SCREECHING WEASEL
DISCOGRAPHY

Releases

27 Song Demo (self-released, 1986)

SCREECHING WEASEL LP (Underdog Records, 1987)

Split 7" w/ MOVING TARGETS (What Goes On, 1988)

BOOGADABOOGADABOOGADA LP (Roadkill Records, 1988)

PUNKHOUSE 7" (Limited Potential, 1989)

MY BRAIN HURTS LP/CD (Lookout! Records, 1991)

PERVO-DEVO 7" (Shred Of Dignity, 1991)

SNAPPY ANSWERS TO STUPID QUESTIONS 7" (Selfless, 1992)

HAPPY, HORNY, GAY, AND SASSY 7" (Selfless, 1992)

WIGGLE LP/CD (Lookout! Records, 1992)

RAMONES LP (Selfless, 1992)

Split 7" w/ PINK LINCOLNS (VML, 1993)

RADIO BLAST 7" (Underdog Records, 1993)

YOU BROKE MY FUCKING HEART 7" (Lookout! Records, 1993)

ANTHEM FOR A NEW TOMORROW LP/CD (Lookout! Records, 1993)

Split 7" w/ BORN AGAIN$T (Lookout! Records, 1994)

SUZANNE IS GETTING MARRIED 7" (Lookout! Records, 1994)

HOW TO MAKE ENEMIES AND IRRITATE PEOPLE LP/CD (Lookout! Records, 1994)

BARK LIKE A DOG LP/CD (Fat Wreck Chords, 1996)

FORMULA 27 7" (Vermiform, 1996)

MAJOR LABEL DEBUT 12" EP/CD (Panic Button, 1998)

TELEVISION CITY DREAM LP/CD (Fat Wreck Chords, 1998)

EMO LP/CD (Panic Button, 1999)

JESUS HATES YOU 7" (Probe Disc, 1999)

TEEN PUNKS IN HEAT LP/CD (Panic Button, 2000)


Reissues

KILL THE MUSICIANS CD (Lookout! Records 1995 - contains the Punkhouse 7", Pervo-Devo 7", Radio Blast 7", You Broke My Fucking Heart 7", their half of Pink Lincolns split, plus comp tracks, unreleased tracks, and live tracks)

SCREECHING WEASEL CD (VML 1997 - reissue of the first LP, plus demos and unreleased songs from 1986-1988)

THE BEAT IS ON THE BRAT CD (Panic Button 1998 - has the Ramones LP and Formula 27 EP)

THANK YOU VERY LITTLE 2xCD (Panic Button 2000 - compilation of demos, outtakes, Jesus Hates You EP, Suzanne Is Getting Married single, plus an entire live show)


Compilations

WHAT ARE YOU POINTING AT? 10" (Very Small Records 1989)

THERE'S A FUNGUS AMONG US 7" (What The Fuck? Records 1989)

THEY DON'T GET PAID, THEY DON'T GET LAID, BUT BOY, DO THEY WORK HARD LP (Maximum Rock-N-Roll Records 1989)

ACHTUNG CHICAGO LP (Underdog Records 1990)

BLAME AND BURN 7" (Flush Records 1991)

FOUR TWO PUDDING (Very Small Records 1992)

IT'S A PUNK THING, YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND (Shakefork 1993)

FALLEN UPON DEAF EARS 10" (Skullduggery 1994)

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD 2xCD (Grass 1994)

BEN WEASEL PRESENTS: PUNK USA CD (Lookout! Records 1994)

FAT MUSIC vol. 3: PHYSICAL FATNESS CD (Fat Wreck Chords 1998)

FOUR ON THE FLOOR CD (Panic Button 1999)

LIFE IN THE FAT LANE LP/CD (Fat Wreck Chords 1999)

RETURN OF THE READ MENACE CD (Fat Wreck Chords/AK Press 1999)

LIBERATION SUCKS CD (Liberation 2000)

LOOKOUT! FREAKOUT CD (Lookout! Records 2000)

SHORT MUSIC FOR SHORT PEOPLE CD (Fat Wreck Chords 2000)


INFO

ScreechingWeasel.com
The band would never label it official, but they've contributed to in fairly regularly in the past. As close to official as it gets.

BenWeasel.com
Home of Mr. Weasel himself.

Band History written by Patrick

Screeching Weasel may arguably be Chicago's best-known punk rock band. Some people love them, some hate them. They would prove to be extremely prolific despite frequent line up changes, and their music would would influence and be copied by numerous pop-punk bands when the genre exploded in the early- and mid-90's.

