What Made Milwaukee Famous

Hailing from Austin, TX, What Made Milwaukee Famous features Jeremy Bruch (drums), John Farmer (bass), Michael Kingcaid (vocals/guitar), and Drew Patrizi (keyboards). The indie rock quartet came together in 2003 to create a playful indie rock sound that's well suited for fans of Brendan Benson, Spoon, and The Wrens. In 2005, What Made Milwaukee Famous performed alongside Franz Ferdinand on Austin City Limits, becoming one of the few unsigned acts to play the celebrated PBS show. With additional showings at South by Southwest and a feature on DJ Steve Lamacq's BBC digital station 6 Music, What Made Milwaukee Famous signed to Barsuk in June 2006. A remastered, and slightly edited, version of their 2004 debut, Trying To Never Catch Up, arrived with four new tracks in August. For their next album, the band added guitarist Jason Davis (whom Kincaid had known since high school, when they were in a band together) and got production help from Chris Michaels, who'd toured with Sparklehorse. The finished product, What Doesn't Kill Us, then came out in early 2008. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide