Screeching Weasel

Screeching Weasel

Screeching Weasel was an American punk band from Chicago, Illinois. They were formed in 1986 by Ben Weasel and John Jughead. The band gained prominence in the early 1990s after signing a record deal with the East Bay punk label, Lookout! Records. After Weasel and Jughead, who remained in the band for its entirety, the two most prominent members in the band were Danny Vapid on guitar and bass and Dan Panic on drums. However, since their formation, the band went through many line-up changes and at times included such notable musicians as Mike Dirnt and Mass Giorgini.

Many popular pop punk or power pop bands cite Screeching Weasel as influential, including Green Day, Blink-182, and The All-American Rejects.

History

Early years (1986-1989)

In 1986 teenage friends from the Chicago area Ben Foster and John Pierson were inspired to start a band after attending a Ramones concert. Foster (who played bass and sang) rechristened himself Ben Weasel, while Pierson, a guitarist, dubbed himself John Jughead. The duo recruited a drummer who went by the alias of Steve Cheese to complete the group.

The band originally called themselves All-Night Garage Sale but changed their name to Screeching Weasel, a variation of a name a friend had suggested, Screaming Otter, which was a reference to a t-shirt that read, "I'VE GOT A SCREAMING OTTER IN MY PANTS!". Shortly after their formation, Ben decided it was too difficult to play bass and sing at the same time, so Vince Vogel, who took the stage name "Vinnie Bovine" joined as the group's bassist. The band recorded their first album, Screeching Weasel, in one night for $200 and released it on Chicago label Underdog Records in 1987.

In 1988, Vinnie Bovine was kicked out of the band, and was replaced with Warren Fischer, better known as Fish. The band recorded their second album, Boogadaboogadaboogada!, which featured Ben playing second guitar (he would later say that he only played on about a quarter of the songs) and made a name for themselves by opening a show for Operation Ivy at 924 Gilman Street. Steve Cheese was kicked out of the band shortly after the recording because of his unwillingness to tour outside of Chicago and was replaced by Brian Vermin. Boogadaboogadaboogada! appeared in late 1988 on Roadkill Records, a label run in part by Ben and Jughead.

After what Weasel described as a "disastrous" tour, Fish quit and was replaced by Dan Schafer, originally nick-named "Sewercap" and later renamed Danny Vapid. The new band members recorded an EP titled Punkhouse for Limited Potential Records soon after that. The band ended up recording two more songs in 1989 that ended up on compilations, featuring a second guitarist Douglas Ward, who also joined the band for several live shows. Screeching Weasel broke up when Vermin and Vapid stated that they wanted to quit the band to concentrate on their side project, Sludgeworth.

First reformation (1991-1994)

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Boogadaboogadaboogada! (1988)

After the break-up, Weasel and Jughead formed a new band called The Gore Gore Girls, and Ben briefly performed in the original incarnation of The Vindictives. In 1991, the members of Screeching Weasel reunited for what was intended as a one-off gig to pay off debts the band incurred from the recording of Boogadaboogadaboogada!. The line-up consisted of Ben, Jughead, Vapid, Vermin, and Ward. After the show, Dan Vapid discussed the idea of reforming Screeching Weasel with Jughead. All of the band's members agreed to reform, with the exceptions of Brian Vermin and Douglas Ward (who, presumably, was not invited). To replace Vermin, drummer Dan Panic (Dan Sullivan) was brought in as a replacement. Before recording their next album, 1991's My Brain Hurts (for Lookout! Records), Ben Weasel decided he wanted to focus on singing and would no longer be playing guitar in the band. Vapid switched instruments from bass to guitar, and former Gore Gore Girls bassist Dave Naked joined the band. The recording sessions for the album also produced the Pervo-Devo EP.

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My Brain Hurts (1991)

After recording My Brain Hurts, Dave Naked was fired from the band and Scott "Gub" Conway, Panic's former bandmate, was brought in as the band's bassist to tour. After the tour, Johnny Personality of The Vindictives became the group's bassist, as Gub was committed to another band. By late 1992, the band had recorded the follow up to My Brain Hurts, Wiggle. Johnny Personality then quit the band to focus on The Vindictives. Instead of adding a new member, Weasel moved back to guitar, and Vapid moved back to bass.

