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Formed: Prospect Heights, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Great melodic hardcore band active between 1986 and 1989, 1991 and 1994, 1996 and 2001, and 2009-Present.

The band's bio on their own site is pretty succinct. Just one line, and here it is: Saw the Ramones, started a band, pissed off a whole lot of scenesters.

ABOVE: Screeching Weasel in 2000

The Screeching Weasel Timeline. (You can Skip this and go straight to the discography if you like.)

Part 1: 1986-1989

1986	Band forms all All-Night Garage Sale (above), a few weeks after singer Ben Weasel sees the Ramones. Jughead plays guitar, Steve Cheese drums, and there is no permanent bassist until November. Songs from a practise tape are played on WNUR's Fast and Loud show.
November/December 1986 (accounts vary)	Their first permanent bassist Vinnie Bovine joins. Changes name to Screeching Weasel. According to Ben Weasel, the name is adapted from the legend on a frat boy's t-shirt that read "I'VE GOT A SCREAMING OTTER IN MY PANTS!"
Late 1986/Early 1987	Records first demo, at Solid Sound in Hoffman Estate. Ben Weasel: "We did 28 songs and put 27 of them on the demo tape Screeching Weasel, which we sold through ads in the infamous Berkeley punkzine, Maximum Rocknroll (the song we didn't put on was a really lame cover of some Brady Bunch tune). The rest of the songs were primarily moronic little ditties I'd conjured up during my two year stay at a Maine drug rehab from age 15-17...or else cheesy rip-offs of tunes by the popular bands of the day like the Circle Jerks, Angry Samoans, Black Flag and our favourite, Adrenalin O.D. We wanted to fucking BE Adrenalin O.D.; SUBURBANCORE, that was our motto. No kidding, when it came down to choosing band names, the two that were left were Screeching Weasel and Suburban Vermin. In retrospect, they both sucked".
Early 1987	Plays first show "in Matt Nelson's parents' basement"
June 1987	Record debut album Screeching Weasel.
August 1987	Record If You Can't Have Fun...Why Bother Living?, a split EP with The Ozzfish Experience. It was not released, because the pressing plant went bust.
September 1987	Debut album Screeching Weasel is finally released on Russ Forster's record company, Underdog Records. A thousand copies are pressed, and it is licensed to UK label What Goes On. NME give it 10 of out 10.
1988	Vinnie Bovine is kicked out of band. Ben Weasel: "[His] personal problems had made the band a living hell. To this day, Vinnie expresses his hatred for me, even though his sacking was a group decision (hey, he set a precedent; to this day, anytime anyone has a problem with Screeching Weasel, it's always my fault, even though we always came to personnel decisions as a group)". Warren from The Ozzfish replaces him. Vinnie took his sacking like he took everything else - he flew into a petulant rage".
Summer 1988	The band makes its first "real" road trip to California, and plays at Gilman Street, one of the shows supporting Operation Ivy. Ben Weasel: "While in California, we made the acquaintance of the guys from Crimpshrine as well as the Lookout Records guys. At the time, things were still pretty exciting out there and we were heavily inspired by what we saw. Later in the summer, after I'd moved into Jughead's mother's house, Crimpshrine came through town and ended up staying with us for two weeks. We played them the four song demo tape we'd just recorded (yep, it's long gone) and their guitarist/singer, Jeff, taught me how to take my three stringed chord and move it up toe the second, third and fourth strings. No more sliding up and down the guitar neck! To this day, I still use the guitar strap Jeff gave me and I still haven't learned one single new thing about playing guitar (including the names of the second, third and fourth strings)".
ABOVE: Live 1988. Photo by Pauline Poisonous
October/November 1988	Brian Vermin replaces Steve Cheese on drums. Releases Boogadoboogadaboogada LP on the band's own label, Roadkill Records. Embarks on the "NO SHOWERS 'TILL GAINESVILLE" tour with Spongetunnel. Ben Weasel: "The two bands fought constantly, and by our last show, there was plenty of tension in Screeching Weasel. We had a blow out argument on the way home and within two weeks of returning, Warren had simultaneously quit and been kicked out (it's not as bad as it sounds; we discovered that he and I were able to be friends once we weren't in a band together). For a replacement, we got Danny Vapid, a local punk who seemed to attend all our shows and had been the singer in quite a few local hardcore bands (including the Igor Skulls and Generation Waste). He wasn't the world's greatest bass player, but John handed him over the Yamaha and he fit right in. We called him Sewercap at first, but the name didn't stick. He was finally christened Vapid in 1991 and the name dogs him to this day".
Spring 1989	Record the Punkhouse EP, produced by fanzine editor Mike Potential Ben Weasel: "As you can tell from the recording, he was a terrible engineer. We recorded the basic tracks without Juggy, who had gotten stranded in downstate Illinois. I had been up all night delivering newspapers and was not in the best frame of mind. When Juggy finally showed up, we had finished everything and were getting impatient. Perhaps we should have cut him some slack, as his guitar is noticeably out of tune with the other guitars on the record... The terrible recording quality combined with the fact that I wrote most of the lyrics while I was drunk make it my least favourite SW record".

