Viewpoints – Shocker Rockers

Since the birth of rock ‘n’ roll well over 50 years ago, Shockers have added their own sonic notes to the genre’s mix — whether on mono analog tape, multi-track recording, digital workstations or live at such Shocker-vibe venues as Somewhere Works or Kirby’s.

As the decades have passed, the sounds have changed: From the 1950s when local comedian Bucky Walters toured in one of Wichita’s first rock and roll bands, the Premiers, while a student at the University of Wichita. To Sheldon Coleman Jr. — of Coleman Company fame — who made waves in the ’80s with his band Dewy & the Big Dogs, best known for their album titled, “Corporate Rock.” Right up to the synthpop revivalism of Brave Boy, headed by the husband-and-wife duo Eric and Mary Harrison.

Rock ’n’ roll in all its guises has a rich Shocker history. Poet Michael McClure studied English at WSU before writing songs and performing with artists such as Janis Joplin, the Doors and the Band. Dan Weller, whose two degrees from Wichita State are in business, is a multi-instrumentalist, producer and writer.

The Jerry Hahn Brotherhood’s unique country-blues-inspired jazz-rock sound, the herky-jerky postpunk lyricism of the Embarrassment, the “Madwest Theory” of rap group Danoiz, the synthpop revivalism of Brave Boy, the rock stylings of Provost Monica Lounsbery and so many others — they each have their own distinct vibe, but their connection to Wichita State ties them together as Shocker Rockers.

VIDEO CREDITS

Michael Carmody, voiceover narrator

BANDS & PERSONALITIES IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:

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SHOCKER ROCKERS DIRECTORY

This is The Shocker’s directory of rock and roll, contemporary and underground musicians affiliated with Wichita State as alumni, faculty, staff, legacy relations or benefactors. Individual entries note their Shocker affiliation(s), bands performed with and notes of interest. Shocker alumni are either designated as graduates with grad years and degree emphasis listed or as former students (fs) with last known year of attendance.

A

• Alexander, Glenn | 1980, music performance; former faculty | Glenn Alexander & Shadowland (guitar, vocals); toured and recorded with a legendary list of music icons across rock, pop, and jazz fusion including Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Jan Hammer, Randy Brecker, Scott Healy, Elvis Costello, Liza Minnelli, and Levon Helm
• Ambuehl, Alex | 2019, nursing; current health professions faculty | Hearts in Bondage (bass)
• Ambuehl, Katie | 2019, general business; 2023, special education | Hearts in Bondage (lead vocals)
• Arpad, Chris | fs ’89 | Stainless Steel (steel pan, band manager, solo steel pan artist); as a member of Stainless Steel opened for such national touring acts as Santana, Tower of Power, Bonnie Raitt, and Head East

B

• Baker, Brody | current student | Brody Baker Music (singer, songwriter, guitarist/multi-instrumentalist); featured on drums in VIEWPOINTS: Shocker Rockers live set with Monica Lounsbery at Somewhere Works (2026)
• Banta, Alan | 1979, geology; benefactor | Storm, The Fabulous Shirtheads (guitar, vocals)
• Berkebile, Karl | fs ’69 | The Moanin’ Glories (keyboards)
• Brave Boy: synthpop, darkwave, dreampop duo of Eric ’12 and Mary ’16 Harrison. The duo’s catalog of original music includes A Faint Voice at Loudest, released in May 2026 and featuring such album tracks as “Walk Away”, “Oh Me, Oh Life” and “Take Back the Nite.” Brave Boy live at Kirby’s Beer Store on April 10, 2026 is featured in The Shocker magazine’s VIEWPOINTS: Shocker Rockers video (June 2026).

