Back a couple summers ago a groups of kids (yes, I called them kids), were sitting around under all the gum stuck to the pavillon at the Old Mill pool in Millersville, Maryland. In what was probably a lack of anything else to do they decided a band should be formed, one problem, no one really had instruments, but the idea was planted. Later that changed when Erik (with a 'k') bought a bass (ironic how this became the first instrument). That was the turning point and pretty soon Eric (with a 'c') and Brian got guitars, and KJ got a drumset. The four of them got together a couple of times (under the name Helium Benches) and produced one song, the epic "You're going down". This produced the first difference in styles and Brian, KJ, and Eric decided to go on trying to develop more of a punk sound. They practiced some moreand produced 2 more songs, one sung by Brian about his first dog, and one sung by eric about a dog of a differnt sorts, it was the classic "Hot Dog Song".
About this time another friend Ricky, got a bass and tried playing with Brian and KJ (under the name Blue Wax Candles). This didn't work out too well either, and the search was back on for a bass player with similar tastes in music. So around this time I (Todd) did the most logical thing, I got a guitar. So now practicing with 3 guitar players Eric, Brian, KJ, and I began practicing in Brian's basement. The songs started coming easier about this time and were beginning to write our own songs as well doing some others we already knew. However the time came when if we wanted to move on, we needed a bass player, so...I and my 3 distortion pedals were kicked out and told not to come back unless I got a bass. So I talked to Ricky who was no longer playing his bass really, and borrowed his and we started to practice as a real band (I think our first name would be Shanker).