When local musician Scott Wooldridge left town for Minneapolis, his brother Brian stayed here. And although the Wooldridge Brothers kept writing, recording and gigging, things definitely slowed down a bit for the band.
Now, the duo releases, "Days Went Around," its first studio disc in 10 years. The 14-track record is the result of some long-distance writing and recording around the country -- but especially in Milwaukee -- according to Brian Wooldridge.
The Wooldridges moved to Milwaukee from their native Kokomo, Ind., in 1984, bringing their band the Squares with them.
"We did all of it here (in Milwaukee at The Exchange and at Remote Planet in Port Washington) except for ‘Connecting to Aphrodite'," says Wooldridge. "Scott recorded that at home in Minneapolis and one bass part was done in Minneapolis."
When Wooldridge brought his long-time musical hero Chris Stamey -- of The db's -- on board for the project, the disc took on an even more long-distance aspect.
"We did it all via e-mail, snail mail, phone calls and FTP sites," says Wooldridge, noting that Stamey is based in Raleigh, N.C.
"I've been in contact with him since 2000 when I went to Chapel Hill, N.C., did a show with him here (in Milwaukee). We hung (later) hung out together at South by Southwest (in Austin, Texas)."
The Wooldridge Brothers began performing as a duo around the time that the Squares came to an end. In 1995, the group issued its first disc, "Skeleton Keys," on Don't Records, a label co-owned by Brian Wooldridge. "Star of Desire" followed in 1995 and helped the band build a regional and something of a national profile, garnering the brothers a publishing deal with Windswept Pacific. That deal led to musical appearances in films and network TV shows.
When Don't folded, the WBs released 1998's "Uncovering the Sun" in Europe. A disc of rarities and unreleased tracks -- "Unreel Hits" -- came out in 2003.
But the usually fecund songwriting squad got a little sidetracked by Scott Wooldridge's 1998 move to Minneapolis and the fact that both brothers got married and had kids. During that time Brian Wooldridge did stints playing bass with Stephanie Dosen and Michelle Anthony.
Although they kept writing during that period, Brian Wooldridge says a lot of the material wasn't up to snuff.
"We had a batch of songs that we just pitched out over those years," he says. "We did home demos. We were both busy with life and with Scott in Minneapolis, it was hard to schedule recording time. I didn't feel the quality was there. We did try to do some, I think in 2004. Those recordings of ‘Hey' and "The Last Word' are on this album (remixed) and that version of ‘This Rain' was released on the OnMilwaukee.com sampler."
In 2007-08, a new set of songs emerged and combined with the best of what the WBs already had led to "Days Went Around," released by Los Angelese-based Media Creature Music.
"I think the oldest song is from 2003," says Wooldridge, "so nothing 10 years old."
The result is a disc firmly rooted in the WBs tradition of intelligent lyrics built atop a bed of roots rock music with an edge that remains from Scott and Brian's years as fans of punk and new wave.
But the fact that they are both long-time fans of the likes of Elvis Costello, Squeeze, Bob Dylan and Van Morrison remains apparent on these well-crafted songs dished up in simple arrangements and with solid musicianship.
Although Brian Wooldridge admits that the band's touring days are likely over, thanks to family commitments, the duo expects to celebrate the release of the record with gigs.
"Will we play out," he says. "We are talking of playing in Milwaukee and Minneapolis after the first of the year."
Meanwhile, "Days Went Around" is released on the Internet on Dec. 9 and in shops on Feb. 3, 2009.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
