The Winona foursome known as The Ultrasounds formed in the summer of 2011 when Megan Hanson, front woman of former local punk rock titans Thumbelina and the Tangerine Fists of Justice, was introduced to Amber Fletcher, Courtney Guenveur, and Kelly Mason. The three were young undergrads at Winona State University sharing a similar vision of starting an all girl band and had sought out Megan based on her previous music, Winona street cred, and “scary myspace profile”. Fletcher was a multi-instrumentalist and quite a large fury behind the drum set compared to her diminutive stature. Courtney joined in on bass. Kelly Mason, who was playing with various local bands at the time and jazz, took on the role of guitarist, trumpet player, and even drums when Amber stepped away from the set to play and sing the songs she had written.
The band started to make waves locally almost instantly. They were asked to open for Minneapolis act Venus de Mars and All The Pretty Horses for their very first show. Shortly after, they started playing regularly at various local venues and bars and were even featured on local radio station KQAL’s live feed program. Everything seemed to be fine and dandy.
But then unexpectedly, Mason moved across the country to pursue other musical endeavors. The remaining members of The Ultrasounds were saddled with filling her void to continue when they realized they did not want to function as a three-piece, which they had experimented with. What started out as an all girl band had come to an end when Todd Hanson, Megan’s husband and bandmate in My Private Eye, joined the fold. Bringing along his sludgy, overdriven guitar sounds and noise, the group started to take on a louder and heavier direction. After good reviews from Minneapolis music press like City Pages and The Current following three consecutive Mid West Music Fest appearances—it seemed as though things were back on track and headed in the right direction.
The Ultrasounds released their debut recording, the “Lost My Mind EP” March 7, 2014 with the help of longtime musician and producer Randy Kline. Packed tightly into their unreliable, yet beloved, 2000 Chrysler Voyager mom-van (Ol’ Whitey), they stumbled across the upper Midwest into cities such as Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Dubuque in support of the album. They brought their sludgy garage-pop to dive bars, hookah lounges, and Motel 6s alike. Then that summer, their second tour supporting the Lost My Mind EP thrust them into 8 states in 10 days. They trudged deep into the Midwestern heartland playing venues like Knickerbockers in Lincoln, Nebraska, Vaudeville Mews in Des Moines, Replay Lounge in Lawrence, Kansas, and Melody Inn in Indianapolis—to infinity and beyond.
The band’s second EP titled Daze Inn EP contains 6 songs with much of the raw energy of The Ultrasounds live show being that most of the album was tracked live in Minneapolis at the home and studio of Dan Berndt (Busey, San Dimas, former Triple Rock Social Club sound engineer, all around good guy). It was followed by one of their biggest tours yet going as far east as Pittsburgh and as far south as Louisville. Their entire set at Melody Inn in Indianapolis on the Daze Inn tour was filmed by Oscillate TV.
The Ultrasounds 3rd EP release was their first time doing a split with another band. Their side of the EP delves into subject matter such as living regret-free, drinking and the loss of close friends, mental illness, the duality of life and death, and just wanting to scream when people suck. The songs were recorded between a basement practice space in Winona and the rest was tracked live with the full band. There were cats present at both recording locations during this recording.
They’ve also made several consecutive Mid West Music Fest appearances as well as playing various other regional fests and have shared the stage with acts as diverse as Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas, Venus DeMars, and Mark Mallman while garnering praise from both music fans and critics alike.