Liverball

Fast-forward to 1990 when one evening at Chief's Cafe, they met Joe Triglia and Mike Grimes, both of the band Spunky Tabatha. After they closed the bar, they all went down to the legendary Melwood House (later Rickety Worldwide Headquarters) and had a real good jam session. They had instant chemistry and immediately felt they were to be a band. Thus the birth of Liverball.

Buck Knauer (younger brother of A.T.S. and Crowflies guitarist Evan Knauer) brought his experiences from bands Cousin It, Boo Radley, and First We Kill The Neighbors. He added the rhythm and twangy punkrock leads to the new band.

Ray Kolcun, whose influences were pulled mainly from Jimmy Page and Greg Ginn, brought his own amazing punk leads and fresh sounding new licks to the scene. You might remember his iconic clear guitar.

Joe Triglia had his own front-man style akin to Iggy Pop and Jim Morrison. His lyrics and persona were a perfect match to the music.

Mike Grimes anchored the band with his own style of drumming, influences mainly by the Minutemen and the Replacements. He played the drums the same way he played soccer. Clever, fast, and tactful. You may remember his iconic clear drum kit.

Original bassist Doug Bowan played his bright fluorescent orange "paul mccartney" bass guitar stuffed with dirty t-shirts (trade secret sound enhancement). Truly an original. He left the band to pursue a successful career.

There were many bass players:

Wiggy Walker was a ton of fun and had a great bass sound using a distortion pedal. She played on our first EP 'A Bullet For Your Thoughts' in 1993.

Jan Roucco played bass for a year after Wiggy left. Jan was really great and a lot of fun on tours. Also a very talented artist. Unfortunately, she was never involved in any recording sessions, but she was very good live.

Keith Zang took over in 1995. He was the longest lasting bass player and a true 100% Liverball band member. He was part of recording Liverball's only full-length album at Plus/Minus Studios, which was never released but is planned to be out next year. Keith passed away suddenly in 2003 and is sorely missed by us all.

Brian Snyder, the Willows and Allan frontman, joined the band playing guitar during 1997. Meanwhile Buck took some necessary time away from the rock-n-roll life.

Following Keith's untimley passing, the band resorted to Ray and Buck swapping between guitar and bass.

In 1998, Evan Knauer played bass for a few live and re-union shows.

The name "Liverball" comes from misreading a sign posted alongside the highway that read "Live Bait." They had been close to using the name Eyeball, but a band in San Francisco was using it at the time.

Liverball went on to carve out a niche by doing the opposite most bands were doing at the time. They played guitar solos. They had long hair. They had a frontman in the Jim Morrison/Robert Plant vein. All of this didn't add up to much of anything, but the band didn't give a shit. They frequented shows throughout the 90's with bands (that ultimately pushed the Iron City Punk scene to the national and international stage) such as: Wormhole, Anti-Flag, Cynics, Submachine, Bad Genes, Thickhead Grin, Willows, Steel Miners, Paris Green, Bunjie Jambo, Cavemen from Oklahoma, Pilsner, and many more.

Throughout all these years, the band has overcome many of life's obstacles and changes, and were able to continue to play their style of music.

In 2009, the additions of Jonathan Bagamery (from Paris Green) on bass guitar and Adam on drums give Liverball a powerful new sound akin to Black Flag.

"Keep yer ears peeled!"

Wait and see is the mantra...big things coming up! Big things going down!

Keith Zang. We miss you man.

Mike Grimes, rest in peace brother