Screeching Weasel was formed in 1986 in the suburb of Prospect Heights, IL (about a half hour northwest of Chicago) by Ben Foster and John Pierson. Pierson and Foster had first met in junior high but drifted apart when Ben's life took a dark turn that involved run-ins with both parents and authorities and culminated in a two year stay at drug/mental rehab facility in Maine. A few years later John and Ben became reacquainted when both were working at a local movie theater. By that time both men had become fans of punk rock and, after having witnesses the Ramones in concert in the summer of 1986, Ben was inspired to form his own band with John. They recruited a friend, a former Wisconsinite they nicknamed Steve Cheese, to play drums, while John played guitar and Ben attempted to play bass and sing. They called themselves All-Night Garage Sale. Ben quickly realized that singing and playing bass was not as easy as he had thought. A friend introduced the band to Vince Vogel, a heavy metal fan who had spelled out "Fuck You" on his bass with letters purchased from a hardware store. The message on Vince's bass was enough to convince the band he was the right man, and despite his heavy metal image, he was open to the band's songs and learned them quickly. With Vince's joining, the group changed its name from All-Night Garage Sale to Screeching Weasel. Ben Foster became Ben Weasel and John Pierson became Jughead (sometimes called "John Jughead"), and Vince Vogel was called Vinnie Bovine. Screeching Weasel played their first show in December of 1986 and recorded a 27 song demo shortly after.

The band began playing fairly frequently at an over-21 club called Batteries Not Included and it was there that they met Russ Forester who had recently started his own label, Underdog Records. Russ agreed to put on the bands first record which turned into a 27 song self-titled LP that was released in the fall of 1987 (many of the songs were re-recorded versions of tunes from their demo). The record received good reviews and sold out of its initial 1000 record pressing in about 3 months. Underdog licensed the record to Shikagu Trading/What Goes On?, an English company that pressed 2000 copies (and went out of business soon thereafter) but refused to repress the record themselves, instead giving the tapes and rights back to Screeching Weasel. The band looked for another label to reissue it, but found no takers. It should be noted to anyone who had not heard Screeching Weasel's first album that this is not the Screeching Weasel you know and love (or hate). The Ramones-influence that people quickly attach to Screeching Weasel is hardly present. Instead, the songs bear the touch of the popular acts of the day the Ben and Jughead (who co-wrote many of the early songs) were listening to at the time. Bands like Dead Kennedy's, MDC, Circle Jerks, Minor Threat, and Adrenalin OD are some of the groups Ben credits for influencing Screeching Weasel's early records. Lyrically, the band was unapologetically obnoxious, as songs like "Wanna Die", "Jockpunk", and "Society" (which contains the height of the lyrical obnoxiousness with lines like "America, love it or leave/I would if I could but I don't have any money") would illustrate.

Despite not being able to find a label to reissue their LP, the group pushed ahead, deciding to record a split 7" with local act the Ozzfish Experience (whom Screeching Weasel had written a song about on their first album). Again unable to find a label interested in them, the two groups decided to put out the record themselves. However, after mailing the tapes off to a pressing plant, the company went out of business (and kept the tapes). It was around that this time that Screeching Weasel decided they'd had enough of Vinnie, whose personal problems had made the band hell, and gave him the boot. Around the same time, Ozzfish broke up, so the "Fish" half of Ozzfish, guitarist Warren Fischer, joined SW as the new bassist and was renamed Fish. It was with this line up that SW made their first trip out to California and made acquaintances with bands like Operation Ivy and Crimpshrine, as well as people from Maximum Rock-n-Roll and Lookout! Records.

Back in Chicago, Ben and Jughead met a rich kid named Dave Best who was not only looking to start his own record label but wanted Screeching Weasel on it as well. The resulting label, Roadkill Records, though short-lived, would issue several excellent records by the Effigies, Bhopal Stiffs, Screeching Weasel, and Sludgeworth (most of which have seen reissue in some form) before shutting down. Screeching Weasel's resulting LP, titled Boogadaboogadaboogada, would hit the shelves in late 1988. By the time the record was out, though, Steve Cheese, who was by then married and uninterested in touring, was replaced by a 16 year old kid named Brian McQuade, who was renamed Brian Vermin. The Ben, Jughead, Fish, and Vermin line up was short-lived. Fish left the group by mutual agreement following a tour and his replacement was Dan Schafer, better known as Dan Vapid, who had sung for a few local hardcore groups like Generation Waste and the Igor Skulls and was a familiar face at most Screeching Weasel shows (he'd also recommended Vermin to the band). Vapid, like Ben, was a huge Ramones fan and would become the only person Ben felt comfortable writing songs with. The new line up wanted to hit the road and Dave Best thought it would be good to take an EP with them. The resulting record, Punkhouse, was recorded by Mike Potential, a fanzine writer from Ohio who had relocated to Chicago and was looking to launch his own label, called Limited Potential. Punkhouse, despite the horrible recording job by Mike Potential, showed Screeching Weasel moving away from their thrashy roots and moving towards the tighter, poppy sound that they would be known for.

