Wall of Voodoo

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Wall of Voodoo was a New Wave group from Los Angeles best known for the 1983 hit Mexican Radio.

The band's genesis was in a Hollywood company called "Acme Soundtracks", a commerically unsuccessful venture founded in 1977 by Stan Ridgway and Marc Moreland. The company's intent was to provide soundtrack music for independently produced low-budget horror films; unfortunately, they found few takers for their services. Instead, Acme Soundtracks evolved into a band that played live shows, as Ridgway (vocals, harmonica, keyboards) and Moreland (guitar) added Marc's brother Bruce Moreland (bass), Chas T. Gray (keyboards), and Joe Nanini (percussion) to the line-up.

The band was named Wall Of Voodoo before their first gig in reference to a comment made by Joe Berardi, a friend of Ridgway's. Berardi was listening to some of the Acme Soundtracks music Ridgway and Moreland had created in their studio. When Ridgway jokingly compared the recordings to Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound, Berardi commented it sounded more like a "Wall Of Voodoo", and the name stuck.

Actually, for new listeners, the voodoo reference was a little misleading, as it referred to the music's often spooky quality, as opposed to any Haitian or Caribbean influences. In fact, WoV's music could fairly have been described as a cross between early synthesizer pop (especially that of Devo) and Ennio Morricone's spaghetti western soundtracks. Adding to the music's distinctiveness was Ridgway's unusual vocal style, a half-spoken western drawl, and Nanini's percussive experimentation, mixing drum machines with found instruments such as pots, pans and various kitchen utensils.

In 1980, Wall Of Voodoo released their self-titled debut EP, which included a cover version of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire, as well as three original songs and a few snippets of atmospheric Acme Soundtracks work. In 1981 the band released Dark Continent, an album concerned largely with workplace issues as experienced for the first time by the young male.

After that album, bassist Bruce Moreland left the band, and Gray doubled up on both bass and keyboards. Now a quartet, in 1982 WoV recorded their best-known album, Call of the West, which included "Mexican Radio". Though "Mexican Radio" didn't make the top 40 in either the US or the UK, it was a sizeable underground hit, and the song's video received heavy airplay on MTV in the US and MuchMusic in Canada.

Wall Of Voodoo added Bill Noland as a touring keyboardist in 1982, but increasing tensions within the band eventually led to Ridgway "firing" himself as the band's lead singer after their performance at the 1983 US Festival. Ridgway would thereafter embark on a solo career, which netted him much critical acclaim and a top 5 hit in the UK with the 1986 single "Camouflage".

Noland and Nanini also left the band in 1983. WoV regrouped in 1984 with a new lead singer (Andy Prieboy), as well as a new drummer (Ned Leukhardt) and returning bassist Bruce Moreland. A 1984 single ("Big City") was followed by two albums from this lineup: 1985's Seven Days in Sammystown, and 1987's Happy Planet. The Sammystown album also spawned "Far Side Of Crazy", a minor hit single in Australia.

Bruce Moreland left WoV again before their final album in 1989, the live recording The Ugly Americans In Australia. After the final break-up, Prieboy issued several solo albums, and Marc Moreland recorded with Pretty & Twisted and Department of Crooks as well as issuing a solo album shortly before his death on March 13, 2002.

Nanini died on December 4, 2000.

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