I’ve had several people request this band so I thought I’d take a look at the 90’s neo
psychadelic group Tripping Daisy. Along with the band the Toadies — Tripping Daisy would become
one of the best known acts to come out of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. They would also sometimes
be compared to the Flaming Lips and even referred to as a lighter version of the band. The group
went through some difficult times and today, we're going to explore the history of Tripping Daisy.
The band’s origins dated back to 1990 when frontman and guitarist
Tim DeLaughter’s girlfriend and current wife introduced him to guitarist Wes Berggren.
Berggren and Delaughter’s girlfriend wwere in the same class at the University of North
Texas & Bergreen happened to be friends with bassist named Mark Pirro. A drummer named
Jeff soon joined as drummer but was eventually replaced by Bryan Wakeland and the band’s lineup
was solidified. The early shows of Tripping Daisy saw the band play in front of only a few people..
But after adding psychadelic lights shows to the band’s live performances the band
was soon playing to hundreds of people and they would start selling out the Dallas venue Trees.
The same couldn’t be said for the city of houston though. At one gig Tripping
Daisy got did at the venue fitzgerald’s even before taking the stage after guitarist. It had
turned out that guitarist Wes Berggren would relieve himself from the venue's patio down
onto fans who were waiting to get into the club . Missteps aside, Delaughter would tell the houston
chronicle about the band’s quick rise revealing "It was almost uncomfortable how quickly it
happened. "We felt almost embarrassed by all the attention. But we learned how to
get good with a lot of people watching. We sort of grew into the band" he'd say.
But the band’s expectations were also in check. Berggren would tell Dallas Morning News in 1993
We're in this for the long haul. We don't want to break on the first,
second record. We'd like to break on the third." The band would sign with local outfit Dragon
Records who released their debut record Bill in 1992. The album cover would feature DeLaughters
grandfather and it wasn’t long before Bill would become the best selling local album in Dallas
and their songs would be heavily played by local rock station KDGE who added the tracks lost and
found and one through four to their rotation. These two songs made the radio station list
of the top 92 requested songs that year. On top of that, the station invited the band to
perform at the local festival Edge Fest where they played to approximately 20,000 people.
But, it would be bilboard magazine that helped Tripping Daisy get national exposure
and the attention of big record labels. In the early 90’s the magazine had a section
called continental drift that highlighted some of biggest unsigned acts at the time.
One of those bands featured was Tripping Daisy. It would be a january 1993 featurette on Continental
drift that got record labels interested. That column revealed how Bill was the biggest selling
record in Dallas with about 15,000 copies being sold at the time and they also interviewed local
mom and pop record stores The owner for Bill’s Records and Tapes would would tell
the magazine that Bill was the best selling and most anticipated album in the store’s history.
David Dennard who was the co-head of Dragon Street Records would tell billboard “that is what started
it all the labels calling. I hadn’t even see what was written yet. Soon enough Dennard would send 50
to 60 promotional packs out to labels with about 5 or 6 showing significant interest in the group.
At the end of the day Tripping daisy would eventually sign to U2’s label island records.
Island would reissue their debut album "Bill" as part of their marketing strategy for the band and
soon enough Tripping Daisy would soon start making appearances on nationally syndicated programs like
Conan O Brien’s late night show on NBC. Since the internet was in its infancy and labels were
experimenting with it Island Records used it, to promote the band’s first major release for
the company. They would release 30 seconds of the album track Rocket Pop, as well as artwork
from the record and text from the band on both aol and compuserve to give music fans who were online
a sneak peek. On June 20, 1995 Tripping Daisy would release "I Am an Elastic Firecracker" & to
promote the record, the label used the word firecracker as part of their marketing strategy
and held pre-fourth of july parties in major cities across America. Each city held their
own kind of party. But according to Billboard, in Detroit for example the label would pick up fans
at a local club and drive them around the city while listening to I am an elastic firecracker.
Fans would then be sent home with 4th of july gift bags and a sampler cassette .