Spring 1989	Records three songs at Sergay's Recording Emporium: 'I Wanna Be Homosexual' and 'Kamala's Too Nice' (later re-recorded for My Brain Hurts with slightly different lyrics) for Very Small Records' What Are You Pointing At? 10" compilation and 'Slogans' for an all-Chicago bands 7" compilation entitled There's A Fungus Amongus.
	Vapid and Vermin form side-project called Sludgeworth. Screeching Weasel record 'Teenage Slumber Party' for the Achtung Chicago compilation LP and 'This Bud's for Me' for the They Don't Get Paid, They Don't Get Laid, But Boy, Do They Work Hard comp LP. Soon after, Vermin and Vapid quit, and the band splits.
	Vapid and Vermin form side-project called Sludgeworth

Part 2 (1991-1994):


Early 1991	Screeching Weasel reforms, after Weasel's band The Gore Gore Girls splits. The new lineup is Weasel (vocals/guitar), Jughead (guitar), Vapid (second guitar), Dave Naked (from The Gore Gore Girls) (bass), and Dan Panic (drums, ex-Ivy League).
1991	Band releases third LP, My Brain Hurts, and a single, Pervo-Devo. The LP is first of the "proper" Screeching Weasel LPs in that it is the first to feature their adrenalised pop-punk sound. It is also excellent. The group begin getting genuinely popular.

1992	Dave Naked leaves. He is replaced by Gub (then singer of Gauge, and former bandmate with Panic in Ivy League).
1992	Two crappy live EP's are released, Snappy Answers For Stupid Questions and Happy, Horny, Gay And Sassy.
Early 1992	Johnny Personality (from The Vindictives) replaces Gub on bass. Band records five song demo with Steve Albini recording and Eric Spicer of Naked Raygun producing.
Summer 1992	Album #4 Wiggle is recorded at Sonic Iguana in Lafayette, Indiana. Johnny Personality subsequently leaves. Vapid moves back to bass.

August 1992	Album #5 Ramones is recorded. Ben Weasel: "Todd from Selfless called during our party for the end of the Wiggle recording session and asked us if we'd like to cover our favourite Ramones album for his label. It was a completely stupid idea, so of course we did it. My favourite Ramones album is actually Leave Home, but we all agreed we could do a halfway decent job with their first album, Ramones. We recorded it at Sonic Iguana in something silly like fifteen hours and mixed it to sound like the first Ramones album (bass outta one speaker, guitar outta the other). It was stupid, but a lot of fun and it marks the only Screeching Weasel album on which Vapid sang lead on a song ('Let's Dance').
Early 1993	Screeching Weasel / Pink Lincolns split EP released on VML, and Radio Blast 7" released on Underdog.
1993	Band tours with The Queers, after which they release You Broke My Fucking Heart.
1993	Another split single, Screeching Weasel / Born Against, is released
1993	Album #6 Anthem For A New Tomorrow is released. Ben Weasel: "It's a themed album, modelled largely after Wire's Pink Flag and to a lesser extent, Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade. But while 'Zen Arcade' told a story, we were trying to show a frame of mind".
November 1993	Band plays last show (for now). Ben Weasel: "It was a fiasco from the get go. It was in a suburban heavy metal club staffed by uptight mooks who stood in front of the band to make sure nobody danced while we played. The sound was terrible and we got paid a fraction of what we had gotten used to making locally (which was still a good amount of dough...)." By this time Ben has also acquired bad reputation. According to Kill From The Heart: "By now, Ben had become something of a notorious figure in the punk community, not only for his music but his columns in Maximum Rocknroll, 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 rumours that Ben planned on turning Screeching Weasel into a studio act, drawing more criticism locally".
October 1994	After Vapid quits, Mike Dirnt from Green Day plays bass on Album #7 How To Make Enemies And Irritate People. Dirnt also plays bass on one side of the single Suzanne Is Getting Married, with producer Mass Giorgini playing bass on the flip.
1994	Band splits. Weasel, Panic and Vapid form The Riverdales, while Jughead works as a playwright, stage actor and stage director.

Above: How To Make Enemies lineup. L-R: Ben Weasel, Jughead, Mike Dirnt, Dan Panic

Part 3 (1995-2001):

