On the third day of the 2006 Austin City Limits Festival, Junkmedia had the opportunity to interview three of the four members of Austin's own What Made Milwaukee Famous. WMMF is a band that's hard to pigeonhole. Their diverse musical backgrounds and influences produce a sound that sits comfortably in a number of genres (rock, pop, indie rock, 80's new-wave, and even alt-country.) The "Austin sound" weaves its way through their music and while on record lead singer Michael Kingkaid often sounds like Britt Daniel (of Spoon), live he has a variety of singing voices and sometimes even sounds like Bono.

We met up with Kingcaid (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Drew Patrizi (keyboards, vocals, guitar), and Jeremy Bruch (drums, vocals) in the media area behind the Heineken stage for an exclusive Junkmedia interview.

Junkmedia: So, Trying To Never Catch Up is your first album and it's just been released on Barsuk Records?

Michael: Well, we self-released a shorter version of it in 2004 but the cover art was red.

Drew: Yeah, for the Barsuk release, we've added four new songs and remixed it a bit.

Junkmedia: You guys are native to Austin so I assume you've been playing a lot around town. Was last year your first time playing the Austin City Limits festival?

Drew: Yeah, last year we performed at the festival as well as at the aftershow at Stubb's with The Black Keys and Arcade Fire.

Michael: The same day as the festival performance, we also recorded our appearance on the Austin City Limits TV show with Franz Ferdinand.

Junkmedia: Have you been to the festival before as spectators? What were some of your favorite acts?

WMMF: Ryan Adams, Cat Power, Ray Lamontagne, The Shins (the first time they performed at the festival), Wilco, and Elvis Costello.

Michael: Yeah even though I'm married, I'm also in love with Chan Marshall [Cat Power.]

Junkmedia: What do you consider your greatest lesson in life?

Michael: [Takes a deep breath] Greatest lesson? Don't mix tequila and Mad Dog 20/20.

Jeremy: How to fit the sound check into ten minutes. That and "Big Red Wine" [Apparently, a mix of the local energy soft drink "Big Red" with really cheap red wine.]

Junkmedia: Okay next question: Cats or dogs?

WMMF: Dogs! [All three]

Michael: Yeah, I have two dogs, Laynee and Ruby. I'd like to send a shoutout to Laynee and Ruby, haha. In fact, if you listen carefully to the album you'll hear that they do some guest vocals for us.

Drew: I had two beta fish but they died.

Michael: Yeah, they were trying to replace VHS fish; that's why they died.

Junkmedia: What are your favorite places to travel and what do you like to see?

Drew: Europe, definitely.

Michael: I've never seen Europe but I really want to. We're friends with Paolo Nutini and he wants us to come tour the UK with him, which would be really fun!

Jeremy: I actually enjoy touring around in our van, through Alabama and Pennsylvania especially, and eating trail mix.

Junkmedia: Do you bring family on the bus when you tour?

WMMF: Oh no, we only have a van, no bus. We tour modestly; we travel in a van and we usually sleep wherever we can find twelve square feet of floor space. We don't bring families on tour because it's not luxurious and they wouldn't have fun. One day maybe we'll have a luxurious bus and then we can bring families on tour.

Junkmedia: Do you guys like storms?

Jeremy: Sure, storms are fun to watch.

Drew: Yeah, but they're not good if they threaten peoples' lives.

Junkmedia: Were you worried about the hurricanes coming here after Katrina?

Michael: No, hurricanes don't really come this far inland. That's just the Bush dogma going all the way down to the weatherman, trying to keep everybody in fear all the time.

Junkmedia: Drew, speaking of storms, what's up with the Storm Troopers and the other postcards on your keyboards?

Drew: Oh, I'm just a big Star Wars fan. The "All You Need is Love" postcard is some random Beatles postcard that someone sent me and so is the one with the guy wrestling an alligator. We're thinking about doing some kind of Star Wars light saber show on stage actually...I'm just kidding, really!

Junkmedia: Michael, has anybody ever told you that you sound a bit like Bono sometimes when you sing? And Drew, does anybody ever mistake you for Beck or maybe a distant cousin?

Michael: No, I hadn't heard that but that's nice.

Drew: Oh yes, people say I look like Beck. I don't know why. I'd rather be told that I sound like Bono than that I look like Beck. I think maybe I'm better looking than Beck anyway.

Junkmedia: What do you consider ideal crowd behavior?

WMMF: Singing along to our songs...

Jeremy: Oh, and buying us drinks.

Junkmedia: What do you like to drink?

Jeremy: "Makers Mark on the Rocks." That's our traditional band drink. It's a bourbon whisky.

Junkmedia: Where do you practice? Where do you record?

WMMF: We have a little studio behind the house.

Junkmedia: Besides music, what do you guys like to do for fun?

Jeremy: Cook! I love to cook. I'm a chef at Z\'tejas. I especially like making anything liquid such as soups and salsa.

Michael: I like to run and to work. I run about nine miles [at a time.] I think that's not bad for a smoker and a drinker.

Drew: I like to go rowing with my girlfriend.

Junkmedia: Mike, what kind of work do you do? Would you ever do a marathon?

Michael: No to the marathon. Um, I've been at the same job for five years doing utilities.

Jeremy: Basically he's just a "tool bag," haha.

-photo courtesy of Capital Sports & Entertainment