World Gone Mad is an Austin-based brass and percussion rock band. We're amateur and professional musicians seeking the thrill that comes only with entertaining a live audience. Our unique instrumentation allows us to "Keep Austin Loud" without the aid of extension cords, generators or the purchase of carbon offset credits.

Meet the WGM Creative Team:

• Joe Kempenich - Director
  Joe is an IT executive originally from St Paul MN whose drum corps career began in 1975 and is still going strong. (This includes a 22 year break from performing - so yeah, the chops come back.)
   
• Frank Sgammato - Booking
  Frank is a high-tech hardware engineer originally from New York. His first run in drum corps experience started in 1970, and ended in 1981 when he aged-out of junior corps with the Garfield Cadets. He came out of retirement in 2005 to march next to his children with Carolina Gold, and he hasn't stopped playing since! He loves the activity and supports it any way he can.
   
• Brian Carr - Producer (Brass)
  A native of Ohio and an alum of the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps, Brian is a professional musician and an experienced systems analyst.
   
• Alan Hutcheson - Caption Head (Brass)
  A native of Texas, Alan is a charter member of the corps, its primary booster, and alum of the UT Longhorn Band.
   
• Michael New - Producer (Percussion)
  An Austin native and graduate of UT, Mike has over 20 years of corps, marching band and pipe band drumming experience.
   
• Steven Meadows - Corps Photographer
  Born in Houston, TX, Steven is the main photographer for Crash Photography. He started playing again after a break of 20 years when his daughter became involved in competitive junior drum corps. When he is not taking pictures, he is styling with black socks in our drumline playing multi-bass.
   
• Mike Yager - Recruiter
  Originally from New Hampshire, Mike marched multiple seasons with the Boston Crusaders in the mid 1990s. Mike is a former Marine Corps Staff Sergeant, having served with the 1st Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, and 3d Marine Aircraft Wing bands.
   

 

• Mike Reynolds - Executive Producer
  Mike is an experienced writer and voice-over artist with a background in all aspects of theater including improvisational training from The Second City. His drumline experience began with the Santa Ana Winds youth band in Orange County, CA in the early 1980's.