C

• Carmody, Michael | fs ’92 | The Sluggos, Winking Spaniard, Carganza (guitar, vocals, songwriter); voiceover narrator for the VIEWPOINTS: Shocker Rockers video
• Chastain, Lalanea | 2020, master’s degree in social work | Yale Street Players, Blue Eyed Soul (vocals); spanning blues, jazz, soul and Americana, the singer released the album Lucky One in 2025
• Coleman Jr., Sheldon | benefactor; legacy relation | Dewy & The Big Dogs (guitar, vocals); fronted band behind the 1985 LP Corporate Rock and its nationally broadcast MTV music video
• Collison, John | fs ’79 | Vonna Faye and Hot Kofy, Show-n-Tell, This Side Up, Private Parts, Pat McJimsey Band, Rudy Love and the Love Family and Friends; jazz, funk, country, soul and blues keyboardist who played with various bands in the Midwest before moving to Nashville and performing with such country artists as fellow-Kansan Martina McBride; later relocating to Las Vegas, where his main focus shifted from performing to production, and then on to Pennsylvania and  Oregon, where he has performed with the Donny Thorp Band, All Rights Reserved, and the Jeanne Gregg Band
• Coykendall, Mike | fs ’86 | Klyde Konnor, Tanglebrains (drums, guitar, vocals); after relocating to San Francisco, he formed the folk/Americana group The Old Joe Clarks
• Craig, Kit | fs ’86 | jazz saxophonist, The Blivets, Kit Craig Quartet (saxophone, keyboards)
• Curry, Dexter | 2026, music performance | jazz pianist who often performs at Walker’s Jazz Lounge in Wichita; featured on keyboards in VIEWPOINTS: Shocker Rockers live set with Monica Lounsbery at Somewhere Works (2026)

D

• Daly, Adam M. | chemistry professor; bass player | featured on bass in VIEWPOINTS: Shocker Rockers live set with Monica Lounsbery at Somewhere Works (2026)
• Danoiz: hip-hop duo of Keith “K-Swiss” Hope and Kerry “King Dunn” Dunn, with band producer Ed “Maestro” Hope, active in the 1990s. The group’s discography includes albums Cadillac Style and The Madwest Theory, the latter of which is also the title of a documentary about the band. Danoiz’s music video for the single “Caught in Production” was shot inside Wichita State’s Walter H. Beech Wind Tunnel.
• Dobbin, Harry M. | 1982, graphic design; in-kind contributor (design work for the WSU history department’s book Wichita Rock & Roll: 1950-1980, edited by Jay Price and published in 2017 with proceeds benefiting WSU’s public history program) | Harry & the Bushmen, Sawdust Charley, The FunTones (guitar, vocals)
• Drace, Paul | fs ’04 | Some Weird Sin, Monterey Jack

E

• Eaton, Jeff | fs ’91 | Split Lip Rayfield (bass); played the iconic, one-stringed gas tank bass custom-named “Stitchgiver,” helping pioneer the band’s internationally recognized “trashgrass” sound
• Eaton, Jon | 2010, art-sculpture emphasis | Softie, ULU, America-na-na
• Evilsizer, Brad | fs ’91 | Stainless Steel (percussion)

F

• Foley, Mark | faculty, bass professor, head of jazz studies | versatile bassist who incorporates rock, bluegrass and jazz into his teaching and performance, including as principal double bass with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra
• Follmer, Margaret | 2006, anthropology; 2010, anthropology | Dead Commuter (bass)

G

• Giessman, Brent “Woody” | fs ’81 | The Embarrassment, The Del Fuegos (drums); drummer for Wichita’s legendary post-punk pioneers before joining the classic Boston rock group The Del Fuegos
• Garcia-Glass, Arthur | fs ’79; also fs ’03 | Storm (drums)
• Goffrier, Bill | 1980, art-painting | The Embarrassment, Big Dipper (guitar); co-founded Wichita’s seminal herky-jerky post-punk group before moving to Boston to form the alternative rock band Big Dipper
• Gore, Andrew “Andy” E. | fs ’70, legacy benefactor (Harry Gore Memorial Scholarship) | The Moanin’ Glories (bass)
• Gouchenour, Gina | 1998, music studies; 2012, music education; 2015, master’s degree in music education | Hard Decision ICT, Dilemma (vocals)
• Graves, Gerald | 1976, music studies | Clocks, Across the Pond, Polite Force (keyboards, vocals)
• Gray, Sterling | longtime adjunct music instructor at Wichita State | jazz guitarist

H & I

• Hahn, Herb | fs ’87 | The Livers, Cornfed Rubes, The Blivets (drums)
• Hahn, Jerry | fs ’62; former faculty | jazz-fusion guitarist; internationally acclaimed jazz-rock pioneer who led the Jerry Hahn Brotherhood (noted for their unique country-blues-inspired jazz sound) and shared stages with Gary Burton and John Handy, among others
• Harrison, Eric | 2012, electronic media; part owner of Kirby’s | Hearts in Bondage, Boys Beware, Brave Boy (drums, synths, production)
• Harrison, Mary | 2016, English language and literature; part owner of Kirby’s | Brave Boy (lead vocals)
• Heinlein, Ryan | 2003, music performance-trombone; 2008, master’s degree in trombone performance | Ophil (trombone); Ophil, well-known Wichita-based ska and rock band fronted by Alex Thomas, put out the album Love Songs for Soccer Moms in 2004
• Holt, John | fs ’50s | The Premiers (lead guitar); introduced early electrified guitar instrumentation to the region as a student at the University of Wichita
• Iwasaki, Ai | 2009, sport management | Kanzashi (synthesizers)

