SHAKESPEARICON SPOTLIGHT

An oral history podcast about and with members of Trip Shakespeare, a Minneapolis-based quartet who earned a loyal cult following for their playful but literate alternative art-pop. In early 1985 when Harvard anthropology grad Elaine Harris answered an ad looking for “wicked percussion hands” posted by English major Matt Wilson. Harris and Wilson would relocate to Wilson’s hometown of Minneapolis and found Trip Shakespeare, along with John Munson, a Chinese-language major at the University of Minnesota. After issuing a debut LP, 1986’s “Applehead Man,” on local label Gark Records, the band soon expanded to include Dan Wilson, a graduate student in art and Matt’s elder brother. With a more fleshed-out harmonic sound the band released their second album, 1988’s “Are You Shakesperienced?” on Gark, then Twin/Tone. In late 1989, the band signed with A&M, releasing “Across the Universe” in April of 1990, followed by “Lulu” in September of 1991. With each subsequent release the group showed off a maturing command of its unique approach to the pop music form with increasingly higher production values and studio experimentation. Neither album could match the success they achieved as a live touring act, and after Trip Shakespeare recorded a six-song EP of cover tunes entitled Volt, A&M rejected the project and dropped the band. (Twin/Tone records would belatedly release Volt in 1994.) Elaine relocated to her hometown in the Boston area. Matt Wilson continues to write and record his music through various solo and band projects. Dan and John went on to form the band Semisonic, scoring a hit with the now-classic 90’s alt-rock single “Closing Time.” Podcast host Morgan Taylor plays together with Munson in the Grammy-nominated music-and-art project Gustafer Yellowgold.