ChicagoPunk - User contributions [en]

User:SenorCitizen

2006-06-18T20:30:02Z

SenorCitizen:

My real name is Brooks Smith and I used to sing for the band [[Happy Toons]] in the early 80's. I currently play guitar for the band [[Destroy Everything]].

2003

2006-06-18T20:07:08Z

SenorCitizen:

== Notable Chicago Punk Events in 2003 ==

* [[Eric Cassell]] passes away from MS
* [[Destroy Everything]] releases their second CD, Three Cheer for You

[[Category:Chicago Punk by Year]]

2000

2006-06-18T20:06:21Z

SenorCitizen:

== Notable Chicago Punk Events in 2000 ==

* December - [[Club 950]] closes its doors
* [[Destroy Everything]] releases their first CD, Please Help Me

[[Category:Chicago Punk by Year]]

1995

2006-06-18T20:05:24Z

SenorCitizen:

== Notable Chicago Punk Events in 1995 ==

* [[Touch and Go]] re-releases [[The Effigies]] ''Remains Nonviewable'' onto CD
* [[Destroy Everything]] forms

[[Category:Chicago Punk by Year]]

Main Page

2006-06-18T20:01:39Z

SenorCitizen:

== The Chicago Punk Database ==

This site intends to be a collections of bands, members, labels etc. for the Chicago punk scene. This page specifically focuses on the earlier Chicago scene - though there is no formal cutoff date, the information on this page should focus on Chicago punk before [[1990]].

All you have to do to add pages is create and account and start making pages. Here are a few of the pages I've been working on:

* '''Bands''' - [[Anti-Bodies]], [[Articles of Faith]], [[BB Spin]], [[Bhang Revival]], [[Bhopal Stiffs]], [[Big Black]], [[Blatent Dissent]], [[Bloodsport]], [[Bohemia]], [[Breaking Circus]], [[Cunts]], [[Da]], [[Defoliants]], [[DV8]], [[The Effigies]], [[End Result]], [[Evil Eye]], [[Gross National Product]], [[Happy Toons]], [[Identity Crisis]], [[ID Under]], [[Impulse Manslaughter]], [[The Interceptors]], [[Life Sentence]], [[Meaty Buys]], [[Nadsat Rebel]], [[Naked Raygun]], [[Negative Element]], [[NGA JIWA]], [[Out of Order]], [[Phil 'n the Blanks]], [[Poison Squirrel]], [[Political Justice]], [[Rights of the Accused]], [[Savage Beliefs]], [[Seismic Waves]], [[Silent Language]], [[Silver Abuse]], [[Six Feet Under]], [[Skafish]], [[Special Affect]], [[Stations]], [[Strike Under]], [[The Subverts]], [[Terminal Beach]], [[Toothpaste]], [[Trial by Fire]], [[Urban DK]], [[The Wayouts]], [[Tutu and the Pirates]], [[Viktimz of Society]], [[Violent Tumor]], [[Zoetrope]], [[Dead Fink]], [[Destroy Everything]]

* '''People''' - [[Steve Albini]], [[Vic Bondi]], [[Chris Bjorklund]], [[Steve Bjorklund]], [[Eric Cassell]], [[Bob Damrau]], [[Lorna Donley]], [[Santiago Durango]], [[Jed Fox]], [[Bob Furem]], [[Philip Galanter]], [[Scott Harris AKA Mousetrap]], [[John Kezdy]], [[Pierre Kezdy]], [[Jon Lundine]], [[Doug McCombs]], [[Jeff Pezzati]], [[Dave Riley]], [[Bobby Skafish]], [[Jim Skafish]], [[Geri Soriano]], [[Dave Thomas]], [[Keith Lyons]], [[Brooks Smith]], [[Robert Byrne]], [[Bryn Zellers]], [[Mick Calhoun]], [[Dan Schneider]]

* '''Labels''' - [[Autumn Records]], [[Dazit Records]], [[Fever Records]], [[H.I.D. Productions Ltd]], [[Homestead Records]], [[Little Farmer Music]], [[National Trust]], [[Quarterstick Records]], [[Ruthless Records]], [[Schwa Records]], [[Sandpounder Records]], [[Touch and Go]], [[Wasteland Records]], [[Wax Trax Records]], [[Landmind Records]]

* '''Records''' - [[Basement Screams]], [[Busted at Oz]], [[Naked Raygun - Home (Song)|Home]], [[Innocence]], [[The Middle of America Compilation]]

* '''Venues''' - [[950 Lucky Number]], [[Artful Dodger]], [[B'Ginnings]], [[Club Foot]], [[COD]], [[Cubby Bear]], [[Dreamerz]], [[Exit]], [[Gaspars]], [[Harry Hopes]], [[Head's Pub]], [[La Mere Vipere]], [[Metro]], [[Misfits]], [[O'Banion's]], [[Oz]], [[Space Place]], [[Stages]], [[Tuts]], [[Waves]], [[West End]], [[Keith Garage]]

* '''Fanzines''' - [[Bullshit Detector]], [[Coolest Retard]], [[Disorderly Conduct]], [[Gabba Gabba Gazette]], [[Last Rites]], [[Les Ponques Rockeurs]], [[Matter]], [[Primitive Noise]], [[Raveup]], [[Your Country Needs You/YOU]]

* '''History''' - ''Chicago Punk History at a Glance -'' [[Timeline]] ''Detailed History by Year -'' [[1974]] [[1975]] [[1976]] [[1977]] [[1978]] [[1979]] [[1980]] [[1981]] [[1982]] [[1983]] [[1984]] [[1985]] [[1986]] [[1987]] [[1988]] [[1989]] [[1990]] [[1991]] [[1992]] [[1993]] [[1994]] [[1995]] [[1996]] [[1997]] [[1998]] [[1999]] [[2000]] [[2001]] [[2002]] [[2003]] [[2004]] [[2005]] [[2006]]

* '''Websites''' - [[Marie Kanger|Chicago Punk Pix]], [[WindyCityPunk]], [http://www.punkvinyl.com The Punk Vault]

Happy Toons

2006-06-18T20:01:16Z

SenorCitizen:

'''The Happy Toons story as told by [[Keith Lyons]] and [[Brooks Smith]].''' 

