Dead Milkmen, Live in Our Backyard

Have you ever discovered something interesting existed, went to research it and ended up on an "Alice in Wonderland” rabbit hole adventure? That’s exactly what happened when researching this story about the history of punk rock in the Lansdale area.

The adventure began while speaking to friend and bassist for area band Black Friday Death Count, Sam Pinola. We were speaking about area music and the bustling scene at The Underground by Round Guys Brewing Company when we hit the topic of The Dead Milkmen. In August of 2018, Joe Jack Talcum, founding member of the legendary band, played a solo gig at The Underground to a large turnout. Soon after, I discovered that Joe had more of a connection to the area than I originally thought. Through Sam, I found out that The Dead Milkmen’s first show ever was in Harleysville.

Baffled, I started an Internet search of every possible lead that could confirm the claim. After numerous searches, I stumbled across a Twitter post from The Dead Milkmen’s account from July 6, 2013. The post referenced the upcoming 30th anniversary of when "the Dead Milkmen rolled into the parking lot of the Harleysville Youth Center.” Now the search was getting interesting.

I eventually stumbled across references to "that Johnny Wurster kid” in various quotes, publications and even lyrics from the The Dead Milkmen’s song Stuart. Come to find out, "that Johnny Wurster kid” was a close contact of The Dead Milkmen's drummer, Dean Clean. Jon and Dean grew up in the Souderton and Sellersville areas respectively. Through social media, I was able to connect with Jon Wurster directly and schedule a phone interview to learn about the mythical first show at a youth center in Harleysville.

One of the first questions I asked regarded the actual location of the show. I was unable to find any record of a "Harleysville Youth Center” in any searches or inquires. He quickly clarified that the show occurred in a parking lot in front of an old building on the property of the Senior Adult Activity Center in Harleysville. Both the activity center and the old building still exist to this day. Enthusiastically, he started remembering the lineup for the show as well as other vivid memories leading up to the booking.

Since Jon and Dean both lived in similar areas of Bucks County, they knew each other through various circles of friends and bands. After the lineup of The Dead Milkmen was solidified, Dean asked Jon if he knew anywhere that they could play, and he did. We discussed how Jon, then 14 years old, was able to secure a spot at the activity center to play at such a young age. He recalled, "There was a guy in my band who was twenty eight years old that was able to handle this, as I was obviously too young!”

He later recalled that the lineup included The Dead Milkmen, The Singles (which featured future Dead Milkmen tour manager Dan Mapp on bass) and a third band called Mr. Happy, which included Jon Wurster playing drums and singing, Dean Clean on guitar and Dave Blood’s brother on bass. Dave Blood was also a founding member of The Dead Milkmen along with Rodney Anonymous. Just like that, The Dead Milkmen were solidified into Lansdale-area music history DNA.