The Members:

Mark: Lead Vocals, Bass Guitar, Electric and Acoustic Guitars

Kevin: Lead Guitar and Backing Vocals

Rob: Drums

The Story:

Bil and Mark met in late spring of 1994 in physical therapy. Bil was recovering from ACL knee surgery and an eight-ball-a-day habit, and Mark was rehabilitating a twice broken left wrist sustained in a fender bender with Mt. Baldy. Bil found out, through a mutual therapist, that Mark was a bassist/singer/songwriter and started bugging the shit out of him to get together as soon as he got his cast off. Mark didnt really want to play with Bil because he thought he was full of shit.

But Bil remained tenacious, to say the least, until the week that Mark got his cast off and had no more excuses to give. They got together one morning in mid-June 94 and played for about an hour. They walked/hobbled away that day with the skeletons of 3 songs and a feeling of divine intertwining.

They continued to play/write for the next few weeks and then played their first live show at the Winged Heart Cafe in Fullerton. It was a whopping 3-song set performed plugged-in/unplugged style with electric guitar and bass, but through a crappy P.A. system with no mic. Response was great, but theyre still not sure if everyone was laughing at them or at their songs.

It was now time for a drummer and after a couple of auditions to no avail, they were re-introduced, as Weedpuller, to a local drummer, Rob (a long time acquaintance of Mark's who had also previously met and subsequently blown-off, Bil). Mark and Bil prepared an ad hoc demo tape for Rob and held an intense 2-hour audition to see if they were okay with him, and they passed. Actually, they took all of their equipment over to Robs house one fine day in July 94, and its all still there to this day, of course with a few choice additions. They call it the Rat Cave, mainly because of the quadruple layers of brown carpet on the floor and walls. Its really homey.

After weeding (no pun) through the 10 or so songs that they had at the time, they decided to finalize 7 of them by recording a demo on a 4-track cassette recorder at the Cave. They had rehearsed together only a handful of times before recording the tracks, mostly live. When the recording was completed, they were so thoroughly impressed with themselves that they decided to press it to CD, distribute it and become overnight rock star sensations. Robs brother, Mike, did a really awesome job on the artwork for the cover and insert and it was all very affordable. The result of this incredible experiment was Congenital, the best lookn, cleanest soundn demo any of them had ever had in their possession (that was their own, of course).

They sent Congenital out to random independent labels and distribution companies for consideration and sold a few here and there at gigs, local record stores and coffee houses in the area. But the most important result of Congenital was the feedback it generated from friends, strangers, and industry professionals, which greatly helped the song development of Weedpuller and defined what they do best musically.

Weedpuller continued to play frequently at local shows in O.C. and L.A. from October to December of 94 when much to Mark and Robs dismay, Bil moved to Las Vegas to reconcile with his family. Mark and Rob were happy to find out that the reunification was successful, but saddened by the loss of an extremely integral member of the band. They pressed on with a new guitarist, Michael, for the next 6 months, playing a lot of shows, when they finally admitted the obvious - the chemistry was just not there. So Weedpuller flickered to the point of darkness until October of 95 when Mark went on a songwriting rampage that lasted 5 months and netted the band 20 or so new songs.

Bil flew out from Vegas on New Years Eve 95 and Weedpuller reunited for a show for the first time in a year and it was magical at least. Rejuvenated, the three decided to record a full-length album with Bil commuting from Vegas periodically to record his tracks. The working title of the record is Girth and it is planned to contain 14 or 15 of the best tracks out of 20 or so recorded.

After several months of procuring all new recording equipment, pre-production for Girth began in the summer of 96. At the present time, about half of the songs have been recorded and mixed, the band has been having great fun and the fruits of their efforts are sounding very promising. Weedpuller is actively seeking distribution and promotion offers from reputable record companies.

Copyright © 1999 WP Publishing