Shayne saw Clay & Aaron playing in a band called 'The Lemmings' when he was a dish washer at Vino's & going to UALR around 1991. Mark knew Shayne from, get this...being in the Boy Scouts around age 13. Clay & Aaron became friends at Central High School in Little rock. Shayne tried to talk Aaron and Clay into kicking out their current "rhythm section" and letting Mark and him in. Mark was working at 'Boyd's Music' on 12th Street and studying about how to take over the world.Shayne bugged the crap out of Clay until he and Aaron gave in. Shayne had been playing with ex-Link Springs band members Brad Sims & Ben Nichols in a band Called "Victory Gardens"...and also played some with Andy Conrad and other assorted LR musicians. Cosmic Giggle Factory was the big thing at the time in little rock (with Kevin Kirby) and Techno-Squid Eats Parliament's first major show was at Vino's opening for CGF. TSEP had a keyboard player-at first-named Eric Ellis.Techno-Squid's first show ever was at the Satellite Cafe (where old World Pizza is now). After a few months of playing TSEP won second place in the Arkansas Musician Showcase held at Juanita's ...with Substance (ex-Numbskullz members) taking first place and Ho-Hum coming in third. Jody Stephens (ex-Drummer for Big Star working as A&R for Ardent Records) and a writer for Billboard Magazine liked TSEP so much we ended up signing onto the Ardent record label in Memphis and getting a write up in Billboard Magazine.SHAYNE was into Joy Division, The Cure, The Buzzcocks, Sex Pistols, Depeche Mode, and REM.MARK was into Black Sabbath, Rush, The Violent Femmes, Dungeon’s & Dragons, psychology, and reading books about computers.CLAY was into The Pouges, The Beatles, The Lemonheads, REM, and learning punk songs on accordion.AARON was into light bondage.Shayne booked most of the shows and Clay screen-printed the shirts, and we made our own bio, merchandise, and music. Mark and Aaron produced a quarterly TSEP Zine called 'Biscuit Quarterly'. Mark had an e-mail address and was on the internet even before President Gore invented it!...but, you know how it goes.Oh, and the name of the band came from Mark's mind (some say it came to him during an acid trip). We all didn't want to be called "THE" anythings because it was so passé and REM didn't need a "the". Mark was reading VIZ magazine (a publication similar to MAD Magazine, but from England) and he said "Wouldn't Techno-Squid Eats Parliament be a good headline for this magazine...better yet, lets call the band Techno-Squid Eats Parliament" and it never changed from TSEP from that moment on...even when our record label begged us to change it. But, really now, with a name like ours, you'd go see us, wouldn't you?
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