The band was then asked to record a cover of an entire Ramones album, 1992's Ramones, followed later that year by Anthem For A New Tomorrow. Shortly after the record's release, Ben decided that he no longer wanted to play live, and Vapid quit after falling out with the rest of the group. Screeching Weasel enlisted the help of Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt to record what they intended to be their final album. After 1994's How To Make Enemies And Irritate People was released, the band broke up for the second time.

Second reformation (1996-2001)

Following the second breakup, Weasel, Vapid, and Panic formed the band The Riverdales and experienced some notoriety touring with Green Day. By 1996 they rejoined with Jughead and recorded a new Screeching Weasel album Bark Like A Dog for Fat Mike's Fat Wreck Chords label. The album reached 34th place on the Billboard Heatseekers list, making it their highest charting album. However, both Vapid and Panic left by mutual decision after the recording, and Weasel and Jughead decided to go on without them, adding bassist Mass Giorgini (who had served as the band's producer in the past) and drummer Dan Lumley. Weasel also decided for the second time that he no longer wanted to play guitar, so guitarist Zac Damon was added.

In 1998, this new line-up recorded the Major Label Debut EP; the first release on Panic Button Records, a label Ben and John had formed that year and quickly followed it with Television City Dream. Their next release 1999's, Emo, featured the same line-up minus Zac Damon, who was unable to record due to school commitments at the time. In 2000 the band brought in Phillip Hill as a second guitarist and recorded what would be their final album, Teen Punks In Heat. After the album, Screeching Weasel made their first live appearances since 1993, playing 30 minute matinees at Chicago's House of Blues. The band broke up for the third—and allegedly final—time on July 6, 2001.

Post break-up

Members of Screeching Weasel have since gone on to form bands such as The Methadones, Even in Blackouts, and briefly reunited The Riverdales. Additionally, Ben Weasel released a solo record in 2002 entitled Fidatevi, and a second one, These Ones Are Bitter, in 2007.

In 2004, Ben rescinded all of the Screeching Weasel and Riverdales masters from Lookout! Records in the wake of long-running financial and personal conflicts. The masters were subsequently licensed to and reissued by Asian Man Records.

Since the break-up, Both Ben and Jughead authored books seemingly related to Screeching Weasel. In 2001, Ben Weasel published Like Hell, the account of a fictional punk band called the Pagan Icons and the life of their frontman, Joe Pagan, who narrates the story. Jughead released Weasels in a Box, his admittedly fictionalized account of Screeching Weasel's history. Both books were published by Hope And Nonthings, a publishing house run by Jughead.

A line-up consisting of Ben Weasel, Jughead, Dan Vapid, Mass Giorgini, and Dan Lumley came together briefly in 2004 to play surprise sets at the Chicago club The Fireside Bowl, nevertheless there are no plans to reunite again.

In 2007 a live performance of the band was included in 924 Gilman, a documentary about the famous club.

At 2007's 'Insubordination Fest' in Baltimore, Ben Weasel performed a set, backed by The Guts, and was joined on stage by Dan Vapid on guitar for several Screeching Weasel and Riverdales songs.

Members

• Ben Weasel (Vocals/Guitar) (1986-2001, 2004)
• John Jughead (Guitar) (1986-2001, 2004)
• Vinnie Bovine (Bass) (1986-1988)
• Steve Cheese (Drums (1986-1988)
• Warren Fish (Bass) (1988-1990)
• Brian Vermin (Drums (1988-1989)
• Dan Vapid (Guitar/Bass) (1989-1994, 1996, 2004)
• Doug Ward (Guitar) (1989)
• Dave Naked (Bass) (1991-1992)
• Scott "Gub" Conway (Bass) (1992)
• Dan Panic (Drums) (1991-1996)
• Johhny Personality (Bass) (1992)
• Mike Dirnt (Bass) (1994)
• Mass Giorgini (Bass) (1996-2001, 2004)
• Dan Lumley (Drums) (1996-2001, 2004)
• Zac Damon (Guitar) (1997-1998)
• Phillip Hill (Guitar) (2000-2001)

Music

The band's lyrics reflected Weasel's "anti-everything" apolitical orientation set to music that was melodic and derivative of the Ramones. Also much like the Ramones, common lyrical themes were girls, paranoia, and anxiety problems (which Weasel suffered from). Many centered on Weasel's relationship with then-girlfriend Portia.

