wynona riders - demo 1991

in keeping with the theme today of early 90s northern california bands, here's a demo from the bay area's wynona riders. this demo goes back to the days of tape trading through snail mail (ha! remember that!?). unfortunately though, it was obtained from a hasty trader who couldn't be bothered with copying inserts or even writing track lists. yet, it is still worthy of a post here, since this band was one of my favourites from the bay area lookout records pop-punk onslaught of the early nineties. the wynona riders were formed from members of a couple of other notable bands such as the soup, filth, vagrants, pot valiant, and sweet baby.

i believe this is the demo mentioned in their following bio from lookout records:
I encountered THE WYNONA RIDERS first at a Sunday afternoon show at Gilman Street with a dozen or so other people. I was still new enough that I jumped at any chance to hang out at the graffiti-coated club and be bombarded by any manner of punk rock allowed to mount the stage. Sunday afternoon shows were musical pot lucks: they seemed to book bands that pestered the staff for so long they had to be given a show—my own first band was one of them. They were almost always all local bands that I'd never heard of, but it was fun to just hang around, and if the band sucked you could talk outside on the sidewalk. When THE WYNONA RIDERS started playing, I looked up from whatever conversation I was engaged in. They sounded good, the songs were melodic and catchy, and they seemed well-practiced, unlike the other bands they were appearing with that day. Pat and I were putting together The Can of Pork Compilation, and I asked the vocalist, Skip, who later ran for mayor of Alameda, CA, if they wanted to contribute a song. He gave me their demo tape, with which I became preoccupied. Their music was even more infectious on further listenings, and the lyrics were cryptic, humorous poetry—or at least, I hoped they were because they made me laugh. THE RIDERS went through some lineup changes and two East Bay band veterans and scenesters, Richie Bucher (SOUP, SWEET BABY) and Dave E.C. (FILTH, THE VAGRANTS) ended up in the band. Lookout! released a 7"EP, then recorded demos for an LP when the band broke up, all in 1992. Then in 1995, THE WYNONA RIDERS reformed in response to the resurgence of '92 era melodic pop-punk. The time seemed perfect. After two ambitious and arresting releases, THE WYNONA RIDERS broke up again over the question of whether to internet or internot. Skip and '95 era guitarist Joe Selby went on to form the short-lived but still great TOYBOAT.—Christopher Appelgren

wynona riders - demo 1991 [cassette rip]
http://sharebee.com/cfec8c55
mp3 320kbps VBR [34.88 MB]

01 rescue
02 break
03 childhood game
04 crazy, man
05 downtown
06 unknown

edit - thanx to laurent for IDing the tracks!!

one video found on the youtubes:
The Wynona Riders - Squirrel Happy

watch it on youtube

and the break-up of the band, from the wynona riders entry on wikipedia:
After a successful tour that saw the Wynona Riders play over 40 shows around the country in six weeks the band decided to try to stick it out with the touring line-up and began writing new material for a follow-up record. An interim release under the name The Nation of Wenonah was released on What Else? records out of Indiana as a split EP with band Lynrd's Innards. The EP was a send-up/tribute of the Washington D.C. band the Nation of Ulysses. As more new songs were written the style of the band was veering towards the agitpop styles of other D.C. bands from the early 1990's and Richie and Dave found themselves less than enthusiastic about the direction the band was headed.

Time was booked into Andy Ernst's Art of Ears studio, where "J.D. Salinger" had been recorded to do an EP for Lookout!, but before the band entered the studio they suffered something of a meltdown and broke up onstage at 924 Gilman St. in Berkeley, ironically while performing as the opening band for another Lookout! band, Fifteen's farewell show.

Skip and Joe formed the band "Toyboat" with former Red # and Hi-Fives drummer Julie Rose and bassist Adam Turk, E.C. joined the band "Three Years Down", and Richie went to work at a bakery. A short year later toyboat would disband and Joe Selby would join Three Years Down as their bass player with Skip moving to New York to pursue a career in information technology.

also, one member of wynona riders is (or at the very least, was) in a band called surface wound with members of too much joy.