J & K

• Johnson, James “Jim” W. | 1975, business administration | The Esquires, Harry & the Bushmen (guitar, vocals)
• Kenney, Alex | current student | featured on guitar in VIEWPOINTS: Shocker Rockers live set with Monica Lounsbery at Somewhere Works (2026)
• Klaus, Ron | fs ’79 | The Embarrassment (bass); anchored the driving rhythm section for the highly influential midwestern post-punk group
• Kunkle, Ritchie | fs ’70 | The Moanin’ Glories, Crank (guitar, vocals); writer/columnist for The Sunflower student newspaper in the late 1960s

L & M

• Leavell, Don | fs ’70s | Lotus (guitar, keyboards)
• Lounsbery, Monica | higher education administrator; current senior vice president and provost at Wichita State| featured as rock vocalist in The Shocker’s VIEWPOINTS: Shocker Rockers video filmed at Somewhere Works (2026); took up singing while an administrator at California State University, Long Beach, where she sang in the band Higher Education
• Masters, Bryan | 1983, journalism | acoustic guitar, singer-songwriter, Back Porch Buddha; winner of the Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival’s songwriting contest for 10 of his songs: 2005 (“Small Town Kid”), 2006 (“Sept. 14th 1966” and “Made By Hand”), 2007 (“One Candle”), 2008 (“2 Flat Top Guitars”), 2009 (“Raise a Glass”), 2011 (“Ain’t Stopped Dancing Yet”), 2012 (“Til the Evening Star Falls”), 2013 (“Romeo Describes”), and 2015 (“Heart Shaped Hole”)
• Maxton, Charlie | fs ’86; former KMUW DJ | The Blivets (guitar, vocals); songwriter and media creator who’s a long-time collaborator with Mike Coykendall; active in Wichita, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon
• McBride, Martina (See Schiff, Martina)
• McClure, Michael | fs ’53; alumni award honoree, 2019 | playwright, author, poet, lyricist; studied English at the University of Wichita before rising to global fame as a pillar of the Beat Generation movement; co-wrote “Mercedes Benz” with Janis Joplin and Bob Neuwirth, and collaborated creatively with The Doors and The Band; in Martin Scorsese’s 1978 documentary The Last Waltz, he’s featured in The Band’s concert footage reciting the prologue to Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in its original Middle English
• Mourning, Marc | fs ’69 | The Moanin’ Glories, Crank, Stallion (drums)
• Murphy, Johnnie | 1980, instrumental music education-saxophone | The Freak 
Band, Greg Rosier Quartet, Mr. Bitch, Cornfed Rubes (horns)

N & O

• Nichols, John | fs ’81 | The Embarrassment (lead vocals, keyboards); delivered the signature dry, literate and charismatic vocal delivery that defined Wichita’s most famous post-punk export
• O’Connor, Patrick | 1989, master’s degree in communications | blues pianist and historian; author of Wichita Blues: Music in the African American Community (2024); musically active in Wichita and Los Angeles (1967-68) before traveling in 1971 with a 1936 National steel guitar to play country blues in London, where he recorded a demo with UK session guitarist Chris Spedding, before returning to Wichita
• Overstake, Don | benefactor | Lotus (founder); key local music promoter and owner of Wichita’s Fireside Club

P

• Page, Tom | 1997, psychology; master’s degree in liberal studies | Sunshine Family, Winking Spaniard, Tom Page Trio, Haymakers, Tom Page Music (guitarist, singer-songwriter)
• Peck, Joseph | 1995, music education-winds/percussion; 2025, master’s degree in music education, special education | Pandora’s Box, Afinké Machine, Sugarbush (steel drums); standard-bearer for Caribbean percussion and steel pan education in the Midwest
• Probst, John | 1989, instrumental music education | Groove 42, Scandalnavians (bass)