'''Keith: ''' The best I can recall is that after the breakup of [[Negative Element]] - the move of the [[Steppe]] brothers to Peoria IL, [[Tom Faulkner]] and I wanted to continue playing music. First I went and started playing drums for the first line up of [[Life Sentence]]. [[Eric Brockmann]] was a good friend and a mentor but it was just too far for my brother or friends to drive and too much for him to do every other night. [[Tom Faulkner]] and I got together also about the same times and I had a number of ideas for songs that were too psychedelic and weird for [[Negative Element]]. Strange enough, I wasn't really into hardcore but freaky music. Hell, I liked Black Flag and the Circle Jerks and all the current music from 80-82 but I was literally buying Fugs albums and Sandy Nelson albums at the Salvation Armies. My mind was elsewhere. It must have been [[Mick Calhoun]] who introduced me to [[Robert Byrne]], so Robert, Tom and I rehearsed some. Faulkner wanted to be more of a Chicago scenester so it only worked out for a little while with him. I knew Cheeze Romano from the pop, new wave band Kidz and I knew that [[Bryn Zellers]] was on his way out. He was and always will be a great musician. So eventually it was Robert, Bryn and I. We started to learn a number of weird country/psychedelic songs. Through the relationship of [[Mick Calhoun]] and [[Robert Byrne]] (both of [[Dead Fink]]) I started hanging out with [[Dan Schneider]] and some others like Ross Vondersmith and Jamie Munroe and I started skating again. We needed a singer and [[Brooks Smith]] popped up around that time. Brooks started showing up with this cool guy Mike Carruth, who ended up being one the first promoters of stunt/freestyle bike events in the USA. There was a connection there because of skating and BMX/freestyle bicycles. Brooks was this kind of mysterious dude from 'California'. His claim to fame was doing the longest wheelie in the world, so we asked him to sing. 

I can't remember our first show but I'm sure it was a party in [[Keith Garage]]. We played all the clubs in Chicago and we became a regular attraction at [[West End]]. The manager of that bar was the coolest bar manager I've ever met. We had quite a few early admirers from the 'old' school hipsters of the late seventies. I think Shrub's ([[Robert Byrne]]) guitar skills for a 14 year old were unprecedented and at first we were doing really bizarre music - at least for Chicago. We played dozens and dozens of shows. [[Jeff Pezatti]] even used us to introduce [[Big Black]] to Chicago youth. Ain't that funny? I have to say that the highlight was playing at a Mothers Day Peace Festival in Chicago's Grant Park in front of 40,000 people. We played Bryn's song "Suicide Trap". 

I think after [[Dead Fink]] started we became more of a cult - the two bands combined with Dan's own charisma and my tweaked past we forged a kind of scene in the Western Suburbs. The drugs and drinking took precedence at some point and the rest is history... Rest in Pieces. 

----

'''Brooks: ''' In 1983 I took up drinking and started throwing nightly parties at my mother’s rented home in Downers Grove. The normal cast of characters included all the members of [[Dead Fink]] as well as a number of classmates and their friends. [[Keith Lyons]] started showing up at these soirees and it was at this time that he and [[Robert Byrne]] were starting what would become [[Happy Toons]]. 

One night Keith brought [[Bryn Zellers]], who I had know from the BMX world, to my house and they told that they needed a singer for [[Happy Toons]]. I met those guys at [[Keith Garage]] to "try out" and after nearly a case of Black Label beer I worked up the courage to scream into the mike. Apparently it worked because we started practicing on a regular basis from there. 

I’m not sure how long it took us, it couldn’t have been more than a couple of weeks, but we played our first real show at [[West End]] with Killdozer and Die Kreuzen. 

We put on a few shows at [[Keith Garage]], one of them was written up in Maximum Rock and Roll. Legendary skater Steve Caballero's band, The Faction, was on tour and made a point of stopping to play that show. 

We somehow ended up on a lot of good bills opening up for the likes of The Exploited, The Dicks, D.R.I., A.O.F., Adrenalin O.D., Toxic Reasons and too many more to remember. I suspect Keith’s trailblazing with [[Negative Element]] opened up quite a few doors for us. 

Most importantly, we found ourselves at the center of a really powerful suburban scene that spawned a lot of great and very active bands and cemented our places in drinking history!

== Members ==
* [[Brooks Smith]] - Vocals 
* [[Keith Lyons]] - Drums 
* [[Robert Byrne]] - Guitar 
* [[Bryn Zellers]] - Bass 
* [[Dave Lyons]] - Bass (replaced Bryn Zellers, 1984) 
* [[Kevin Folta]] - Guitar (2nd guitar, 1985) 
* [[Chris McCracken]] - Bass (replaced Dave Lyons, 1985) 

== External Links ==
[http://www.spontaneous.com/images2.html Photos at Spontaneous Combustion]

Keith Garage

2006-06-18T19:38:40Z

SenorCitizen:

[[Keith Garage]] was actually a huge, residential garage located in the suburbs of Chicago, IL in un-incorporated Westmont. The garage was owned by [[Keith Lyons]] of the bands [[Negative Element]] and [[Happy Toons]]. Several huge shows were held in [[Keith Garage]] and it played host to a number of national touring acts.

== Notable Facts ==
* The name comes from a spray painted sign that hung over the door; the "artist" who painted the sign ran out of room and opted to drop the apostrophe and the letter "s" from the end of the name "Keith"
* A particularly large show in [[Keith Garage]], featuring the band The Faction from San Jose, CA was reviewed in Maximum Rock and Roll magazine.

Main Page

2006-06-18T19:27:43Z

SenorCitizen:

== The Chicago Punk Database ==

This site intends to be a collections of bands, members, labels etc. for the Chicago punk scene. This page specifically focuses on the earlier Chicago scene - though there is no formal cutoff date, the information on this page should focus on Chicago punk before [[1990]].

All you have to do to add pages is create and account and start making pages. Here are a few of the pages I've been working on:

* '''Bands''' - [[Anti-Bodies]], [[Articles of Faith]], [[BB Spin]], [[Bhang Revival]], [[Bhopal Stiffs]], [[Big Black]], [[Blatent Dissent]], [[Bloodsport]], [[Bohemia]], [[Breaking Circus]], [[Cunts]], [[Da]], [[Defoliants]], [[DV8]], [[The Effigies]], [[End Result]], [[Evil Eye]], [[Gross National Product]], [[Happy Toons]], [[Identity Crisis]], [[ID Under]], [[Impulse Manslaughter]], [[The Interceptors]], [[Life Sentence]], [[Meaty Buys]], [[Nadsat Rebel]], [[Naked Raygun]], [[Negative Element]], [[NGA JIWA]], [[Out of Order]], [[Phil 'n the Blanks]], [[Poison Squirrel]], [[Political Justice]], [[Rights of the Accused]], [[Savage Beliefs]], [[Seismic Waves]], [[Silent Language]], [[Silver Abuse]], [[Six Feet Under]], [[Skafish]], [[Special Affect]], [[Stations]], [[Strike Under]], [[The Subverts]], [[Terminal Beach]], [[Toothpaste]], [[Trial by Fire]], [[Urban DK]], [[The Wayouts]], [[Tutu and the Pirates]], [[Viktimz of Society]], [[Violent Tumor]], [[Zoetrope]], [[Dead Fink]]

