Walter Meego

Walter Meego is like the most delicious sandwich ever made; except it’s even better than that. It’s like the sound of a record collection exploding into a million shards of awesome. It’s like Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen, and Chuck Norris rolled up into one sweet, punishing bad-ass. Imagine a tsunami of malt liquor – we’re even more intoxicating than that. We beat the ‘96 Bulls 15 times… and they only lost 10 that year! We once collectively ate 700 pounds of chicken red curry, had a brisk walk, and rounded off the day with 12 additional hours of platinum-record-making studio sessions. Hold on… Pharrell’s on the other line… Someone once tried to declare us the winners of the 1960 U.S. Hockey Olympic gold. We insisted that we weren’t alive at the time. It didn’t matter. We’re like the ultimate evolutionary champion – like a wicked combination of Saber-Toothed Tiger, Polar Bear, and Hippo in one killer beast. Ever heard of Ghengis Khan? We ate him. We also ate all of Jamaica once. And it tasted good.

Chicago-based indie electronic duo Walter Meego began when Colin Yarck and Justin Sconza met at the University of Illinois in 1999. After a childhood spent studying classical and ragtime piano (he graduated to rock and jazz as a teen), Sconza played in a number of bands during college, dabbling in a number of styles. Yarck, who was influenced by Chicago's electronic music scene, became a beatmaker and DJ in 2002 while collaborating with his friend, fellow enthusiast Pat Pelligrini. When Yarck brought some of his musical equipment to school in 2003, he and Sconza began playing together for fun. After graduation the same year, the two went their separate ways, but continued to create music separately, with Sconza making tapes and Yarck and Pelligrini continuing their partnership. Sconza eventually joined them, and in 2004 the trio began performing as Walter Meego. Their first release, Walter Meego EP, was released in 2005 and earned praise from Rough Trade and Internet bloggers. In order to concentrate on his full-time job, Pelligrini left the group and was replaced by Jarrett Spiegel. Spiegel parted ways with Walter Meego in 2006; he was replaced during live shows by Andrew Bernhardt. In 2008, Walter Meego released their debut album, Voyager. ~ Katherine Fulton, All Music Guide