High Point, NC

Alternative groove-popsters Why Store trace their origins to Muncie, Indiana's Ball State University, where vocalist/guitarists Chris Shaffer and Michael David Smith met up with Greg Gardner (then a drummer, later the bass player). After playing a few gigs as Emerald City, the trio recruited drummer Charlie Bushor and began playing around the area. In 1993, the band recorded Welcome to the Why Store for Blee-Hee-Hee Records and followed one year later with Inside the Why Store. Longtime keyboard player Jeff Pedersen was made an official member of the group, and the Why Store signed to MCA's Way Cool Music subsidiary for their first major-label effort, a self-titled LP released in 1996. The single "Lack of Water" did well on alternative radio, and the band released Two Beasts in June 1998, following it a year later with the double-disc concert set Live at Midnight. ~ John Bush