Updated 12 Jan 1998
News Just In:I have just recieved the following email from a Dutch Mega's Fan called Liesbeth who has recently been in contact with Wiz asking after details of what the band are up to at the moment and got the following reply. As for the drummer vacany, anybody interested can reply to either Liesbeth or me - cheers, Phil.
Here is some information which Wiz wrote to Liesbeth, a Dutch Megafan, on
5-1-98:
He admits that many musicians are not so well connected to e-mail and
Internet. In his words: "Oh yeah, the Internet - yeah, you're so right,
musicians and the world wide web; hey, we have people to do that kinda
stuff for us, leaving ample time to explore our tortured psyche and
contemplate our navels! But anyway, if you have the time and patience you
could post some info to the websites for me - and I'd be grateful of
course." I'm sure that if Wiz had posted this himself there would have been
a smiley after 'navels'...
So here follows the update, in his own words.
"O.K. where to start? Well, M.C.4 broke up about April 1996. I went to
Canada and played lead guitar for The Doughboys until the end of that year.
Decided to start a new band with Gerry (M.C.4 Bass-player) early last year
and started looking 'round for other musicians.
"We found a guitarist/singer, he is 25 and has never been in a band before
and his name is Shaun Streams. From there it gets a bit farcical! We found
a drummer and practiced for a couple of months until around October Gerry
had to quit the band. Luckily there are plenty of bass players around and
we found one quite quickly. His name is Patrick Hughes, he's 22 and used to
be in a band called HEADNOISE. Within 3 weeks of Pat joining we decided our
drummer wasn't good enough and we fired him! Since then (early December)
we've been looking for a new drummer, without success, although we've
auditioned quite a few!
"I guess if this info hits the Net fast enough we could advertise there,
but we really need someone quite close to us - that would be
Surrey/ Hampshire/ Berkshire/ London area.
"Anyway, we're called SERPICO (after an early 70's Pacino movie), so we've
got a good name and a bunch of cool new songs but no bloody drummer!
"I guess that's all the news for now. As far as the other M.C.4 guys goes;
Gerry is not playing but is still involved in music. Danny and Chris aren't
doing anything musically and I don't think they plan to in the future,
which is a bit sad really."
That's all for now, but Wiz promised me an update if anything interesting
happens.
A small insight as to the musical direction of Serpico might be the
following remark:
"The Hüsker Dü pic is pinned to the wall above the phone reminding me where
I come from (should I ever feel the urge to cop-out and go Brit-Pop!)"
It refers to a photo of the recording studio where Husker Du recorded their
first records, including Zen Arcade, on the back of which the request for
info was written.
Should anyone in the mentioned area want to reply to the drummer vacancy,
mail to megalies@worldonline.nl and Liesbeth will forward your personal
details to Wiz.
Thanks to Liesbeth for the info - Phil.
Previous info: 20 Feb 1997
As of the start of this year Mega City Four have unfortunately split. I got a letter from Wiz a few weeks ago (early Feb.) in which he wrote saying that he and the other band members had decided to lay mc4 to rest and get on with their lives separately due to 'what had become a frustrating and depressing situation'. He also said that the band are still all good friends as thay have been for the last 10 years.
Some good news though, Wiz and Gerry plan to form another four piece in the near future which should sound quite a lot like the 'soulscraper' stuff they have done. Wiz says he has songs written and could be planning a tour 'sometime this year'.
If I get any more information I'll put it up as soon as I can - Phil.
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