Upon their first reformation, their music transformed from the traditional punk and hardcore punk of when they began, to their long-standing, to a pop punk sound.

The middle period of the band's sound begins most distinctly with the album My Brain Hurts, reaching adolescence with Wiggle and flowering into full realization with Anthem For a New Tomorrow. These works and several of those following it are characterized by more complex, anthemic songwriting and more intelligent and metaphoric lyrics. During this time Ben Weasel frequently collaborated with Joe King, frontman of The Queers, to write songs.

Through his writings in Maximum RocknRoll, fanzines, and lyrics, Ben Weasel established himself as one of the most pungent internal critics of the punk scene. As an example, in the 1999 song "Tightrope", Weasel launched a rather pointed attack on the glorification of violence and chauvinism by what he termed "tough-guy, so-called working class or street punk bands". Later, punk band Rancid referred briefly to this song in the liner notes of their 2003 album, Indestructible.

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Title	Label	Line up
1987	Screeching Weasel	Underdog	Ben Weasel- Vocals John Jughead- Guitar Vinnie Bovine- Bass Steve Cheese- Drums	Re-issued in 1997 by VML Records, with additional demos and unreleased tracks
1988	Boogadaboogadaboogada!	Roadkill	Ben Weasel- Vocals John Jughead- Guitar Warren Ozzfish- Bass Steve Cheese- Drums	Released on Wetspots in the UK, re-issued by Lookout in 1992, re-mastered and re-issued by Asian Man Records in 2005
1991	My Brain Hurts	Lookout!	Ben Weasel- Vocals John Jughead- Guitar Dan Vapid- Guitar Dave Naked- Bass Dan Panic- Drums	Re-mastered and re-issued by Asian Man Records in 2005
1992	Ramones	Selfless	Ben Weasel- Guitar, Vocals John Jughead- Guitar Dan Vapid- Bass Dan Panic- Drums	A cover of the entire first Ramones LP; 1700 pressed (1400 black vinyl, 300 white vinyl); 300 re-pressed in 1993; out of print. Re-released on Panic Button Records as Beat Is On The Brat in 1998.
1993	Wiggle	Lookout!	Ben Weasel- Vocals John Jughead- Guitar Dan Vapid- Guitar Johnny Personality- Bass Dan Panic- Drums	Recorded in 1992, not released until the next year, re-mastered and re-issued by Asian Man Records in 2005
1993	Anthem For A New Tomorrow	Lookout!	Ben Weasel- Guitar, Vocals John Jughead- Guitar Dan Vapid- Bass Dan Panic- Drums	Re-mastered and re-issued by Asian Man Records in 2005
1994	How To Make Enemies And Irritate People	Lookout!	Ben Weasel- Guitar, Vocals John Jughead- Guitar Mike Dirnt- Bass Dan Panic- Drums	Re-mastered and re-issued by Asian Man Records in 2005
1996	Bark Like A Dog	Fat Wreck Chords	Ben Weasel- Guitar, Vocals John Jughead- Guitar Dan Vapid- Bass Dan Panic- Drums
1998	Television City Dream	Fat Wreck Chords	Ben Weasel- Vocals John Jughead- Guitar Zac Damon-Guitar Mass Giorgini-Bass Dan Lumley-Drums	Features cover art by Aldo Giorgini, noted Italian artist, and father of Screeching Weasel bassist-producer Mass Giorgini
1999	Emo	Panic Button	Ben Weasel- Vocals, Guitar John Jughead- Guitar Mass Giorgini-Bass Dan Lumley-Drums
2000	Teen Punks In Heat	Panic Button / Lookout!	Ben Weasel- Vocals John Jughead- Guitar Phillip Hill- Guitar Mass Giorgini-Bass Dan Lumley-Drums	Alleged to be their final record

