Medieval Wig (or simply "Wig") is a countercultural musical supergroup formed 1963–1964 from the remnants of Ben Soto's backing band after he was deported by the state on charges of "inciting to conspire."
Lineup
- Roger Ghostling: Lead Vocals, 2nd Lead Guitar, 4th Lead Guitar, Zither
- Eddie Elro: 1st Lead Guitar, 2nd Bass, MIDI Sax, Backing Vocals
- Bob St. Josep: keyboards, electric harp, Tenor Flute, 3rd Lead Guitar, Vocals
- Marcos Palomino: Lead Bass, 2nd Drums, 5–7th Lead Guitar
- Louier Mastadon: Lead Drums, Cong, Spoken Word
Musical Style
Medieval Wig is known for it's unique brand of frenetic jazz rock (in the spirit of Soto Jazz) and their electrifyingly long performances, sometimes lasting more than 12 hours. They were the first band to incorporate electric guitars into their live shows; before that, the electric guitar was just a novelty used for making spooky sounds. They are also known to dabble in Black MIDI, but have developed a distinctly dialed-back approach since former drummer Don Cello passed away from the strain of such performances.
The Minotaur Incident
During a now infamous stadium concert at the St. Albert Village Arena in 1970, a minotaur policing unit interrupted the show by driving up onto stage and arresting the members under claims of noise violations. According to an interview with Roger Ghostling in Blythe Magazine the following week:
Louier was really getting into some interesting polyrhythms, and at first we all just rushed it to push it back off the stage, but of course it started to fall and next we knew, we’d knocked it over into the pit and it started smoking and sparking. Well, we threw some old trashed-out amplifier on it and kept playing. Got arrested. Good show. The band and all 8,533 people in the audience were charged with assault of a police unit, but were ultimate acquitted due to the vigorous council of defense attorney Dan Djini.