* '''People''' - [[Steve Albini]], [[Vic Bondi]], [[Chris Bjorklund]], [[Steve Bjorklund]], [[Eric Cassell]], [[Bob Damrau]], [[Lorna Donley]], [[Santiago Durango]], [[Jed Fox]], [[Bob Furem]], [[Philip Galanter]], [[Scott Harris AKA Mousetrap]], [[John Kezdy]], [[Pierre Kezdy]], [[Jon Lundine]], [[Doug McCombs]], [[Jeff Pezzati]], [[Dave Riley]], [[Bobby Skafish]], [[Jim Skafish]], [[Geri Soriano]], [[Dave Thomas]], [[Keith Lyons]], [[Brooks Smith]], [[Robert Byrne]], [[Bryn Zellers]], [[Mick Calhoun]], [[Dan Schneider]]

* '''Labels''' - [[Autumn Records]], [[Dazit Records]], [[Fever Records]], [[H.I.D. Productions Ltd]], [[Homestead Records]], [[Little Farmer Music]], [[National Trust]], [[Quarterstick Records]], [[Ruthless Records]], [[Schwa Records]], [[Sandpounder Records]], [[Touch and Go]], [[Wasteland Records]], [[Wax Trax Records]], [[Landmind Records]]

* '''Records''' - [[Basement Screams]], [[Busted at Oz]], [[Naked Raygun - Home (Song)|Home]], [[Innocence]], [[The Middle of America Compilation]]

* '''Venues''' - [[950 Lucky Number]], [[Artful Dodger]], [[B'Ginnings]], [[Club Foot]], [[COD]], [[Cubby Bear]], [[Dreamerz]], [[Exit]], [[Gaspars]], [[Harry Hopes]], [[Head's Pub]], [[La Mere Vipere]], [[Metro]], [[Misfits]], [[O'Banion's]], [[Oz]], [[Space Place]], [[Stages]], [[Tuts]], [[Waves]], [[West End]], [[Keith Garage]]

* '''Fanzines''' - [[Bullshit Detector]], [[Coolest Retard]], [[Disorderly Conduct]], [[Gabba Gabba Gazette]], [[Last Rites]], [[Les Ponques Rockeurs]], [[Matter]], [[Primitive Noise]], [[Raveup]], [[Your Country Needs You/YOU]]

* '''History''' - ''Chicago Punk History at a Glance -'' [[Timeline]] ''Detailed History by Year -'' [[1974]] [[1975]] [[1976]] [[1977]] [[1978]] [[1979]] [[1980]] [[1981]] [[1982]] [[1983]] [[1984]] [[1985]] [[1986]] [[1987]] [[1988]] [[1989]] [[1990]] [[1991]] [[1992]] [[1993]] [[1994]] [[1995]] [[1996]] [[1997]] [[1998]] [[1999]] [[2000]] [[2001]] [[2002]] [[2003]] [[2004]] [[2005]] [[2006]]

* '''Websites''' - [[Marie Kanger|Chicago Punk Pix]], [[WindyCityPunk]], [http://www.punkvinyl.com The Punk Vault]

Main Page

2006-06-18T19:27:10Z

SenorCitizen:

== The Chicago Punk Database ==

This site intends to be a collections of bands, members, labels etc. for the Chicago punk scene. This page specifically focuses on the earlier Chicago scene - though there is no formal cutoff date, the information on this page should focus on Chicago punk before [[1990]].

All you have to do to add pages is create and account and start making pages. Here are a few of the pages I've been working on:

* '''Bands''' - [[Anti-Bodies]], [[Articles of Faith]], [[BB Spin]], [[Bhang Revival]], [[Bhopal Stiffs]], [[Big Black]], [[Blatent Dissent]], [[Bloodsport]], [[Bohemia]], [[Breaking Circus]], [[Cunts]], [[Da]], [[Defoliants]], [[DV8]], [[The Effigies]], [[End Result]], [[Evil Eye]], [[Gross National Product]], [[Happy Toons]], [[Identity Crisis]], [[ID Under]], [[Impulse Manslaughter]], [[The Interceptors]], [[Life Sentence]], [[Meaty Buys]], [[Nadsat Rebel]], [[Naked Raygun]], [[Negative Element]], [[NGA JIWA]], [[Out of Order]], [[Phil 'n the Blanks]], [[Poison Squirrel]], [[Political Justice]], [[Rights of the Accused]], [[Savage Beliefs]], [[Seismic Waves]], [[Silent Language]], [[Silver Abuse]], [[Six Feet Under]], [[Skafish]], [[Special Affect]], [[Stations]], [[Strike Under]], [[The Subverts]], [[Terminal Beach]], [[Toothpaste]], [[Trial by Fire]], [[Urban DK]], [[The Wayouts]], [[Tutu and the Pirates]], [[Viktimz of Society]], [[Violent Tumor]], [[Zoetrope]], [[Dead Fink]]

* '''People''' - [[Steve Albini]], [[Vic Bondi]], [[Chris Bjorklund]], [[Steve Bjorklund]], [[Eric Cassell]], [[Bob Damrau]], [[Lorna Donley]], [[Santiago Durango]], [[Jed Fox]], [[Bob Furem]], [[Philip Galanter]], [[Scott Harris AKA Mousetrap]], [[John Kezdy]], [[Pierre Kezdy]], [[Jon Lundine]], [[Doug McCombs]], [[Jeff Pezzati]], [[Dave Riley]], [[Bobby Skafish]], [[Jim Skafish]], [[Geri Soriano]], [[Dave Thomas]], [[Keith Lyons]], [[Brooks Smith]], [[Robert Byrne]], [[Bryn Zellers]], [[Mick Calhoun]], [[Dan Schneider]]

* '''Labels''' - [[Autumn Records]], [[Dazit Records]], [[Fever Records]], [[H.I.D. Productions Ltd]], [[Homestead Records]], [[Little Farmer Music]], [[National Trust]], [[Quarterstick Records]], [[Ruthless Records]], [[Schwa Records]], [[Sandpounder Records]], [[Touch and Go]], [[Wasteland Records]], [[Wax Trax Records]], [[Landmind Records]]

* '''Records''' - [[Basement Screams]], [[Busted at Oz]], [[Naked Raygun - Home (Song)|Home]], [[Innocence]], [[The Middle of America Compilation]]

* '''Venues''' - [[950 Lucky Number]], [[Artful Dodger]], [[B'Ginnings]], [[Club Foot]], [[COD]], [[Cubby Bear]], [[Dreamerz]], [[Exit]], [[Gaspars]], [[Harry Hopes]], [[Head's Pub]], [[La Mere Vipere]], [[Metro]], [[Misfits]], [[O'Banion's]], [[Oz]], [[Space Place]], [[Stages]], [[Tuts]], [[Waves]], [[West End]]

