Biography
WALKING WALL OF BEARDS, INCORPORATED
(a.k.a. WORLD OF WILD BEARDS, INCORPORATED)
Chris Knox, of the influential New Zealand-based band the Tall Dwarfs, was able to talk Jeff into slip back into the public eye, if only for one show. Said show took place on February 4th, 2001 at a venue called King's Arms in New Zealand. Jeff and then-girlfriend (I think) Laura Carter were there on vacation, and Chris already had a show booked for himself, and suggested the performance. Jeff agreed, but for one reason or another, didn't want to be billed as "Neutral Milk Hotel," or even "Jeff Mangum." Instead he chose the moniker Walking Wall of Beards, Inc. (but it was mistakenly promoted as World of Wild Beards, Inc. by Chris Knox), in tribute to a company by that name out of Philadelphia in the early 1900's that produced sound devices that apparently brought hair to life! Though the "band" was pretty much just a front for Jeff to play NMH songs solo in relative anonymity, it can somewhat be thought of as a duo, with Laura sitting in on a few songs. Chris joined in a bit, too, but was considered more of a guest than a full-fledged WWoB, Inc. member.
Walking Wall of Beards, Incorporated, was a company that existed in the early 1900's in America where they would make these sound devices which were pleasing to beard hair and pubic hair, but they were inaudible to the human ear. And if you bought one and you turned it on in your house and all the pubic hair in your house and if you lived near a barber shop you were really doing good, all the hair that was laying around would form walls and walk around. So if you were living, like say in Philadelphia in the 1900's, it wouldn't be unusual to see a wall of hair walking around. And we wanted to do this post nervous breakdown gig in tribute to that company that was thousands of years ahead of its time. And one day we will all look like fools for not having beard walls to walk around with. Because in the future it's going to be really hip.
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