The band actually had roots in the late 80's. Slawek, Rob, and Andrzej (and a few different singers, including Rob's brother Derek) had started it out under the name Brygada Panzerna. They never did any real shows, just playing around the house. At the same time, I (Ken) was in the Army, (having gotten kicked out of the house and living on the streets, I joined up to get back on my feet) and during that time, I had a band called Beer Goggles with 2 other Army guys in Fort Bliss, TX. We did one show in El Paso opening for the Vampire Lezbos. I got out of the Army in the summer of 1990 (after serving only 1 year and 2 weeks....I was a bit of a troublemaker!) and joined Brygada Panzerna. We changed the name to Panzer Brigade (which was Brygada Panzerna in English). We did songs from their band and my Army band, which was a bit strange because they were singing in Polish and I was doing jokey songs in English. Before our first show, we changed the name to Beer Goggles because we didn't want people to get the silly idea that we were neo-Nazis. For our first gig, we were a 5 piece. Derek Jasinski did some lead vocals.
In 1991 and 1992, we went to Poland and played the Jarocin Rock Festival, which gained us some fame in Poland. It was helped by the fact that about half of our songs were sung in Polish...and possibly by the fact that the Polish punk fans were usually drunk enough to think we sounded alright. Actually, the first time we went, we entered into what was more-or-less a battle-of-the-bands....and we won. Because of this, the 3rd live show we ever played was in front of 20,000 people and broadcast on TV to an audience of 17 million. THAT, in a nutshell, is how be became popular in Poland. Mind you, those 20,000 people were not there to se US, it was a festival crowd...but we did have a fair amount of supporters there. After all, it was the audience that voted for us to be in that position.
Although we were popular in Poland, we never really fit in too well with the Chicago scene. The early 90's was when the whole pop-punk thing was in full-swing. In a sea of baseball caps, white t-shirts, shorts, and Chuck Taylors, we stuck out like a turd in a punchbowl...and I really have no idea what most people thought of us. I think a lot of the other bands thought we were assholes, or just drunken idiots. It's basically true that our music took a back seat to the partying...and it showed. We really didn't care. That was just the way we were and we were not about to change to try to make more people like us.
Eventually, Andrzej left the band to do something more...er...musical. We went through a few more drummers and, as a result, never really got our momentum back. It seemed like we were always starting over and not really doing anything. I got frustated and quit...the rest of the band packed it in after doing one last show.
After Beer Goggles, Slawek went on to form Jinx. I (Ken) first joined Battalion Of Saints A.D. , then joined Jinx, and finally formed The Runarounds. Andrzej joined The Vine.
Unfortunately, the only studio recordings we made were from 1991, when we hadn't been together very long...and with a budget of $300! Our equipment was absolute crap and the resulting recordings sound very weak. The tubes in my amp were completely shot. I think I got the worst guitar sound ever! We didn't know what we were doing, to say the least. We just ran through the set without vocals in one take and then played the tape back and did all the lead vocals in one take without stopping. The recordings actually got "remixed" (if that's what you call drowning them in reverb) and released by SilverTon Records in Poland...the fools! haha
It's a pity that we never recorded anything later on when we were a better band with better songs, but that's life. The first couple of years, every penny we had (and didn't have) went into our trips to Poland. After that, well....Rob was the only one who ever really held down a steady job at the time and we had a way of spending what little money we had on beer. Plus, there always seemed to be that NEXT batch of songs that we had to get down before we recorded, and so on...
Discography
Demo 1991Cassette sold at shows
Beer Goggles (Silver Ton Records, Poland 1992)
Remixed version of demo...same songs, same sessions.
Top Punk's (compilation Silver Ton Records, Poland 1992)
Usmiechnij Sie appears along with songs from Polish punk greats such as Dezerter, Armia, KSU, Defekt Muzgo, Brygada Kryzys etc.
Here's footage of us playing She's Got Cooties at the 1992 Jarocin Rock Festival in Poland. This was on the "small" stage. We played the "big" stage that year as well, but the video I have of that is crap!
Here's us playing Usmeichnij Sie at our reunion show we did in 2004. It was a birthday party for Slawek. He rented a bar and we did a set. This was the last time we ever played together, and this was the very last song. There's a good chance that this was the last song we ever will play together...but who knows?