Government Cheese 1985 - 1992

I graduated from college in 1985 with a profound fear of leaving the safety net of school. I met Skot Willis, Tommy Womack, and Joe King that year and we played a few gigs for kicks under the name Government Cheese. In 1986, we decided to give the band life a one-year trial and signed with indie record label Reptile Records. Chris Becker aka Viva Las Vegas traveled with us as a guitar tech in the early years and became the fifth member in later years. There was always just enough success to keep us going for one more year and before we knew it seven years slipped away. We played over 800 shows and traveled a half million miles in a couple of Ford Econoline vans. Somewhere around show 699 I officially entered post-mortem drift. I'm sure that I shaved a few years off of my life expectancy as a result of our adventures. Life is full of tradeoffs. My closest bonds were established during that time and future relationships including my wife and child would not have happened independent of those reckless years.

Tommy Womack documented the Cheese years in his book The Cheese Chronicles: The True Story of A Rock and Roll Band You Have Never Heard Of. I'm currently working on a cheese documentary and hope to have it complete by the end of 2007.

Click here to buy the book.