The year was 1989 and while Screeching Weasel was becoming a considerable draw, their dealings with both Roadkill and Limited Potential hadn't made them any money and there was plenty of tension in the band. Compounding the problems was the fact that Vermin and Vapid had formed their own band, a power-pop-punk emo-core type act called Sludgeworth (for which Vapid sang) and were considerably less interested in SW. Around the end of the year, Vermin quit SW and stated Vapid wanted out to. Faced with the loss of another rhythm section, Ben and Jughead decided to end the group altogether.

While Sludgeworth would quickly become one of the Chicago punk scene's top draws (a Sludgeworth retrospective is available on Lookout!, by the way) Ben and Jughead struggled with a new act, who after a number of name changes, was called the Gore Gore Girls. Still, in 1990, SW did a reunion show to pay back Russ Forester, who had loaned the group money to record their 2nd LP. The line up for the show was Ben, Jughead, Vapid, Vermin, and local musician Doug Ward on 2nd guitar. Doug, who at the time was friend of Ben's, had played a few shows with SW in 1989 and appeared on some of the group's last recordings from that year. After the show, Vapid approached Jughead about reforming Screeching Weasel. The two then approach Ben, who agreed only if they pursued a poppier sound and called themselves anything but Screeching Weasel. Vermin declined the invite to return (Sludgeworth, by the way would exist until the end of 1992 and then the group, minus Vapid, would continue on, first as Pound, and then as Ethylene). To fill out the new group, Ben recruited Dan Sullivan, the drummer of local act Ivy League, and Gore Gore Girl's bassist Dave Lally (the group's third bassist after 3 shows), with Vapid moving to 2nd guitar. The two were renamed Dan Panic and Dave Naked, respectively, and the Gore Gore Girls called it a day (their only release was on a compilation and SW has since recorded most of the songs Ben wrote for that band).

Ben contacted Lookout! Records to see if they were interested in releasing anything by his new group. Lookout! owner Larry Livermore agreed to do so only if the band called themselves Screeching Weasel and Ben relented. The new Screeching Weasel traveled out to California in early 1991 and recorded the My Brain Hurts LP. The album, now considered a pop-punk classic, ushered in a wave of popularity that caught the group by surprise. The years 1991 to 1994 are now considered SW's peak. The group would prove to be highly prolific, releasing an avalanche of singles, EP's, LPs and compilation cuts despite frequent line up changes, beginning with Dave Naked's firing following the release of My Brain Hurts. Panic's former Ivy League band mate, Scott "Gub" Conway (then singer/guitarist of Chicago emo legends Gauge) filled in on bass for the next tour. This line up is featured on two 7" EPs, Snappy Answers To Stupid Questions and Happy, Horny, Gay, and Sassy, which were live-on-the-radio performances which have never been reissued because, in Ben's words, they "really blow." After the tour, Vindictives' bassist Johnny Personality joined to record the Wiggle LP and Radio Blast EP before leaving to concentrate on the Vindictives. The Wiggle sessions had proved difficult and following Personality's departure, Screeching Weasel opted to move Dan Vapid back to bass and Ben took up 2nd guitar. Selfless Records contacted the group to cover an entire Ramones album and although realizing what stupid idea it was, SW immediately agreed. The group faithfully reproduced the Ramones first LP, and while many critics found it boring, it became highly sought after by fans and Ben would credit it as bringing the band together at a stressful time.

In 1993, the four-piece Screeching Weasel released the 7" EP You Broke My Fucking Heart and the LP Anthem For A New Tomorrow, both considered by most fans to be the group's best efforts, as well as split 7" with the Pink Lincolns. However, after only three dates supporting their new album, Ben canceled SW's tour, complaining that he hated being on the road. By now, Ben had become something of a notorious figure in the punk community, not only for his music but his columns in Maximum Rock'n'Roll, which were ranged from funny to outright nasty. Locally, Ben had become an unpopular figure. Many complained that Ben showed no support for local bands. Fall-outs with friends in the scene as well as what's now known as the "Dummyroom Incident", a truly retarded event that happened at the opening of the Dummyroom (a punk rock record store owned by Vindictive's frontman Joey Vindictive and his wife) only served to damage Ben's reputation further. Following a dismal performance at a local heavy metal club in the fall of 1993, Ben and company decided to call it quits a year from that date. This started rumors that Ben planned on turning Screeching Weasel into a studio act, drawing more criticism locally. The trouble was, Vapid quit before the group could they could record their final LP, so they recruited Mike Dirnt from Green Day, who were just starting to get big, to fill in (again, a move that drew plenty of criticism). Upon the album's release, Screeching Weasel announced they had broken up.