1995	Ben loses job as Maximum Rocknroll scribe after five years. Why? Because The Riverdales went on tour with Green Day.
1995	After recording the second Riverdales LP, Jughead and Weasel reform Screeching Weasel.
Early 1996	Ben Weasel marries his girlfriend.
November 1996	Band leaves Lookout! Records and release album #8 Bark Like A Dog on Fat Wreck Chords. The LP was funded by Weasel and Jughead and released prior to signing with Fat Wreck Chords. Lookout! Records instigates lawsuit against SW after SW demands unpaid royalties from the label.
1996	Lookout! Records drops lawsuit against SW when the label changes hands.
1997	Formula 27 EP is released
1998	Vapid and Panic leave. They are replaced by the band's long-time producer Mass Giorgini and Dan Lumley from Squirtgun, and guitarist/vocalist Zac Damon (ex-Zoinks) makes the band a quintet.
1998	Band releases Major Label Debut on Panic Button Records, a label formed by Ben and John with assistance from Lookout!
August 1998	Band releases album #9 Television City Dream, on Fat Wreck Chords, a harder and faster beast than 'Bark Like A Dog'. The band continue to stay away from the stage.
November 1998	Beat Is On The Brat, a compilation of previously released material, is released.
May 1999	Album #10 Emo released with same lineup minus Zac, who couldn't record because of school commitments. It is Ben's 'Blood On The Tracks', a breakup album that is much more serious than the usual SW fare. Still, no tour.
Autumn 1999	Another single - Jesus Hates You - is released, containing outtakes from 'Emo'.
2000	Phillip Hill (the Teen Idols) joins a second guitarist and band records Album #11 'Teen Punks In Heat'
2000	Band plays its first live show since 1993, at Chicago's House of Blues.
2001	Band splits for the third time because of Jughead wants to tour and Weasel doesn't. Jughead forms Even In Blackouts and Weasel releases his first solo LP, Fidatevii. Ben and Jughead sell Panic Button to Lookout!

Part 4 - Hiatus (2001 - 2009):

2001	Ben Weasel publishes a novel, Like Hell, about a fictional punk band called Pagan Icons
2001	Jughead publishes Weasels In A Box, a fictionalised account of Screeching Weasel's history.
2002	Ben publishes Punk Is a Four-Letter Word: Columns, Articles and Essays 1991-2002. It is a collection of essays he wrote for MRR.
2003	Ben releases a new Riverdales LP.
2004	Weasel acquires the rights to the band's Lookout! material and licenses it to Asian Man Records.
2004	Ben Weasel, Jughead, Dan Vapid, Mass Giorgini and Dan Lumley play a one-off gig as SW at The Fireside Bowl in Chicago.
2007	Ben Weasel releases second solo LP, 'These Ones Are Bitter'

Part 5 (2009-Present):

2009	Ben and Dan Vapid reform SW with new members Simon Lamb (The Ritalins), Justin Perkins (Yesterday's Kids) and Adam Cargin (Blueheels). Jughead is not present. He says (quoted from Wikipedia): "This band playing isn't Screeching Weasel, because I don't recall having kicked myself out of the band. So it seems logical that this is not Screeching Weasel".
November 2010	Wikipedia: "Ben appears on Last Call with Carson Daly to talk about his personal problems with anxiety disorders and agoraphobia".
March 2011	SW releases Album #12 'First World Manifesto' on Fat Wreck Chords
March 2011	Wikipedia: "On March 18, 2011, during Screeching Weasel's South by Southwest Festival performance at the Scoot Inn in Austin, Texas, Foster punched the face of a female audience member who had thrown a beer and ice cubes at him, and also spit in his face. As a result a woman on the stage, believed to be the club's owner, grabbed him from behind, and Ben mistaking her for an attacking fan turned around and punched her twice in the scuffle. Foster was then restrained by security and left the venue.[23] On March 22, Foster apologized.[24] On March 23, Punknews.org posted a statement from the four other members of Screeching Weasel, Dan Schafer, Adam Cargin, Justin Perkins and Drew Fredrichsen, announcing their resignation from the band."
March 2011	Wikipedia: "On March 31, Weasel announced the cancellation of "Weasel Fest", a 3-day event in honour of Screeching Weasel's 25th anniversary that had been scheduled to take place at Reggie's Rock Club in Chicago, after many of the other acts on the bill dropped out in the wake of the SXSW incident. In an interview published in July 2011, Fat Mike, owner of Fat Wreck Chords, stated that he had no interest in releasing another Screeching Weasel record, although the label might still reissue the band's back catalog.
March 2011	Joe Queer: "This whole Weasel thing is way out of hand. I mean come on and let's put this in perspective. The chick deserved a punch-unfortunately Ben gave it to her and not some other girl who would have been called a hero-but Ben's a monster. He doesn't advocate hitting chicks. I don't either. But as a lead singer in a punk band I know as well as anyone that sometimes you just fucking lose it with assholes onstage bugging you and causing trouble. This isn't Mother Teresa we're talking about here folks-it's a little troublemaker acting like she's a victim.Yeah I wish Ben had handled it differently-hell I'm sure he does. But everyone knows Ben isn't a guy who beats on chicks. Come the fuck on. You'd think he was throwing Jews in the oven at Auschwitz the way these people are talking". - as told to The L Magazine
October 2011	A new lineup of SW plays at Reggie's Rock Club in Chicago with The Queers: Ben Weasel, Zac Damon (guitar), (rhythm guitar), Dave Klein (bass) and Pierre Marche (drums)
November 2011	The 'Carnival Of Schadenfreude EP ', recorded in July, is released.
March 2013	Dave Klein splits and joins Black Flag. He is replaced by Zach Brandner.