* '''Fanzines''' - [[Bullshit Detector]], [[Coolest Retard]], [[Disorderly Conduct]], [[Gabba Gabba Gazette]], [[Last Rites]], [[Les Ponques Rockeurs]], [[Matter]], [[Primitive Noise]], [[Raveup]], [[Your Country Needs You/YOU]]

* '''History''' - ''Chicago Punk History at a Glance -'' [[Timeline]] ''Detailed History by Year -'' [[1974]] [[1975]] [[1976]] [[1977]] [[1978]] [[1979]] [[1980]] [[1981]] [[1982]] [[1983]] [[1984]] [[1985]] [[1986]] [[1987]] [[1988]] [[1989]] [[1990]] [[1991]] [[1992]] [[1993]] [[1994]] [[1995]] [[1996]] [[1997]] [[1998]] [[1999]] [[2000]] [[2001]] [[2002]] [[2003]] [[2004]] [[2005]] [[2006]]

* '''Websites''' - [[Marie Kanger|Chicago Punk Pix]], [[WindyCityPunk]], [http://www.punkvinyl.com The Punk Vault]

1985

2006-06-18T19:26:07Z

SenorCitizen:

== Notable Chicago Punk Events in 1985 ==

* July - [[Articles of Faith]] play their final show at the [[Cubby Bear]]
* [[Fever Records]] releases [[The Effigies]] second LP, Fly on a Wire
* [[Happy Toons]] breaks up and posthumously releases Rest In Pieces

[[Category:Chicago Punk by Year]]

1983

2006-06-18T19:23:56Z

SenorCitizen:

== Notable Chicago Punk Events in 1983 ==

* [[The Effigies]] release We're Da Machine EP
* [[Wasteland Records]] releases [[Savage Beliefs]]' The Moral Efficiency of... 7"
* [[Happy Toons]] forms

[[Category:Chicago Punk by Year]]

Brooks Smith

2006-06-18T19:22:26Z

SenorCitizen:

[[Brooks Smith]] was the lead singer for '''[[Happy Toons]]''' from 1983 to 1985. 

Brooks went on to perform mutiple musical and non-musical roles in the rock parody band '''Insane War Tomatoes'''. In the late 80's and early 90's he could be found behind a guitar playing in the art/math/prog/punk band '''Cigarettes'''. 

In 1995 [[Brooks Smith]], [[Dan Schneider]], and [[Bill Wallace]] formed the punk band [[Destroy Everything]]. [[Destroy Everything]] has independently released 3 albums and continues to play Chicago shows as well as the occasional U.S. tour.

== Noteable Facts ==
* In 2006 [[Brooks Smith]], along with [[Dan Schneider]] and [[Bill Wallace]] created a promotions entity called "[[Thirty Years of Punk]]" devoted to organizing large-scale punk rock festivals around the country.

== External Links ==
[http://www.destroyeverything.com Destroy Everything's website.]

Happy Toons

2006-06-18T19:21:35Z

SenorCitizen:

'''The Happy Toons story as told by [[Keith Lyons]] and [[Brooks Smith]].''' 

'''Keith:''' The best I can recall is that after the breakup of [[Negative Element]] - the move of the [[Steppe]] brothers to Peoria IL, [[Tom Faulkner]] and I wanted to continue playing music. First I went and started playing drums for the first line up of [[Life Sentence]]. Erik was a good friend and a mentor but it was just too far for my brother or friends to drive and too much for him to do every other night. Tom and I got together also about the same times and I had a number of ideas for songs that were too psychedelic and weird for [[Negative Element]]. Strange enough, I wasn't really into Hardcore but freaky music. Hell, I liked Black Flag and the Circle Jerks and all the current music from 80-82 but I was literally buying Fugs albums and Sandy Nelson albums at the Salvation Armies. My mind was elsewhere. It must have been [[Mick Calhoun]] who introduced me to Robert, so Robert, Tom and I rehearsed some. Faulkner wanted to be more of a Chicago scenester so it only worked out for a little while with him. I knew Cheeze Romano from the pop, new wave band Kidz and I knew that [[Bryn Zellers]] was on his way out. He was and always will be a great musician. So eventually it was Robert, Bryn and I. We started to learn a number of weird country/psychedelic songs. Through the relationship of [[Mick Calhoun]] and [[Robert Byrne]] (both of [[Dead Fink]]) I started hanging out with Dan and some others like Ross Vondersmith and Jamie Munroe and I started skating again. We needed a singer and Brooks popped up around that time. Brooks started showing up with this cool guy Mike, I forget his name, but he ended up being one the first promoters for stunt Freestyle Bike events in the USA. There was a connection there because of skating and BMX/Freestyle bicycles. Brooks was this kind of mysterious dude from 'California'. Pismo if I remember correctly. His claim to fame was doing the longest wheelie in the world. So we asked him to sing. 

I can't remember our first show but I'm sure it was a party in the garage. We played all the clubs in Chicago and we became a regular attraction at [[West End]]. The manager of that bar was the coolest bar manager I've ever met. We had quite a few early admirers from the 'old' school hipsters of the late seventies. I think Shrub's ([[Robert Byrne]]) guitar skills for a 14 year old were unprecedented and at first we were doing really bizarre music - at least for Chicago. We played dozens and dozens of shows. [[Jeff Pezatti]] even used us to introduce [[Big Black]] to Chicago youth. Ain't that funny? I have to say that the highlight was playing at a Mothers Day Peace Festival in downtown Chicago in front of 40,000 people. We played Bryn's song "Suicide Trap". 

I think after [[Dead Fink]] started we became more of a cult - the two bands combined with Dan's own charisma and my tweaked past we forged a kind of scene in the Western Suburbs. The drugs and drinking took precedence at some point and the rest is history... Rest in Pieces. 

----

'''Brooks:''' In 1983 I took up drinking and started throwing nightly parties at my mother’s rented home in Downers Grove. The normal cast of characters included all the members of [[Dead Fink]] as well as a number of classmates and their friends. Keith started showing up at these soirees and it was at this time that he and [[Robert Byrne]] were starting what would become [[Happy Toons]]. 

One night Keith brought [[Bryn Zellers]], who I had know from the BMX world, to my house and they sprung on me that they needed a singer for Happy Toons. I met those guys at Keith’s house to "try out" and after nearly a case of Black Label beer I worked up the courage to scream into the mike. Apparently it worked because we started practicing on a regular basis from there in the now legendary "[[Keith Garage]]." 

