Tripping Daisy

Tripping Daisy was a rock band from Dallas, Texas. Their sound is often described as Beatlesque grunge. The quartet formed and began touring around the area in 1991. They began recording soon after and a local radio station began giving their song "Lost and Found" some air time. Dragon Street Records released Tripping Daisy's debut album Bill, a straight-ahead grunge-pop album except being characterized by overly processed vocals a la neo-psychedelia and a few very interesting transitions. All subsequent albums were released by Island Records; the album Bill was also re-released by Island. I Am an Elastic Firecracker lightened up on the vocal processors except when needed for effect. The arrangements were taken to a much more advanced level on this album, but fade in comparison to the improvements on their magnum opus Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb. Tim DeLaughter really found his niche as a vocalist and a songwriter on this album. Though minimalistic in some respects, the album is charactarized by an interesting fragmentary songwriting style, where a song can go from one vignette to a completely different other, and still achieve a seamless quality. The production qualities of Eric Drew Feldman and the band are a marvel, as is the intrumentation and glorious harmonies.

Wes Berggren was found dead in his apartment on October 27, 1999, due to an overdose. With the death of Berggren the band canceled its tours and stopped recording, officially disbanding on December 14, 1999. Their final self-titled album was released posthumously with Berggren's father Don playing a Fender Rhodes on the unfinished 'Soothing Jubilee. Their eponymous album was a warm symphonic affair with more beautiful instrumentation and playful lyrics, which rounded up this wonderful rock group by including a new version of 'One Through Four', a song originally featured on 'Bill', and the re-recorded edition showed the progress they had made in 6 years.

Frontman Tim DeLaughter went on to form the 24 piece symphonic rock band The Polyphonic Spree, along with Daisy bandmates Mark Pirro and Bryan Wakeland. Ben Curtis formed the progressive rock trio Secret Machines.