For a while, Grovur seemed to be one of the most promising young guitar bands in Milwaukee. Fronted by Jason Mohr, all smiles offstage and all passion and concentration on, the band released two discs of gritty but melodic music and appeared to have gained the attention of some national labels.
But Grovur disappeared last year and now Mohr is back with a new band, Telectro, and a major arts project, Imperfect Music and Literature, which features poets, writers and musicians on its Web site and will release music and publish books.
"Imperfect Music and Literature began in the winter of 2001 with the goal of fusing the two worlds of literature -- essay, fiction, poetry -- and music," Mohr says. "By putting an equal emphasis on both mediums we are looking to bring them to the public's attention as an interchanging pair of constants in our lives."
At the moment Imperfect exists on on the Web, but has a number of projects in productions. One is "Going to Dolpo," a hardcover book of travel literature by Timothy Doyle, who lives in Bangladesh. "Going to Dolpo" is about a young man's spiritual growth during his travels in India.
Imperfect will also release an EP this summer by Mohr's band Telectro, which also features Aaron Schleicher on bass and vocals, James Krustina on drums and vocals and the newly-arrived Nicole, who plays keyboards.
The group, which draws on the spirit of the likes of Uncle Tupelo and Neil Young, is a major departure from Grovur.
{INSERT_RELATED}"The entire reason for the breakup of Grovur is for me to actually develop a band that reflected how I wrote and what I recorded outside of what we did as a group," Mohr says.
"I really excited about the EP we will be releasing this summer. It hits upon so many of my musical influences; from Neil Young, Gram Parsons and Towns Van Zant to Wilco, Uncle Tupelo and Luna."
Yeah, but what about the name? It sounds more like a new Parisian electronica duo than a roots rock combo from the American Midwest.
"Yeah, I chose the name Telectro because what we sound like -- more counrtyish, folk rock -- is in complete opposition to the "high tech" image the name conjures up," Mohr admits. "We're trying to keep things pure and simple during a time when so many genres of music seem to be embracing the computer age. We're definitely not retro though. Take Wilco, for instance. I believe them to be the modern-day equal to The Byrds or The Lovin Spoonful or Dylan. I can relate to the timeless quality that all those groups posess."
While the projects are being readied, you can visit Telectro and Imperfect online at www.imperfectmusic.com, where you'll find poetry, essays and more.
Telectro joins Trolley and Rub for a 10 p.m. gig Fri., April 18 at Reed Street Station, 430 S. 2nd St., in Walker's Point. The show celebrates the publication of "Going to Dolpo." Admission is $5.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