I’m not sure how long it took us, it couldn’t have been more than a couple of weeks, but we played our first real show at [[West End]] with Killdozer and Die Kreuzen. 

We put on two shows at "[[Keith Garage]]", one of them was written up in Maximum Rock and Roll. Legendary skater Steve Caballero's band, The Faction, was on tour and made a point of stopping in Downers Grove to play that show. 

We somehow ended up on a lot of good bills opening up for the likes of The Exploited, The Dicks, D.R.I., A.O.F., Adrenalin O.D., Toxic Reasons and too many more to remember. I suspect Keith’s trailblazing with [[Negative Element]] opened up quite a few doors for us. 

Most importantly, we found ourselves at the center of a really powerful suburban scene that spawned a lot of great and very active bands. And cemented our places in drinking history!

== Members ==
* [[Brooks Smith]] - Vocals 
* [[Keith Lyons]] - Drums 
* [[Robert Byrne]] - Guitar 
* [[Bryn Zellers]] - Bass 
* [[Dave Lyons]] - Bass (replaced Bryn Zellers, 1984) 
* [[Kevin Folta]] - Guitar (2nd guitar, 1985) 
* [[Chris McCracken]] - Bass (replaced Dave Lyons, 1985) 

== External Links ==
[http://www.spontaneous.com/images2.html Photos at Spontaneous Combustion]

Happy Toons

2006-06-18T19:21:10Z

SenorCitizen:

'''The Happy Toons story as told by Keith Lyons and Brooks Smith.''' 

'''Keith:''' The best I can recall is that after the breakup of [[Negative Element]] - the move of the [[Steppe]] brothers to Peoria IL, [[Tom Faulkner]] and I wanted to continue playing music. First I went and started playing drums for the first line up of [[Life Sentence]]. Erik was a good friend and a mentor but it was just too far for my brother or friends to drive and too much for him to do every other night. Tom and I got together also about the same times and I had a number of ideas for songs that were too psychedelic and weird for [[Negative Element]]. Strange enough, I wasn't really into Hardcore but freaky music. Hell, I liked Black Flag and the Circle Jerks and all the current music from 80-82 but I was literally buying Fugs albums and Sandy Nelson albums at the Salvation Armies. My mind was elsewhere. It must have been [[Mick Calhoun]] who introduced me to Robert, so Robert, Tom and I rehearsed some. Faulkner wanted to be more of a Chicago scenester so it only worked out for a little while with him. I knew Cheeze Romano from the pop, new wave band Kidz and I knew that [[Bryn Zellers]] was on his way out. He was and always will be a great musician. So eventually it was Robert, Bryn and I. We started to learn a number of weird country/psychedelic songs. Through the relationship of [[Mick Calhoun]] and [[Robert Byrne]] (both of [[Dead Fink]]) I started hanging out with Dan and some others like Ross Vondersmith and Jamie Munroe and I started skating again. We needed a singer and Brooks popped up around that time. Brooks started showing up with this cool guy Mike, I forget his name, but he ended up being one the first promoters for stunt Freestyle Bike events in the USA. There was a connection there because of skating and BMX/Freestyle bicycles. Brooks was this kind of mysterious dude from 'California'. Pismo if I remember correctly. His claim to fame was doing the longest wheelie in the world. So we asked him to sing. 

I can't remember our first show but I'm sure it was a party in the garage. We played all the clubs in Chicago and we became a regular attraction at [[West End]]. The manager of that bar was the coolest bar manager I've ever met. We had quite a few early admirers from the 'old' school hipsters of the late seventies. I think Shrub's ([[Robert Byrne]]) guitar skills for a 14 year old were unprecedented and at first we were doing really bizarre music - at least for Chicago. We played dozens and dozens of shows. [[Jeff Pezatti]] even used us to introduce [[Big Black]] to Chicago youth. Ain't that funny? I have to say that the highlight was playing at a Mothers Day Peace Festival in downtown Chicago in front of 40,000 people. We played Bryn's song "Suicide Trap". 

I think after [[Dead Fink]] started we became more of a cult - the two bands combined with Dan's own charisma and my tweaked past we forged a kind of scene in the Western Suburbs. The drugs and drinking took precedence at some point and the rest is history... Rest in Pieces. 

----

'''Brooks:''' In 1983 I took up drinking and started throwing nightly parties at my mother’s rented home in Downers Grove. The normal cast of characters included all the members of [[Dead Fink]] as well as a number of classmates and their friends. Keith started showing up at these soirees and it was at this time that he and [[Robert Byrne]] were starting what would become [[Happy Toons]]. 

One night Keith brought [[Bryn Zellers]], who I had know from the BMX world, to my house and they sprung on me that they needed a singer for Happy Toons. I met those guys at Keith’s house to "try out" and after nearly a case of Black Label beer I worked up the courage to scream into the mike. Apparently it worked because we started practicing on a regular basis from there in the now legendary "[[Keith Garage]]." 

I’m not sure how long it took us, it couldn’t have been more than a couple of weeks, but we played our first real show at [[West End]] with Killdozer and Die Kreuzen. 

We put on two shows at "[[Keith Garage]]", one of them was written up in Maximum Rock and Roll. Legendary skater Steve Caballero's band, The Faction, was on tour and made a point of stopping in Downers Grove to play that show. 

We somehow ended up on a lot of good bills opening up for the likes of The Exploited, The Dicks, D.R.I., A.O.F., Adrenalin O.D., Toxic Reasons and too many more to remember. I suspect Keith’s trailblazing with [[Negative Element]] opened up quite a few doors for us. 

Most importantly, we found ourselves at the center of a really powerful suburban scene that spawned a lot of great and very active bands. And cemented our places in drinking history!

== Members ==
* [[Brooks Smith]] - Vocals 
* [[Keith Lyons]] - Drums 
* [[Robert Byrne]] - Guitar 
* [[Bryn Zellers]] - Bass 
* [[Dave Lyons]] - Bass (replaced Bryn Zellers, 1984) 
* [[Kevin Folta]] - Guitar (2nd guitar, 1985) 
* [[Chris McCracken]] - Bass (replaced Dave Lyons, 1985) 

== External Links ==
[http://www.spontaneous.com/images2.html Photos at Spontaneous Combustion]

Happy Toons

2006-06-18T19:20:27Z

SenorCitizen: /* Happy Toons */

'''The Happy Toons story as told by Keith Lyons and Brooks Smith.''' 

