There’s nothing more tiresome than griping about the Wisconsin Area Music Industry awards—or the WAMIs, if you’re nasty—so let’s get down to brass tacks: the latest inductees to the WAMI Hall of Fame have just been announced, and they represent a nice glimpse of the state’s ever-fluctuating, multi-decade music scene. Legendary ’80s garage-psych outfit/Velvet Underground worshippers Plasticland will make the WAMI HoF cut this year, along with multi-talented Linneman’s/Locust Street Festival staple Sigmund Snopek and criminally unheralded (in Wisconsin, at least) ’60s pop band The Robbs.
The 2015 WAMI Awards show is scheduled for Sunday, April 19 at Turner Hall. Tickets are $15 for students, $35 for the general public, $59.99 for VIP singles, and $99.99 for VIP couples. WAMI members and non-members can still vote for the People’s Choice Awards until 11:59 p.m. tomorrow.
Below are WAMI-provided descriptions of the three 2015 Hall of Fame inductees:
ABOUT PLASTICLAND: Plasticland emerged onto the Milwaukee music scene in 1980, and quickly gained recognition nationally, as one of the uniquely successful psychedelic garage rock bands. The band signed to Enigma Records, as well as several European labels, and released a total of seven recordings, with newly reissued material due out in 2015 on the Cherry Red label.
ABOUT SIGMUND SNOPEK: Sigmund Snopek has been a staple within the Wisconsin music scene and points beyond, since the late 1960s as a performer, composer, recording artist, bandleader and orchestrator. The genres for which he has received acclaim range from progressive rock to classical symphonies.
ABOUT THE ROBBS: Hailing from Oconomowoc, The Robbs are perhaps best known as the 1966-67 “house band” on Dick Clark’s 1960’s weekly television show, “Where the Actions Is.” The pop band signed to Mercury Records in 1966, and all of their single releases charted on Wisconsin radio stations.