ION INDIE MAGAZINE November 2015, Volume 18 | Page 72

Interview and Photography by

Chris Wurtinger

www.CWSnaps.com
I first saw THE MAD MAD ONES when they opened for SALIVA, and from that point on, I have been hooked.
Their music has been part of my playlist, even when the only thing I had were demos. I would go see them
whenever they played. I even got these guys to let me into the studio as they recorded. They may be a band
local to Wausau, WI, but their sound is anything but...
CW: Tell me about The Mad Mad Ones…
Ted: The way it started, my wife ran into Nick. We had no idea each other had moved back into the area.
This was about 5 years ago--it was Nick and I hanging out on Saturday night; jamming and drinking beer.
That’s all. Nick hadn’t played in 10 years, so he was a bit rusty. I hadn’t played in a band in at least 3 years.
Nick invited his buddy JUSTIN ZOPEL over--he’s a very good bass player, well known in the area. He came
over and jammed with us a couple of times. At one point he said, “You’re too good to just play in a
basement.” Nick and I talked, and decided to get serious. We brought in JOHN VAN SLEET on bass, a guy
we grew up with, and people started to notice us. TOM JORDAN of 20 WATT TOMBSTONE (formerly THE
GODDAMNS) came to see us and really liked us, He invited us to play some shows. That’s how we came
across Jeff.
Jeff: I saw the guys a couple of times--even played the same show with them--not realizing they were from
Wausau. I came across Nick one night at the store and said, “What you doing here? Don’t you live in Antigo?”
Nick says in his classic way, “No bro, I live in Wausau down on Shorey.” Come to find out--I lived just down
the hill from him! I knew John had left the band. I said, “I have a Bass rig. I can come over and we’ll jam. It’ll
be fun!” So I’m thinking that I’m gonna be playing bass. So I go over and jam bass thinking, “I got this, I got
this.” When we were done, Nick looks at me and says, “Why don’t you bring your guitar rig over?” All I could
think was, “Nope…didn’t get the bass gig.” Later, I was talking to Ryan--who played bass--and told him I
was jamming with these guys and we were playing straight-up Rock. Ryan was looking for a group--he had
the itch to play again. I go to jam the next night--ready to tell them about Ryan--and they have another guy.
Six months later--there was a job opening.
Ted: When we brought Jeff in we started getting a little more serious. But when Ryan came in, I think that’s
when things really got to a point where we said, “This is something.” We had gone in and recorded in
Minneapolis but we really didn’t like what we were getting. It just wasn’t what we thought it could be.
Jeff: It was just really clean sounding.