Lunatics Without Skateboards started in 1988 when band members Manfred van Zadelhoff (bass) and John Frijn (lead vocals) met each other through 'demo trading'. Demo trading was a way of collecting music by trading tapes between fanatical metal-music fans.
Before they met, Manfred played in Whiplash and John in the Stray Bullets. After a while they both got the idea to start a speed-metal band since that was their most favorite music. This was the first step in founding 'Lunatics Without Skateboards'. Former Whiplash guitarplayer Dennis and former Stray Bullets drummer Donovan and guitarplayer Joost joined the band.
At that time Anthrax was a very popular band. As you probably know they wore short pants and liked skateboarding and a lot of bands followed their example. An acquaintance came up with the name Lunatics without Skateboards as an anti- statement. It changed into L.W.S., added the word Incorporated and got known as L.W.S. inc.
After some practice sessions the first songs were born and the band made plans to record a demo, which was later recorded in a bulb shed somewhere around Andijk (in the north of the Netherlands). They recorded five songs, including the numbers 'Mental Weakness' and 'LWS', in two days on an 8-track recorder. The demo was called 'Death an Die Demo', because in every number at least one time the word death or die appeared.
After recording this demo L.W.S. began to play live in the Netherlands and Belgium. Also Dutch National Radio discovered L.W.S. inc. At that time 'Vara's Vuurwerk' was one of the few radio shows playing metal music. The presenter of this radioshow played LWS inc. a lot and the song 'Lunatics without Skateboards' was one of his favorite tracks.
A lot of concerts started; as a support act for foreign bands (Celtic Frost, Holy Moses, Cyclone, Blessed Death) and together with all Dutch metal bands from the metal scene at that time (Mandator, Pestilence, Silenxce, Brutal Obscenity, Deafen, Defender, Paralysis).
Record company AAARRG from Germany heard about the band and after a few meetings the band signed a contract and started recording the album 'Welcome to the Asylum', referring to the name Lunatics. Under guidance of Jorg Stegert and Ralph Hubert at the 'Phoenix Studios' in Bochum, Germany the band recorded in three to four weeks all songs. The album was received very well by magazines in Holland, Belgium and Germany and today the CD is a collector's item, since there were only made so little of them.
After finishing recording the album Background Agency offered the band a tour across the Benelux. The former owner of this agency was Rob van Trommelen, now working for Mojo International. After a year of playing the first difficulties began for LWS inc. Guitarplayer Dennis had to join the army and had to be replaced. Bassplayer Manfred had to choose between a well-paid job and the insecure future as a musician, he chose for his job.
After Manfred left the band L.W.S. Inc. recorded another demo containing two of his songs. The demo is called 'The Second Coming'. Later the band recorded another CD, but at that time the only original band member was lead singer John.
