Wazmo Nariz

From MadhattanJack 05/26/2026 05:40 | #314601

Wazmo Nariz were one of those bands whose frontman insisted on inventing a fake name for himself that would also be used as the band name, so that if he and the band ever parted ways, he could just carry on as "Wazmo Nariz" and nobody would be the wiser. The only issue with this is that the band were much better than the singer himself, so there was probably some resentment stemming from this arrangement, which no doubt contributed to the dissolution of the band. Most likely, however, nobody realized that this was a kind of "circular firing squad" situation because in 1979, having a "weird-sounding" frontman was considered a sure-fire means of gaining success in the music industry. That mentality only lasted for a few months though, and by 1982, Wazmo Nariz were no more — with Wazmo himself (real name: "Larry Grennan") eventually relegated to providing backing vocals on Stan Ridgway's solo albums. He did a good job with that, though. You should check those albums out too, while you're at it.