Firecracker produced the band’s biggest hit “I Got a Girl, which would peak at number 6 on the
billboard modern rock tracks chart. The song would be inspired by DeLaugter’s wife and serve
as a laundry list of her characteristics. He would tell Billboard “the relationship had been on-going
for 12 years and so i guess finally a song came out of it. The album would prove to be a moddest
success selling in excess of 300,000 copies. The tour to support the album saw the band open
for Def Leppard and Tesla. but the band had mixed feelings about these opportunities as DeLaughter
would tell Dallas Magazine how the band started to make decisions based purely on money revealing “we
got sucked into that environment where it was all about record sales. We became what we despised."
In 1998 the band would release Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb.
It would be the group’s first album to feature new drummer Ben Curtis who joined the group in 1997.
Their previous drummer Bryan Wakeland had left the group in the mid 90’s & It would be the album
DeLaughter was most proud of telling D Magazine "That record was going to be the one that was
going to transcend everything. That record was amazing." Unfortunately for Tripping Daisy. they
would be dropped by island records shortly after the album’s release. It had turned out Seagram,
the canadian liquor company purchased Island Records parent company polygram and it resulted in
corporate reshuffling and huge layoffs including Tripping Daisy. The corporate reshuffling led
the album to to not being marketed properly. Tripping Daisy would end up heading back to
their indie roots and released their self titled record on their own label in 2000.
Several months prior to their self titled album was due out DeLaughter received a phone call from
guitarist Wes Berggren’s father saying his 28 year old son had been found dead in his dallas
apartment on Oct 27, 1999. Wes' wife suspected something was wrong when her husband wouldn’t
respond to her cals. She in turn called his father . on October 27, telling him that Wes wasn't
responding to her. And he in turn rushed over to his son’s place which was a few minutes away.
Upon arriving at his son's apartment he knew it was too late. He would tell the dallas observer
"I knew pretty much that it was futile because of the temperature of Wesley's skin,"
"Then the medics came and went in there. They came back out a few minutes later and said,
'He's gone.' Hiscause of death would ruled a drug overdose. Wes' father would reveal to the Dallas
obserer how he spoke to his son one day before and how they talked about their common love of music
recalling "he liked to let me know that the music was going well, because he knew I thought about
that a lot." Looking back at his son's life, Wes' would tell the observer "He f****
up," he says. "He just f***** up. He made a mistake that caused him not to be able to wake up.
But I think that the thing that his mother and I always agreed on and practiced was that you
don't put your kids into a cage. You don't put them in a playpen. You don't put them on
a leash. What you do is stay within two or three feet of them and let them do whatever
they want. We just weren't around this time." The band would cancel subsequent tour dates and
finish up their recording on their self titled record. DeLaughter would tell Spin Magazine “It
was the hardest time in my life. I had just had 2 kids, lost my band and was completely broke.
But from that tough time in his life he kept hearing an overblown pop sound in his head
similar to the songs he loved when he was a kid & soon enough his former bandmates from
Tripping Daisy regrouped with Delaughter and formed the group choral group polyphonic spree
who would go on to have quite a bit of success. Machines with his brother Brandon Curtis,
but sadly the group's drummer would pass away due to complication from lymphoma in 2013.
But In 2017 the Tripping Daisy reunited with DeLaughter telling the dallas observer how that
happened revealing My kids and their friends have been listening to Tripping Daisy and they never
got to see Tripping Daisy. I think it has a lot to do with them – why I decided to go ahead and
go for it….. “I’ve missed Tripping Daisy since the day it was done,” & the reunion would add
guitarist Nick Earl, Ben Curtis brother Brandon would play keyboards and guitar for the band,
while old drummer Bryan Wakeland would rejoin the group after leaving in the mid 90’s.
While the band hasn't put out a new record since reforming in 2017, they're still pretty
active on the touring circuit. That does it for today's video guys thanks for watching. Be sure
to hit the like button & subscribe. We'll see you again on rock n' roll true stories. Take care.