Spark Thugs

I am gonna go ahead and give a little history lesson here real quick...a "Behind the Music" with the Spark Thugs if you will. People often ask me how the band got started. The answer to this can get a little lengthy and somewhat hard to follow, but is kind of a cool story. Actually, it is kind of a tragic one. In my opinion, the foundation of the Spark Thugs is held on the shoulders of one man, a fella by the name of Kirk Barrett. I give him all the credit, because without him, I never would have met Johnny, Johnny never would have met Mike, and Mike never would have met me. So, here we go. Kirk was my best friend when I was growing up, and is probably my biggest inspiration for playing music. Anyway, he meets this girl, Janelle, and starts a pretty serious relationship with her. Now who is this girl’s little brother you may ask? None other than an aspiring young drummer named Johnny Schumer. While Kirk and Janelle were off doing that nasty teenager stuff, me and Johnny became really close friends. Kirk was a drummer as well, and soon joined up with this cover band who was looking for one. It just so happens that the lead singer of this band was, you guessed it, Mike Honcho. Another member of this band was a guy by the name of Joe Herman, who I will get to in just a minute. So life went on, and me and Johnny were becoming best of friends, and Kirk’s band was kicking ass. Times were fantastic. Well, that same life that was so amazing suddenly came to a screeching halt. When I was 15, Kirk had an accident at work, suffering a massive head injury. Doctors determined that there was nothing left that they could do for him, and Kirk died five days later. This was definitely one of the most devastating times of our lives, but slowly became the beginning of great things to come. I love you and miss you brother, and thank you for everything. A few years went by, and by this time, Johnny and I had become bff’s. Johnny somehow managed to stay in touch with Herman, Kirk’s old guitar player, and actually starting jamming with him. The Spark Thug seed is planted. Right after Kirk had died, I bought a bass guitar from a very very good friend of ours (that’s you Corey!), so I had been playing for a year or two. Johnny and Herman invited me to join their “band” and we starting jamming down in Johnny’s basement. It was a blast, but we definitely needed a singer. Herman new this guy that he thought would be great for the bill, so one day he brought him over to try out. In walked this dread-headed acoustic playing hippie…Kirk’s old singer Mike Honcho. “This is awesome” I thought, because I hadn’t seen Mike since Kirk had passed away. We now had our singer. So…there it is. That is how the band got together. The fate of one of the greatest men that I have ever known brought us together to birth one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time!! Muahahaha! Just kidding. I don’t think we are that bad though…. So here are a few more facts about the band you might not have known. We have been together since late 1994 (with Herman) and cemented our group in 1995, when I was 18. We did indeed start out as a four piece band, us three and Herman on lead guitar. I guess things weren’t going in the direction that Herman wanted them to go in, so he eventually parted ways to do his own thing. Also, the very first name that we ever had was Love Nest (not my idea). Then after Herman left, we switched it to Killjoy4fun,which remained for quite some time. A few years ago, Mike and I were kicking around the idea of starting a side project doom band, called the Spark Thugs. That band never happened, but we liked the name so much that we decided to put Killjoy4fun to rest and give us the final name of the Spark Thugs. Besides, I got tired of trying to tell everyone what the hell Killjoy4fun meant…I didn’t even know! In our 15 year tenure, we have had a blast playing music and sharing the stage with tons of amazing bands. We have played with national acts such as Dope, Monster Voodoo Machine, KMFDM, Stinking Lizveta, Lo-pan, Tension Wire, Earthride, Suplecs, Nebula, and of course, the almighty Clutch. And a big thank you go’s to all the local bands that we have had the pleasure to share a stage with, and all the bands and guys that we have become good friends with. Oh! Here’s a weird one…for years, our jam room was a church. Even the good lord likes a little rock n’ roll from time to time. Well, that’s all I got for now. Johnny, Mike, and Carmen, feel free to add anything that I have left out. So there you go. We are the Spark Thugs. A Meat and potatoes, bare bones rock n’ roll band from St. Louis, Mo. And as my dear den mother would say, “We are here to melt your faces off!” Thanks to all of our family, friends, and fans, and to you, Kirk Barrett, Billy Meyer Something old, something new, something borrowed...