Compilation albums

Year	Title	Label	Lineup	Other Information
1995	Kill the Musicians	Lookout!		Collection of demo, rare, out of print, and live material
1998	Beat Is On The Brat	Panic Button / Lookout!		Combination of Ramones and Formula 27
2000	Thank You Very Little	Panic Button / Lookout!		Double CD; more b-sides, rarities, and live material
2005	Weasel Mania	Fat Wreck Chords		Best-of compilation, with 34 songs selected by Ben Weasel

EPs

Year	Title	Label	Other information
1989	Punkhouse	Limited Potential	re-issued in 1991 by No Budget Records; re-issued in 1993 by Selfless Records; out of print
1991	Pervo-Devo	Shred of Dignity	2500 originally pressed and released with the final issue of Ben Weasel's sex-themed fanzine, "Teen Punks In Heat"; 450 pressed in 1992, and the label name had changed to Outpunk; out of print
1992	Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions	Selfless	on-air performance at WFMU in New Jersey; 1500 pressed on blue vinyl, features tour bassist Scott "Gub" Conway, out of print
1992	Happy, Horny, Gay And Sassy	Selfless	Essentially a repress of the previous EP, with 3 extra songs from the same performance on a second, one-sided 7" record; 300 pressed on pink vinyl with two covers, one the same as the previous record and the second being a graphic close up of a man performing oral sex on another man; out of print
1993	Screeching Weasel/Pink Lincolns split	VML	1500 pressed, out of print
1993	Radio Blast	Underdog	2000 pressed, out of print
1993	You Broke My Fucking Heart	Lookout!	out of print
1994	Screeching Weasel / Born Against split	Lookout!	out of print
1994	Suzanne Is Getting Married	Lookout!	Mike Dirnt from Green Day plays bass on one track, Mass Giorgini on the other; out of print
1996	Formula 27	Veriform	later reissued on Lookout! / Panic Button; leftovers from the Bark Like A Dog sessions; out of print
1998	Major Label Debut	Lookout! / Panic Button	first Panic Button release
1999	Four on the Floor	Lookout! / Panic Button	four songs apiece from Screeching Weasel, Moral Crux, Enemy You, and Teen Idols
1999	Jesus Hates You	Probe	picture disc; all cover songs (Stooges, Subhumans, Stiff Little Fingers)

Other contributions

Year	Title	Label	Contributing Track(s) / Other Info
1989	What Are You Pointing At?	Very Small Records	"Kamala's Too Nice", "I Wanna Be A Homosexual"
1989	There's A Fungus Amongus	What The Fuck?	"Slogans"
1989	They Don't Get Paid, They Don't Get Laid, But Boy, Do They Work Hard	Maximum Rocknroll	"This Bud's For Me"
1990	Achtung Chicago	Underdog	"Teenage Slumber Party"
1992	Four Two Pudding	Very Small Records	"Kamala's Too Nice", "I Wanna Be A Homosexual"; CD release of What Are You Poiting At? 10"; re-released in 1998 with new artwork
1993	It's A Punk Thing, You Wouldn't Understand	Shakefork	"Celena"
1994	Fallen Upon Deaf Ears	Skullduggery	"Soap Opera"
1994	Chairman Of The Bored	Grass	"Chicago"
1994	Punk USA	Lookout	"My Friends Are Getting Famous"
1997	Physical Fatness - Fat Music Volume III	Fat Wreck Chords	"Cool Kids"
1999	Life In The Fat Lane - Fat Music Volume IV	Fat Wreck Chords	"Dummy Up"
1999	Return of the Read Menace	G7 Welcoming Committee Records	"My Own World"
1999	Short Music For Short People	Fat Wreck Chords	"Dirty Needles"
2000	Liberation Sucks	Liberation	"California Sucks"
2000	Lookout Freakout	Lookout / Panic Button	"Acknowledge"
2001	Lookout Freakout - Episode 2	Lookout	"Pauline"

References

• Screeching Weasel at AllMusic

External links

• Listen to the full length Boogadaboogadaboogada
• Official Screeching Weasel website
• benweasel.com - Ben Weasel's blog
• Screeching Weasel guitar tabs
• Interview with Ben Weasel
• Review of John Jughead's novel about being in Screeching Weasel