farm producing carr ...

''. The album, their second with Andy Prieboy as frontman, saw ''Call of the Wests

Richard Mazda Richard Mazda (born 5 May 1955) is a record producer, writer, musician, actor and director. Music career Mazda was one of the co-founders of Poole punk/mod band Tours, singing and playing lead guitar. They signed to Virgin Records in 1979 aft ...

returning as producer. ''Happy Planet'' spawned another hit in Australia: a cover of

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

' "Do It Again," which charted at #40 there. The video for the song featured the Beach Boys' own

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...

. Bruce Moreland left the band prior to the subsequent tour. In 1988, Wall of Voodoo split up and Andy Prieboy and Marc Moreland went on to solo careers.

After 1988

In 1989, a post-breakup live album entitled ''

The Ugly Americans in Australia ''The Ugly Americans in Australia'' is a live album by American rock band Wall of Voodoo, mostly recorded at the Palace Theatre in Melbourne in August 1987, during the group's Australian tour. Background Bassist Bruce Moreland had departed the ...

'' was issued, which documented their 1987 tour of Melbourne, Australia. (Additional performances from a date in Bullhead City, Arizona, were also included.) Stan Ridgway, Andy Prieboy and Marc Moreland all embarked on solo careers throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Joe Nanini released an EP under the name Sienna Nanini in 1996. Two former members died in the early 2000s: Joe Nanini suffered a

brain hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

on December 4, 2000 and Marc Moreland died of kidney and liver failure on March 13, 2002. On July 18, 2006 a Stan Ridgway-fronted Wall of Voodoo performed at the

Pacific Amphitheatre The Pacific Amphitheatre is an amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, Orange County, California. The amphitheatre is located on the grounds of the OC Fair & Event Center. It opened in July 1983 on the site of the model railroad building of the fairgrou ...

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

as an opening band for

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...

. However, other than Ridgway, none of the surviving Wall of Voodoo members were included in this lineup: Joe Berardi and Voodoo producer

performed instead. Ridgway's album ''Snakebite: Blacktop Ballads and Fugitive Songs'' (2005), features the narrative song, "Talkin' Wall of Voodoo Blues Pt. 1," a history of the band in song. A remastered coupling of ''Dark Continent'' and ''Call of the West'' was released by

Raven Records Raven Records was an Australian record label that specialised in retrospectives and reissues or recordings by American, British and Australian artists. Raven Records was established in 1979 by Glenn A. Baker, Kevin Mueller and Peter Shillito ...

on November 10, 2009. On October 2, 2012, Raven issued a companion two-disc set containing all three albums from the Andy Prieboy era (''Seven Days in Sammystown'', ''Happy Planet'' and ''Ugly Americans in Australia''), all remastered, including three bonus tracks. In 2015 Andy Prieboy stated: "We won’t do a Voodoo reunion without

Marc Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system o ...

. So until he shows up, sorry, no reunion."

Band members

Final lineup

– guitar (1977–1988; died 2002) * Chas T. Gray – keyboards (1977–1988), bass (1982–1985) *

– bass, keyboards (1977–1982, 1985–1988) *

– vocals, keyboards, guitar (1984–1988) * Ned Leukhardt – drums, percussion (1984–1988)

Former members

– vocals, harmonica, keyboards, guitar (1977–1983) *

– drums, percussion (1977–1983; died 2000) * Bill Noland – keyboards (1982–1983) ;Timeline ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:130 bottom:140 top:10 right:20 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1977 till:06/20/1988 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:2 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1977 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1978 Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:keys value:purple legend:Keyboards id:drums value:orange legend:Drums,_Percussion id:lines value:black legend:Studio_albums LineData = at:08/18/1981 color:black layer:back at:07/01/1982 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1985 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1987 color:black layer:back BarData = bar:Ridgway text:"Stan Ridgway" bar:Prieboy text:"Andy Prieboy" bar:MMoreland text:"Marc Moreland" bar:BMoreland text:"Bruce Moreland" bar:Grey text:"Chas T. Gray" bar:Noland text:"Bill Noland" bar:Nanini text:"Joe Nanini" bar:Leukhardt text:"Ned Leukhardt" PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(11,-4) bar:Ridgway from:01/01/1977 till:05/28/1983 color:vocals bar:Ridgway from:01/01/1977 till:05/28/1983 color:keys width:7 bar:Ridgway from:01/01/1977 till:05/28/1983 color:guitar width:3 bar:MMoreland from:01/01/1977 till:06/20/1988 color:guitar bar:Grey from:01/01/1977 till:03/08/1982 color:keys bar:Grey from:03/08/1982 till:06/06/1984 color:keys width:3 bar:Grey from:06/06/1984 till:06/20/1988 color:keys bar:Grey from:03/08/1982 till:06/06/1984 color:bass bar:BMoreland from:01/01/1977 till:03/08/1982 color: bass bar:BMoreland from:01/01/1977 till:03/08/1982 color: keys width:3 bar:BMoreland from:06/06/1984 till:06/20/1988 color: bass bar:BMoreland from:06/06/1984 till:06/20/1988 color: keys width:3 bar:Noland from:09/04/1982 till:05/28/1983 color: keys bar:Nanini from:01/01/1977 till:05/28/1983 color: drums bar:Prieboy from:05/29/1983 till:06/20/1988 color:vocals bar:Prieboy from:05/29/1983 till:06/20/1988 color:keys width:7 bar:Prieboy from:05/29/1983 till:06/20/1988 color:guitar width:3 bar:Leukhardt from:05/29/1983 till:06/20/1988 color: drums

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilations

* ''Granma's House'' (1984) * '' The Index Masters'' (includes the ''

Wall of Voodoo Wall of Voodoo was an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, United States. Though largely an underground act for the majority of its existence, the band came to prominence when its 1982 single "Mexican Radio" became a hit on MTV an ...

'' EP + bonus live tracks) (1991) * '' Lost Weekend: The Best of the I.R.S. Years'' (2011) #55 Brazil

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

Charts

Singles

EPs

Bootlegs

* ''Take Me to Your Leader: 78-79 Demos'' (contains early demos from 1978 and 1979) * ''Heaven or Anaheim Demos'' (all years of the tracks are unknown, but they appear to be demos from the Andy Prieboy era)

References

External links

Wall of Voodoo entry
a

JTL's Wall of Voodoo website
(archived at

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

)
Stan Ridgway Official website

Trouser Press entry

by Stuart Thornton, ''Monterey County Weekly'', July 21, 2005. {{Authority control Stan Ridgway American new wave musical groups American post-punk music groups Musical groups established in 1977 American alternative rock groups Musical groups disestablished in 1988 American dark wave musical groups Minimal wave groups I.R.S. Records artists Restless Records artists