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RazerEdge

Back in 1978, a group of four total strangers got together one chilly December night in a barn near Kearney, Nebraska to try out their respective Christmas presents - 2 Squier guitars, a Harmony bass, and a Slingerland drum kit with roto-toms. The rest, as they say, is history.

Originally dubbed "Bovine Disaster", this quartet invaded clubs and VFW halls throughout the central United States with their unique brand of pre-punk rock and roll.

Neil Schon, lead guitarist of the supergroup Journey, is reported to have stopped in to use a payphone at a Bovine Disaster gig and remarked, "I have seen the future of rock and roll, and I'm glad it's not opening for us in Wichita." Whether that's because he was afraid of being upstaged or not we may never know.

During the hey-day of punk and new wave, the band changed it's name to "Reptilian Surprise", sporting flannel shirts and long shorts in the dead of winter. One of their roadies who went merely by the name Vedder suggested they monogram their flannels with the name of the band; this led to a fight about whether to stitch it vertically or horizontally along the flannel shirt pattern. Finally, one member of the band suggested they just tattoo the name of the band onto their chests and forego the flannels altogether. Violence ensued. In the aftermath, 35 were seriously injured and the band was no more.

As coincidence would have it, two of the former members of Reptilian Suprise bumped into each other at a Bachman Turner Overdrive reunion concert at a club on the east side of Detroit, Michigan. They had to scream to hear each other over the loud BTO sound system, which led to their being escorted out of the club. Left alone on the dark streets of Detroit, they made patched up old differences a pact to never be apart again. As they got into their cars to drive home, they knew this night signalled a new dawn for them.

(To be continued...)