Chocolate USA

Chocolate USA
Origin	Tampa Bay, Florida
Genres	Indie rock
Years active	1989–1994
Labels	Bar/None Records
Associated acts	Music Tapes, Neutral Milk Hotel
Past members
Julian Koster Liza Wakeman Keith Block Alan Edwards Paul Wells George Harris Gerry Hammill Chris Irvin Bill Cullen Hart Eric Harris Jesse Rogers

Chocolate USA was an American indie rock band from Tampa Bay, Florida formed in 1989 as Miss America. The band featured Julian Koster who went on to join The Music Tapes and Neutral Milk Hotel.

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).^[1] 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.^[1] All Jets Are Gonna Fall Today was released under the Chocolate USA banner after Miss America made legal threats.^[1] By this time Wells and Edwards had left with George Harris, Gerry Hammill, and Chris Irvin being drafted in.^[1] 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 Cullen Hart, 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 [specifically on Smoke Machine], organs, toy pianos, banjos, and numerous other instruments.

Releases

• All Jets Are Gonna Fall Today (1992), Bar/None - Cassette/CD
• Smoke Machine (1994), Bar/None - CD/cassette

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Strong, Martin C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-335-0, p. 673-4

External links

Official Sites

• Chocolate USA's Bar/None Profile