History
The band formed as Miss America in 1989 with Koster as singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter, Liza Wakeman (violin), Alan Edwards (guitar), Paul Wells (bass guitar), and Keith Block (drums). After self-releasing cassettes to fans via their "Chocolaty Good Smash Hit of the Month Club", they released debut album All Jets Are Gonna Fall Today themselves. It was reissued in 1992 by Bar/None Records. All Jets Are Gonna Fall Today was released under the Chocolate USA banner after Miss America made legal threats. By this time Wells and Edwards had left with George Harris, Gerry Hammill, and Chris Irvin being drafted in. The lo-fi band released a second album under Bar/None entitled Smoke Machine in 1994, this time with core members Koster, Wakeman, and Block joined by Bill Doss, Eric Harris, and Jesse Rogers, before disbanding for other, ultimately more successful, projects. Their sound can be described as quirky, and containing many different sorts of instrumentation, which is a trait that went with Koster into The Music Tapes and Neutral Milk Hotel; present in their releases are Guitars, Bass Guitars, Standup Basses, Accordions, Concertinas, Rattles, drums, robot sound effects, organs, toy pianos, banjos, and numerous other instruments.
Member Bill Doss was announced dead on July 31, 2012, with the cause of death not yet confirmed.
Read more about this topic: Chocolate USA
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—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)