Wurster grew up in the southeastern Pennsylvania town of Harleysville and began playing drums at the age of ten, taking lessons for a few years before playing in local bands.[5] In 1984 Wurster joined the psychedelic punk band Psychotic Norman. The band shared bills with the Minutemen, Die Kreuzen, and Suicidal Tendencies and recorded a three-song 7" EP before Wurster left in January 1986 to play with[6] rock band the Right Profile.[7]
Dickinson and The Right Profile began sessions for their debut album at Ardent Studios[11] in the summer of 1987, but never completed the album. The band continued for four more years, eventually changing their name to the Carneys.[12] A five-day recording session in 1989 produced by drummer Steve Jordan at New York City's The Hit Factory has been cited by Wurster as crucial to his development as a drummer. A cross-country tour to Los Angeles to find a record deal proved unsuccessful, and the Carneys broke up in August 1991. Andy York, the guitarist on the final tour, would go on to play with John Mellencamp.[13] The Right Profile's 1986-87 lineup reformed for a benefit show in August 2018 at the Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill.
Wurster replaced drummer Doug Whelchel in the Raleigh-based roots rock band The Accelerators for the recording of their second album Dream Train.[14][15] However, the band's label, Profile Records, stalled the release of the album for several years, resulting in the band going on hiatus.[14] When Dream Train was finally released in 1991, front man Gerald Duncan and Wurster were the only returning members for show at a The Brewery in Raleigh on October 4, 1991.[14] Although Wurster had already joined Superchunk, he continued playing with the Accelerators for their limited tour in support of Dream Train, but eventually left the band to devote more time to his new band.
Wurster moved to Chapel Hill in March 1991 and joined the band Superchunk in October just before the release of its second album, No Pocky for Kitty. Wurster has drummed on every Superchunk album since No Pocky.[16]
After eleven years of recording and touring, Superchunk went on hiatus in 2002. During the hiatus Wurster worked with Caitlin Cary (2002); The Minus 5 (2002); Marah (2003); Chris Stamey (2004), and Robert Pollard of Guided by Voices (2006).[17][18] In November, 2006 Superchunk played with The Mountain Goats at The Daily Show's tenth anniversary party at Irving Plaza in New York City. In addition to performing a comedy sketch with Samantha Bee of Daily Show, Wurster played three songs with the Mountain Goats. As a result, he was invited to drum on the duo's west coast tour in 2007.[19]
Fragmented World - Split Single (Inside Outside, 2014)
Metal Frames - Split Single (Inside Outside, 2016)
Dr Demento Covered in Punk (lead vocals and drums) - Philly Boy Roy (Demented Punk, 2018)
TV/DVDs
Wurster appeared in a 2002 UPS commercial playing drums with Kyle Gass and Charlie Daniels on a version of Daniels' song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia".[23]
The Electrifying Conclusion-Guided by Voices drums on I Am a Tree (Plexifilms, 2005)[24]
Wurster was a member of a drum section backing Katy Perry and Joe Perry on Queen's "We Will Rock You" during the opening of the 2009 MTV Video Awards.[25]
Wurster is the drummer on "Love Take Me Down to the Street"", a song featured in the 2010 film Role Models with Paul Rudd.[26]
On See a Little Light: A Celebration of the Music of Bob Mould he plays drums with Bob Mould, Dave Grohl, Britt Daniel, Margeret Cho, Grant Lee Buffalo, and Tad Keubler (Granary, 2012)
Wurster plays drums on the song "Fat Pussy" in Margaret Cho's 2015 Netflix special PsyCHO.