'''Keith:''' The best I can recall is that after the breakup of [[Negative Element]] - the move of the [[Steppe]] brothers to Peoria IL, [[Tom Faulkner]] and I wanted to continue playing music. First I went and started playing drums for the first line up of [[Life Sentence]]. Erik was a good friend and a mentor but it was just too far for my brother or friends to drive and too much for him to do every other night. Tom and I got together also about the same times and I had a number of ideas for songs that were too psychedelic and weird for [[Negative Element]]. Strange enough, I wasn't really into Hardcore but freaky music. Hell, I liked Black Flag and the Circle Jerks and all the current music from 80-82 but I was literally buying Fugs albums and Sandy Nelson albums at the Salvation Armies. My mind was elsewhere. It must have been [[Mick Calhoun]] who introduced me to Robert, so Robert, Tom and I rehearsed some. Faulkner wanted to be more of a Chicago scenester so it only worked out for a little while with him. I knew Cheeze Romano from the pop, new wave band Kidz and I knew that [[Bryn Zellers]] was on his way out. He was and always will be a great musician. So eventually it was Robert, Bryn and I. We started to learn a number of weird country/psychedelic songs. Through the relationship of [[Mick Calhoun]] and [[Robert Byrne]] (both of [[Dead Fink]]) I started hanging out with Dan and some others like Ross Vondersmith and Jamie Munroe and I started skating again. We needed a singer and Brooks popped up around that time. Brooks started showing up with this cool guy Mike, I forget his name, but he ended up being one the first promoters for stunt Freestyle Bike events in the USA. There was a connection there because of skating and BMX/Freestyle bicycles. Brooks was this kind of mysterious dude from 'California'. Pismo if I remember correctly. His claim to fame was doing the longest wheelie in the world. So we asked him to sing. 

I can't remember our first show but I'm sure it was a party in the garage. We played all the clubs in Chicago and we became a regular attraction at [[West End]]. The manager of that bar was the coolest bar manager I've ever met. We had quite a few early admirers from the 'old' school hipsters of the late seventies. I think Shrub's ([[Robert Byrne]]) guitar skills for a 14 year old were unprecedented and at first we were doing really bizarre music - at least for Chicago. We played dozens and dozens of shows. [[Jeff Pezatti]] even used us to introduce [[Big Black]] to Chicago youth. Ain't that funny? I have to say that the highlight was playing at a Mothers Day Peace Festival in downtown Chicago in front of 40,000 people. We played Bryn's song "Suicide Trap". 

I think after [[Dead Fink]] started we became more of a cult - the two bands combined with Dan's own charisma and my tweaked past we forged a kind of scene in the Western Suburbs. The drugs and drinking took precedence at some point and the rest is history... Rest in Pieces. 

'''Brooks:''' In 1983 I took up drinking and started throwing nightly parties at my mother’s rented home in Downers Grove. The normal cast of characters included all the members of [[Dead Fink]] as well as a number of classmates and their friends. Keith started showing up at these soirees and it was at this time that he and [[Robert Byrne]] were starting what would become [[Happy Toons]]. 

One night Keith brought [[Bryn Zellers]], who I had know from the BMX world, to my house and they sprung on me that they needed a singer for Happy Toons. I met those guys at Keith’s house to "try out" and after nearly a case of Black Label beer I worked up the courage to scream into the mike. Apparently it worked because we started practicing on a regular basis from there in the now legendary "[[Keith Garage]]." 

I’m not sure how long it took us, it couldn’t have been more than a couple of weeks, but we played our first real show at [[West End]] with Killdozer and Die Kreuzen. 

We put on two shows at "[[Keith Garage]]", one of them was written up in Maximum Rock and Roll. Legendary skater Steve Caballero's band, The Faction, was on tour and made a point of stopping in Downers Grove to play that show. 

We somehow ended up on a lot of good bills opening up for the likes of The Exploited, The Dicks, D.R.I., A.O.F., Adrenalin O.D., Toxic Reasons and too many more to remember. I suspect Keith’s trailblazing with [[Negative Element]] opened up quite a few doors for us. 

Most importantly, we found ourselves at the center of a really powerful suburban scene that spawned a lot of great and very active bands. And cemented our places in drinking history!

== Members ==
* [[Brooks Smith]] - Vocals 
* [[Keith Lyons]] - Drums 
* [[Robert Byrne]] - Guitar 
* [[Bryn Zellers]] - Bass 
* [[Dave Lyons]] - Bass (replaced Bryn Zellers, 1984) 
* [[Kevin Folta]] - Guitar (2nd guitar, 1985) 
* [[Chris McCracken]] - Bass (replaced Dave Lyons, 1985) 

== External Links ==
[http://www.spontaneous.com/images2.html Photos at Spontaneous Combustion]

Happy Toons

2006-06-18T19:20:05Z

SenorCitizen: /* Members */

== Happy Toons ==
'''The Happy Toons story as told by Keith Lyons and Brooks Smith.''' 

'''Keith:''' The best I can recall is that after the breakup of [[Negative Element]] - the move of the [[Steppe]] brothers to Peoria IL, [[Tom Faulkner]] and I wanted to continue playing music. First I went and started playing drums for the first line up of [[Life Sentence]]. Erik was a good friend and a mentor but it was just too far for my brother or friends to drive and too much for him to do every other night. Tom and I got together also about the same times and I had a number of ideas for songs that were too psychedelic and weird for [[Negative Element]]. Strange enough, I wasn't really into Hardcore but freaky music. Hell, I liked Black Flag and the Circle Jerks and all the current music from 80-82 but I was literally buying Fugs albums and Sandy Nelson albums at the Salvation Armies. My mind was elsewhere. It must have been [[Mick Calhoun]] who introduced me to Robert, so Robert, Tom and I rehearsed some. Faulkner wanted to be more of a Chicago scenester so it only worked out for a little while with him. I knew Cheeze Romano from the pop, new wave band Kidz and I knew that [[Bryn Zellers]] was on his way out. He was and always will be a great musician. So eventually it was Robert, Bryn and I. We started to learn a number of weird country/psychedelic songs. Through the relationship of [[Mick Calhoun]] and [[Robert Byrne]] (both of [[Dead Fink]]) I started hanging out with Dan and some others like Ross Vondersmith and Jamie Munroe and I started skating again. We needed a singer and Brooks popped up around that time. Brooks started showing up with this cool guy Mike, I forget his name, but he ended up being one the first promoters for stunt Freestyle Bike events in the USA. There was a connection there because of skating and BMX/Freestyle bicycles. Brooks was this kind of mysterious dude from 'California'. Pismo if I remember correctly. His claim to fame was doing the longest wheelie in the world. So we asked him to sing. 

