Early music career Wurster grew up in the southeastern Pennsylvania town of Harleysville and began playing drums at the age of ten, taking lessons for a few years before playing in local bands. In 1984 Wurster joined the psychedelic punk band Psychotic Norman. The band shared bills with the
Minutemen,
Die Kreuzen, and
Suicidal Tendencies and recorded a three-song 7" EP before Wurster left in January 1986 to play with rock band the Right Profile. Months after Wurster's arrival, the Right Profile was signed by
Clive Davis to
Arista Records. In April, 1987 the band recorded demos in
Memphis, Tennessee with
Jim Dickinson and
Jerry Lee Lewis's guitarist
Roland Janes at
Sam Phillips's Recording Studio. Soon after this session, co-founding member
Stephen J. Dubner left the band to pursue a writing career. Dubner would go on to great success as co-author of the book
Freakonomics. Dickinson and The Right Profile began sessions for their debut album at
Ardent Studios in the summer of 1987, but never completed the album. The band continued for four more years, eventually changing their name to the Carneys. A five-day recording session in 1989 produced by drummer
Steve Jordan at New York City's
The Hit Factory has been cited by Wurster as crucial to his development as a drummer. A cross-country tour to Los Angeles to find a record deal proved unsuccessful, and the Carneys broke up in August 1991. Andy York, the guitarist on the final tour, would go on to play with
John Mellencamp. The Right Profile's 1986-87 lineup reformed for a benefit show in August 2018 at the
Cat's Cradle in
Carrboro, North Carolina. Wurster replaced drummer Doug Whelchel in the
Raleigh-based
roots rock band
The Accelerators for the recording of their second album
Dream Train. However, the band's label,
Profile Records, stalled the release of the album for several years, resulting in the band going on hiatus. When
Dream Train was finally released in 1991, front man Gerald Duncan and Wurster were the only returning members for a show at
The Brewery in Raleigh on October 4, 1991. Although Wurster had already joined
Superchunk, he continued playing with the Accelerators for their limited tour in support of
Dream Train, but eventually left the band to devote more time to his new band. Wurster moved to Chapel Hill in March 1991 and joined the band
Superchunk in October just before the release of its second album,
No Pocky for Kitty. Wurster has drummed on every Superchunk from
No Pocky through
Wild Loneliness. After eleven years of recording and touring, Superchunk went on hiatus in 2002. During the hiatus Wurster worked with
Caitlin Cary (2002);
The Minus 5 (2002);
Marah (2003);
Chris Stamey (2004), and
Robert Pollard of
Guided by Voices (2006). In November, 2006 Superchunk played with
The Mountain Goats at
The Daily Show's tenth anniversary party at
Irving Plaza in New York City. In addition to performing a comedy sketch with
Samantha Bee of
Daily Show, Wurster played three songs with the Mountain Goats. As a result, he was invited to drum on the duo's west coast tour in 2007. Wurster played drums and percussion on the Mountain Goats' 2007 album
Heretic Pride and joined the band after the release of the album. He has drummed on every subsequent Mountain Goats album and contributed guitar to
Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan. As the 2008
Heretic Pride tour was ending, he was contacted by bassist
Jason Narducy about replacing Bob Mould's drummer on the west coast leg of Mould's
District Line tour. Wurster flew from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles the day after the Mountain Goats' last show and played his first show with Mould the next night in
Solana Beach, California. Wurster has drummed on every Bob Mould album since 2009's
Life and Times and became a member of the Bob Mould Band. He has recorded or performed live with
Aimee Mann,
R.E.M.,
Dave Grohl,
The Pretenders,
Nick Cave,
Ben Gibbard,
Charlie Daniels,
Britt Daniel,
The Bangles,
Katy Perry,
Guided By Voices,
Ryan Adams,
Rocket from the Crypt,
Magnapop,
The New Pornographers,
Margaret Cho,
Jay Farrar,
Alejandro Escovedo,
Split Single,
Chris Stamey and
Peter Holsapple, and
The Connells. On Feb. 10, 2023, Wurster announced his exit from Superchunk. ==Discography==