S

• Schiff, Martina (Martina McBride) | legacy relation, benefactor | Lotus (keyboards, vocals); began her musical journey playing in her father’s local band and working with Wichita rock groups like Lotus before achieving international superstardom as a multi-platinum country music performer
• Simmons, Billy | fs ’94 | Van Gogh Souls, Evidence of a Struggle
• Smith, Brittan | 2016, entrepreneurship | avant-garde rock/dark-pop vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and filmmaker based out of Los Angeles; conceptualized and fronts the alternative band Visions of Indigo
• Steele, Harrison | 2012, general studies-communication | singer-songwriter known for intricate live looping setups; performance credits include opening for Train at Hartman Arena (2024); gained national exposure as a contestant on American Idol (2018)
• Stockebrand, Justin | 2002, music studies | Ophil (bass)
• Storm: Alan Banta (guitar), Arthur Glass (drums), Lee McCroskey (keyboards), Clark Engbrecht (trumpet), Kevin Smith (trombone), Dick Duncan (lead vocals), Bob Freeman (bass). Originating with an invitation from Banta to Glass to jam together at his parents’ house while both were students at Robinson Junior High, Storm evolved from playing guitar-driven, straight-ahead rock and roll covers to adding horns and moving into the Chicago/Blood, Sweat and Tears music arena of brass rock.
• Studtmann, Pete | fs ’89; former KMUW DJ | Winking Spaniard, Joe’s Revenge, Lather, False Flag ICT, Cornfed Rubes, The Mystery Trio, iiis, Full Grown Juveniles (bass)
• Sumner, Jerry | fs ’76 | Clocks , Dogs?, Soldier (guitar, vocals); co-founded the Clocks, Wichita’s new wave and pop-rock group that secured high-rotation music video play on MTV with its single “She Looks a Lot Like You,” which reached  No. 67 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982; the band was inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame in 2012

T, U & W

• Teubner, Jason | 2002, music performance-trumpet | Ophil (trumpet)
• The Embarrassment: John Nichols (vocals/keyboards), Bill Goffrier (guitar), Ron Klaus (bass), Brent “Woody” Giessmann (drums). Formed while the founding members were Wichita State students and active from 1979 to 1983, the band was praised in 2026 by Rolling Stone as “one of the great Midwestern punk bands” when it selected the Embos’ song “Two Week Vacation” as Kansas’ entry in the publication’s 50 Songs for 50 States list in celebration of the USA’s 250th birthday.
• The Moanin’ Glories: Ritchie Kunkle (guitar), Andy Gore (bass), Karl Berkebile (keyboards), Marc Mourning (drums). Embracing the music of the British Invasion and the heavier album sounds of FM-underground radio, the rhythm and blues band — which was promoted on Oklahoma City’s powerful KOMA radio station — toured throughout the Midwest. In 1967, the group released a record with “She Took the Rain Out of My Mind” with “You Better Watch Out” on the B-side
• The Premiers: Carlis Castle (saxophone), Gary Cocking (drums), John Holt (lead guitar), Fred Underwood (rhythm guitar), Bucky Walters fs ’57 (lead vocals, bass). Affiliated with local radio station KFBI, The Premiers became a late-1950s teenage sensation, notably serving as the backing band for Chuck Berry during a show at Joyland Amusement Park. Their rockabilly singles on the Nu-Phi label include “Cruisin’” and “Summer School”.
• Ueno, Taichi | 2010, MBA | Kanzashi (multi-instrumentalist)
• Urrego, Julian | jazz studies student | jazz guitarist/multi-instrumentalist and songwriter; featured on guitar in VIEWPOINTS: Shocker Rockers live set with Monica Lounsbery at Somewhere Works (2026)
• Wagner, Jeremy | 2003, music composition, saxophone performance | Ophil (saxophone); earned both a master’s degree and PhD in music composition from the University of Minnesota; relocated to California, he serves as technical director and research composer for UC Berkeley’s Center for New Music and Audio Technologies
• Walsh, Joe | legacy relation, benefactor | Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist (The Eagles); served as a key institutional ally and donor to the Wichita community, organizing the massive 2025 VetsAid benefit concert at Wichita’s INTRUST Arena, at which Wichita State musical groups performed
• Walters, Ronald G. “Bucky” | fs ’57 | The Premiers (lead vocals, bass);  local comedian and entertainer who fronted one of Wichita’s first rock ‘n’ roll bands during the 1950s while a student at the University of Wichita
• Weller, Dan | 1995, business administration; 1997, entrepreneurship | classically trained country guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, producer, writer and music industry professional whose live touring credits include as a multi-instrumentalist with country juggernauts Florida Georgia Line