Guido’s Racecar
by Kristen Winiarski
October 2008
Guido's Racecar featuring Max Ink's Lane Klozier on Drums (2nd from left)
Somewhat on-again off-again band, Guido’s Racecar has been on-again since 2007. Made up of Roni Allwaise on vocals, Mike Hoffman on guitar, Johnny Washday on bass and fellow Max Ink writer, Lane Klozier on drums, this relatively low-key “kinda glam & kinda punk [band]” as Allwaise calls it, had its start back in 1998. I had the opportunity to speak with Roni Allwaise.
Allwaise and roommate Scott Sloan formed band before it had a name. Allwaise says, “we [her and Sloan] were both compulsive writers so we decided to collaborate and within a short time we were looking for other musicians.” The story of how the current members came together is a rocky one, filled with creative differences, and disappearing and reappearing members. Allwaise tells it best, “Scott Sloan and I started writing songs together around 1998 with Charles Claymore a.k.a. Bombilla Blanca on bass and had rotating drummers. Lane joined in 2000 and that’s when we started calling ourselves Guido’s Racecar. We split a year or two after due to creative differences between Sloan and Claymore. Most of us left town to do other things…Sloan and I resurfaced in Milwaukee in ‘04 and we did a reunion show with Dan Reed a.k.a. Adjs on bass. We had way too much fun to stop and we started recording the ‘Real Fast’ album with producer Mike Hoffman. Halfway through the recording process Sloan left town again. We went on a short hiatus but continued to work on the album. In 2007, Mike decided to pick up on guitar and Johnny, who was playing bass with Lane in ‘The Buggs’ at the time started playing bass with Guido.”
As to how Klozier joined up, Allwaise says, “Lane had a coffee house called ‘Couch.’ Guido rented practice space in the basement….a mutual friend convinced him to try out for the band when he heard we were looking for drummers.”
Allwaise mostly writes the lyrics but she admits, “as of lately we’ve started collaborating more on lyrics and arrangements.” As to what she likes to write about she says, “all my ideas come from life and living it; love gone wrong, the state of the world, people I know, places I’ve been.” This draw from life, along with influences such as “Bowie, X, Jefferson Airplane, Patti Smith, Alice Cooper, form the message and the sound of Guido. As for who Allwaise enjoys listening to, she says, “I have phases with music…lately it has been Bowie (Ziggy Stardust era), Gun Club, the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black and random big band music.”
Although they have yet to release an album, they did release a five song E.P. called “Dirty Little Whore” that they always have available at shows as well as shirts and other memorabilia.
Look for them on November 1st at Max Ink’s 6th Annual Halloween Spooktakular at the Annex in Madison! What will they come as? Allwaise says, “it’s a surprise.” Guess you’ll just have to show up to find out!
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