Wurster is the drummer in Test Pattern, a band featuring Fred Armisen, Bill Hader and Maya Rudolph, in the 2016 "Final Transmission" episode of the IFC series Documentary Now![27]
Wurster met New Jersey native Tom Scharpling on June 19, 1992 at a My Bloody Valentine/Superchunk/Pavement show in New York City. The two found common comedy and musical ground and became good friends. Over the ensuing years, Wurster and Scharpling kept in touch, coming up with comedy ideas that would eventually find a home on Scharpling's WFMU radio show.[28]
The duo's first performance on Scharpling's WFMU show occurred on November 19, 1997. It featured Wurster calling in as Ronald Thomas Clontle, the misguided, egotistical author of a music reference book titled Rock, Rot & Rule. Listeners believed the call to be a real interview with a real author and called in to argue with Clontle over pronouncements like "Madness invented ska" and "David Bowie rots because he’s made too many changes." The Clontle call was eventually released on CD in 1999 as Rock, Rot & Rule via the duo's Stereolaffs label. Rock, Rot & Rule saw its first vinyl release in 2015 on Flannelgraph Records.[29]
Scharpling & Wurster continued their partnership when Scharpling's The Best Show on WFMU debuted in 2000. During this period Philly Boy Roy, Hippy Johnny, Bryce Chastain and other beloved Best Show characters (all voiced by Wurster) were introduced.[30] Scharpling and Wurster released four best of CDs (Chain Fights, Beer Busts and Service with a Grin, New Hope for the Ape-Eared, Hippy Justice and The Art of the Slap) between 1999 and 2007.
In 2012 Wurster appeared in the music video for Aimee Mann's "Labrador", which was directed by Scharpling. The video was a tongue-in-cheek shot-by-shot remake of the 1985 video for Voices Carry by Mann's band 'Til Tuesday, and Wurster stood in for the abusive boyfriend originally played by Cully Holland.
The Best Show left WFMU in December, 2013 and relaunched a year later as The Best Show with Tom Scharpling on thebestshow.net[31]
In May, 2015 Numero Group released the 16-CD, 8-hour The Best of Scharpling & Wurster on the Best Show box set.[32] To promote the compilation, Scharpling & Wurster took their audio act to the stage, starting with four sold-out shows at Brooklyn's Bell House.[33] The duo then embarked on a U.S. tour performing live recreations of their Best Show calls as well as new material. Special guests during this tour included Kim Gordon, Vanessa Bayer, Britt Daniel, Steve Albini, Stephen Malkmus, Ben Gibbard, Chris Stamey and Wilco's John Stirratt and Pat Sansone.[34]
Scharpling Wurster appeared as couch guests on Late Night with Seth Meyers on May 14, 2015 and recorded their Scharpling & Wurster Live at Third Man Records album two days later in Nashville, Tennessee. Wurster is one of only a handful of artists to appear on Late Night as couch guest, musical guest and as a member of the 8G Band.[35] Wurster has appeared as an expert witness in the Judge John Hodgman podcast episode "A Trial of Two Cities".[36]
Wurster has written articles for Rolling Stone,[40] McSweeney's, The Onion[41] and Spin[42] and has been a contributing writer for Modern Drummer since 2003.[43] He has written articles about touring and recording as well as features on other drummers. Wurster has also contributed chapters to the following books:
The Drummer: 100 Years of Rhythmic Power and Invention (Modern Drummer, 2010)[44]
No Encore! Sixty Iconic Musicians on their Weirdest, Wildest, Most Embarrassing Gigs (Simon & Schuster, 2019)
In popular culture
In 1983 Wurster booked Philadelphia punk band The Dead Milkmen's first ever show (at the Harleysville Senior Adult Activity Center). Wurster was later name checked in "Stuart", a song from the Milkmen's 1988 album Beelzebubba ("You know that Jonny Wurster kid, the kid that delivers papers In the neighborhood? He's a fine kid. Some of the neighbors say he smokes crack, but I don't believe it").[46]
In the season 3 "Bush is a Pussy" episode of Mr. Show Bob Odenkirk tells his former Siamese twin (played by David Cross) that he is getting reattached, not to him, but to "Jon Wurster in Marketing."
A reference to Rock, Rot & Rule appears on a blackboard in a scene from the Comedy Central show Strangers with Candy.
^ ab"Jon Wurster (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved December 2, 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