Ben, Panic, and Vapid soon formed the Riverdales, a band that incorporated their Ramones influence to the tenth degree, while Jughead went into playwriting and acting. The Riverdales' first album drew good reviews but many fans complained that it sounded way too much like the Ramones (Ben later admitted that the band didn't know what they were doing on their first LP). The Riverdales also accepted an offer to tour as Green Day's opening act (early into their success Green Day brought a number of Lookout! acts on tour), a move that not only added to criticism of the Riverdales, but did what 5 years worth of complaint letters to Maximum Rock-n-Roll could not: cost Ben his column with MMR.

A big money offer to cover another Ramones album brought Screeching Weasel back together in 1996, however. By this time, though, Ben's relationship with Lookout! had greatly soured. When Ben and Jughead discovered they weren't being paid the royalties they believed they were due, they demanded Lookout! cough up the cash. Lookout! responded by raising the price of the SW back catalog against the group's wishes. The situation grew uglier, with all sorts of nasty accusations being tossed between Ben and Lookout! owner Larry Livermore. When Screeching Weasel threatened to pull their catalog and issue it through another label, Lookout! sued the group. Through all this, SW managed to record a new album for a new label, NOFX's Fat Wreck Chords. The Lookout! lawsuit ended when Larry Livermore sold the label to Chris Appelgren. The new Lookout! owner decided to make repair the label's relationship with Ben and Jughead by helping them launch their new record label, Panic Button.

The Riverdales had done a tour with Green Day which ended up severely damaging the relationship between Ben, Vapid, and Panic and dealt a mortal blow to the group as a whole (they would record a 2nd record for the Honest Don's label before calling it quits). Despite the Riverdales fallout, Ben, Vapid, and Panic managed to record together with Jughead for the new Screeching Weasel LP, Bark Like A Dog, before Vapid and Panic departed permanently (Jughead and Vapid would reunite briefly in the surf-pop punk act The Mopes, who released two records on Lookout! before packing it in).

Ben and Jughead recruited three new members to replace the two departed Dans. Long time friend and engineer Mass Giorgini joined as bassist, while former Zoinks guitarist Zac Damon filled in on guitar and backing vocals and Dan Lumley hit the drums. The new band was perhaps the strongest group of musicians ever to be part of Screeching Weasel. The problem was, they were less of a band and more of Ben and Jughead playing with hired guns. Ben would write songs at home, then the band would come in and record them. They didn't play shows and they definitely didn't tour. Although Ben and Jughead felt it was one of the best in their career, many fans found Bark Like A Dog too poppy and watered down. Seemingly in response to the criticism, Ben and company played hard and fast on their next two records, the Major Label Debut EP (so-titled because it was the first record on Panic Button) and Televison City Dreams, their last record for Fat Wreck Chords, who specialize in hard and fast pop-hardcore bands - but the fans still complained. Zac Damon soon moved to California and Ben picked up the second guitar for Emo, an album written following Ben's breakup with his girlfriend of 12 years and the first SW album in years to show real spark. After Emo, Screeching Weasel added Philip Hill of the Teen Idols on second guitar to record Teen Punks in Heat, which was named by the Chicago Tribune as "Local Release of the Year". This was followed by the first live performances by the band in years, playing thirty minute mantinees at the House of Blues in Chicago. Therefore, it came as something of a surprise when Ben and Jughead sold Panic Button to Lookout! and broke Screeching Weasel up again (presumably for good) in the summer of 2001.

Since Screeching Weasel's latest split, Ben has released two books: Like Hell, a fictionalized novel that seems largely based on Screeching Weasel's history, and Punk is a Four-Letter Word, a collection of Ben's fanzine columns. He has also recorded a solo album and most recently reformed the Riverdales with Vapid and one-time SW drummer Dan Lumley. Jughead has continued to act and write plays for the Neofuturists group in Chicago, as well as forming an acoustic pop-punk act called Even in Blackouts. He is also working on a book about his time in Screeching Weasel, called Weasel's in a Box. He also helps run Hope And Nonthings, a company that publishes books by local authors, including Ben Foster.


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