I can't remember our first show but I'm sure it was a party in the garage. We played all the clubs in Chicago and we became a regular attraction at [[West End]]. The manager of that bar was the coolest bar manager I've ever met. We had quite a few early admirers from the 'old' school hipsters of the late seventies. I think Shrub's ([[Robert Byrne]]) guitar skills for a 14 year old were unprecedented and at first we were doing really bizarre music - at least for Chicago. We played dozens and dozens of shows. [[Jeff Pezatti]] even used us to introduce [[Big Black]] to Chicago youth. Ain't that funny? I have to say that the highlight was playing at a Mothers Day Peace Festival in downtown Chicago in front of 40,000 people. We played Bryn's song "Suicide Trap". 

I think after [[Dead Fink]] started we became more of a cult - the two bands combined with Dan's own charisma and my tweaked past we forged a kind of scene in the Western Suburbs. The drugs and drinking took precedence at some point and the rest is history... Rest in Pieces. 

'''Brooks:''' In 1983 I took up drinking and started throwing nightly parties at my mother’s rented home in Downers Grove. The normal cast of characters included all the members of [[Dead Fink]] as well as a number of classmates and their friends. Keith started showing up at these soirees and it was at this time that he and [[Robert Byrne]] were starting what would become [[Happy Toons]]. 

One night Keith brought [[Bryn Zellers]], who I had know from the BMX world, to my house and they sprung on me that they needed a singer for Happy Toons. I met those guys at Keith’s house to "try out" and after nearly a case of Black Label beer I worked up the courage to scream into the mike. Apparently it worked because we started practicing on a regular basis from there in the now legendary "[[Keith Garage]]." 

I’m not sure how long it took us, it couldn’t have been more than a couple of weeks, but we played our first real show at [[West End]] with Killdozer and Die Kreuzen. 

We put on two shows at "[[Keith Garage]]", one of them was written up in Maximum Rock and Roll. Legendary skater Steve Caballero's band, The Faction, was on tour and made a point of stopping in Downers Grove to play that show. 

We somehow ended up on a lot of good bills opening up for the likes of The Exploited, The Dicks, D.R.I., A.O.F., Adrenalin O.D., Toxic Reasons and too many more to remember. I suspect Keith’s trailblazing with [[Negative Element]] opened up quite a few doors for us. 

Most importantly, we found ourselves at the center of a really powerful suburban scene that spawned a lot of great and very active bands. And cemented our places in drinking history!

== Members ==
* [[Brooks Smith]] - Vocals 
* [[Keith Lyons]] - Drums 
* [[Robert Byrne]] - Guitar 
* [[Bryn Zellers]] - Bass 
* [[Dave Lyons]] - Bass (replaced Bryn Zellers, 1984) 
* [[Kevin Folta]] - Guitar (2nd guitar, 1985) 
* [[Chris McCracken]] - Bass (replaced Dave Lyons, 1985) 

== External Links ==
[http://www.spontaneous.com/images2.html Photos at Spontaneous Combustion]

Brooks Smith

2006-06-18T19:19:03Z

SenorCitizen:

[[Brooks Smith]] was the lead singer for [[Happy Toons]] from 1983 to 1985. 

Brooks went on to perform mutiple musical and non-musical roles in the rock parody band '''Insane War Tomatoes'''. In the late 80's and early 90's he could be found behind a guitar playing in the art/math/prog/punk band '''Cigarettes'''. 

In 1995 [[Brooks Smith]], [[Dan Schneider]], and [[Bill Wallace]] formed the punk band [[Destroy Everything]]. [[Destroy Everything]] has independently released 3 albums and continues to play Chicago shows as well as the occasional U.S. tour.

== Noteable Facts ==
* In 2006 [[Brooks Smith]], along with [[Dan Schneider]] and [[Bill Wallace]] created a promotions entity called "[[Thirty Years of Punk]]" devoted to organizing large-scale punk rock festivals around the country.

== External Links ==
[http://www.destroyeverything.com Destroy Everything's website.]

Main Page

2006-06-18T19:04:06Z

SenorCitizen:

== The Chicago Punk Database ==

This site intends to be a collections of bands, members, labels etc. for the Chicago punk scene. This page specifically focuses on the earlier Chicago scene - though there is no formal cutoff date, the information on this page should focus on Chicago punk before [[1990]].

All you have to do to add pages is create and account and start making pages. Here are a few of the pages I've been working on:

* '''Bands''' - [[Anti-Bodies]], [[Articles of Faith]], [[BB Spin]], [[Bhang Revival]], [[Bhopal Stiffs]], [[Big Black]], [[Blatent Dissent]], [[Bloodsport]], [[Bohemia]], [[Breaking Circus]], [[Cunts]], [[Da]], [[Defoliants]], [[DV8]], [[The Effigies]], [[End Result]], [[Evil Eye]], [[Gross National Product]], [[Happy Toons]], [[Identity Crisis]], [[ID Under]], [[Impulse Manslaughter]], [[The Interceptors]], [[Life Sentence]], [[Meaty Buys]], [[Nadsat Rebel]], [[Naked Raygun]], [[Negative Element]], [[NGA JIWA]], [[Out of Order]], [[Phil 'n the Blanks]], [[Poison Squirrel]], [[Political Justice]], [[Rights of the Accused]], [[Savage Beliefs]], [[Seismic Waves]], [[Silent Language]], [[Silver Abuse]], [[Six Feet Under]], [[Skafish]], [[Special Affect]], [[Stations]], [[Strike Under]], [[The Subverts]], [[Terminal Beach]], [[Toothpaste]], [[Trial by Fire]], [[Urban DK]], [[The Wayouts]], [[Tutu and the Pirates]], [[Viktimz of Society]], [[Violent Tumor]], [[Zoetrope]], [[Dead Fink]]

* '''People''' - [[Steve Albini]], [[Vic Bondi]], [[Chris Bjorklund]], [[Steve Bjorklund]], [[Eric Cassell]], [[Bob Damrau]], [[Lorna Donley]], [[Santiago Durango]], [[Jed Fox]], [[Bob Furem]], [[Philip Galanter]], [[Scott Harris AKA Mousetrap]], [[John Kezdy]], [[Pierre Kezdy]], [[Jon Lundine]], [[Doug McCombs]], [[Jeff Pezzati]], [[Dave Riley]], [[Bobby Skafish]], [[Jim Skafish]], [[Geri Soriano]], [[Dave Thomas]], [[Keith Lyons]], [[Brooks Smith]], [[Robert Byrne]], [[Bryn Zellers]], [[Mick Calhoun]], [[Dan Schneider]]

* '''Labels''' - [[Autumn Records]], [[Dazit Records]], [[Fever Records]], [[H.I.D. Productions Ltd]], [[Homestead Records]], [[Little Farmer Music]], [[National Trust]], [[Quarterstick Records]], [[Ruthless Records]], [[Schwa Records]], [[Sandpounder Records]], [[Touch and Go]], [[Wasteland Records]], [[Wax Trax Records]]

* '''Records''' - [[Basement Screams]], [[Busted at Oz]], [[Naked Raygun - Home (Song)|Home]], [[Innocence]], [[The Middle of America Compilation]]

* '''Venues''' - [[950 Lucky Number]], [[Artful Dodger]], [[B'Ginnings]], [[Club Foot]], [[COD]], [[Cubby Bear]], [[Dreamerz]], [[Exit]], [[Gaspars]], [[Harry Hopes]], [[Head's Pub]], [[La Mere Vipere]], [[Metro]], [[Misfits]], [[O'Banion's]], [[Oz]], [[Space Place]], [[Stages]], [[Tuts]], [[Waves]], [[West End]]

* '''Fanzines''' - [[Bullshit Detector]], [[Coolest Retard]], [[Disorderly Conduct]], [[Gabba Gabba Gazette]], [[Last Rites]], [[Les Ponques Rockeurs]], [[Matter]], [[Primitive Noise]], [[Raveup]], [[Your Country Needs You/YOU]]

* '''History''' - ''Chicago Punk History at a Glance -'' [[Timeline]] ''Detailed History by Year -'' [[1974]] [[1975]] [[1976]] [[1977]] [[1978]] [[1979]] [[1980]] [[1981]] [[1982]] [[1983]] [[1984]] [[1985]] [[1986]] [[1987]] [[1988]] [[1989]] [[1990]] [[1991]] [[1992]] [[1993]] [[1994]] [[1995]] [[1996]] [[1997]] [[1998]] [[1999]] [[2000]] [[2001]] [[2002]] [[2003]] [[2004]] [[2005]] [[2006]]

* '''Websites''' - [[Marie Kanger|Chicago Punk Pix]], [[WindyCityPunk]], [http://www.punkvinyl.com The Punk Vault]

Happy Toons

2006-06-18T19:01:43Z

SenorCitizen:

== Happy Toons ==
'''The Happy Toons story as told by Keith Lyons and Brooks Smith.''' 

'''Keith:''' The best I can recall is that after the breakup of [[Negative Element]] - the move of the [[Steppe]] brothers to Peoria IL, [[Tom Faulkner]] and I wanted to continue playing music. First I went and started playing drums for the first line up of [[Life Sentence]]. Erik was a good friend and a mentor but it was just too far for my brother or friends to drive and too much for him to do every other night. Tom and I got together also about the same times and I had a number of ideas for songs that were too psychedelic and weird for [[Negative Element]]. Strange enough, I wasn't really into Hardcore but freaky music. Hell, I liked Black Flag and the Circle Jerks and all the current music from 80-82 but I was literally buying Fugs albums and Sandy Nelson albums at the Salvation Armies. My mind was elsewhere. It must have been [[Mick Calhoun]] who introduced me to Robert, so Robert, Tom and I rehearsed some. Faulkner wanted to be more of a Chicago scenester so it only worked out for a little while with him. I knew Cheeze Romano from the pop, new wave band Kidz and I knew that [[Bryn Zellers]] was on his way out. He was and always will be a great musician. So eventually it was Robert, Bryn and I. We started to learn a number of weird country/psychedelic songs. Through the relationship of [[Mick Calhoun]] and [[Robert Byrne]] (both of [[Dead Fink]]) I started hanging out with Dan and some others like Ross Vondersmith and Jamie Munroe and I started skating again. We needed a singer and Brooks popped up around that time. Brooks started showing up with this cool guy Mike, I forget his name, but he ended up being one the first promoters for stunt Freestyle Bike events in the USA. There was a connection there because of skating and BMX/Freestyle bicycles. Brooks was this kind of mysterious dude from 'California'. Pismo if I remember correctly. His claim to fame was doing the longest wheelie in the world. So we asked him to sing. 

I can't remember our first show but I'm sure it was a party in the garage. We played all the clubs in Chicago and we became a regular attraction at [[West End]]. The manager of that bar was the coolest bar manager I've ever met. We had quite a few early admirers from the 'old' school hipsters of the late seventies. I think Shrub's ([[Robert Byrne]]) guitar skills for a 14 year old were unprecedented and at first we were doing really bizarre music - at least for Chicago. We played dozens and dozens of shows. [[Jeff Pezatti]] even used us to introduce [[Big Black]] to Chicago youth. Ain't that funny? I have to say that the highlight was playing at a Mothers Day Peace Festival in downtown Chicago in front of 40,000 people. We played Bryn's song "Suicide Trap". 

I think after [[Dead Fink]] started we became more of a cult - the two bands combined with Dan's own charisma and my tweaked past we forged a kind of scene in the Western Suburbs. The drugs and drinking took precedence at some point and the rest is history... Rest in Pieces. 

'''Brooks:''' In 1983 I took up drinking and started throwing nightly parties at my mother’s rented home in Downers Grove. The normal cast of characters included all the members of [[Dead Fink]] as well as a number of classmates and their friends. Keith started showing up at these soirees and it was at this time that he and [[Robert Byrne]] were starting what would become [[Happy Toons]]. 

One night Keith brought [[Bryn Zellers]], who I had know from the BMX world, to my house and they sprung on me that they needed a singer for Happy Toons. I met those guys at Keith’s house to "try out" and after nearly a case of Black Label beer I worked up the courage to scream into the mike. Apparently it worked because we started practicing on a regular basis from there in the now legendary "[[Keith Garage]]." 

I’m not sure how long it took us, it couldn’t have been more than a couple of weeks, but we played our first real show at [[West End]] with Killdozer and Die Kreuzen. 

We put on two shows at "[[Keith Garage]]", one of them was written up in Maximum Rock and Roll. Legendary skater Steve Caballero's band, The Faction, was on tour and made a point of stopping in Downers Grove to play that show. 

We somehow ended up on a lot of good bills opening up for the likes of The Exploited, The Dicks, D.R.I., A.O.F., Adrenalin O.D., Toxic Reasons and too many more to remember. I suspect Keith’s trailblazing with [[Negative Element]] opened up quite a few doors for us. 

Most importantly, we found ourselves at the center of a really powerful suburban scene that spawned a lot of great and very active bands. And cemented our places in drinking history!

== Members ==
* [[Brooks Smith]] - Vocals 
* [[Keith Lyons]] - Drums 
* [[Robert Byrne]] - Guitar 
* [[Bryn Zellers]] - Bass 
* [[Kevin Folta]] - Guitar (2nd guitar, 1985) 
* [[Dave Lyons]] - Bass (replaced Bryn Zellers, 1984) 
* [[Chris McCracken]] - Bass (replaced Dave Lyons, 1985) 

== External Links ==
[http://www.spontaneous.com/images2.html Photos at Spontaneous Combustion]