Back in ' 91 Cory and myself always wanted to start a band, so we asked the Blood brothers Dave and Chuck. We knew that their style and interests were the same as ours. In ' 92 a friend from the band Arcana Diamond asked if they could play at a party at Cory's place and he said only if we get to
open up for you and Effluvium was born. In the beginning, Jeff sang out of a toilet paper tube , Cory with a small 1by 2 foot amp. Dave had a 10 year old amp which was our best piece of equipment and Chuck had the 5 gallon bucket drumset for the first practice in Cory's grandma's basement. When we played out we had to play with mostly other peoples stuff until we could get some better shit.
In '95 we kicked off the Feel The Pain tour and played in the Lake Geneva and Delavan area. We passed out shirts and the word got out to people, but we soon realized that we were just too heavy and crazy for the masses in Walworth County. So our act hit the road and we played cities such as Sheboygan, Milwaukee, Kenosha, and Chicago at the Thirtsy Whale. We lit up those cities with our trademark high energy stage presence. Everyone has always said we have a kickass live show. I guess you can be the judge of that.
In '96 Dave Blood left the band and that opened the door for Kevin Venom. It wasn't quite his thing and one show later we were looking for another bass player. Enter Andy Amann in early '98. His obvious musical talent helped the band tremendously at practice, but Andy wasn't the right fit. We felt that we slowed him down as a musician. Again Effluvium was at a crossroad with no bass player.
1999 marked the first time since '91 that Effluvium wasn't together. Jeff took some time off while Chuck and Cory fired up a side project. It wouldn't take long for us to feel the need for more from Effluvium.
In 2001 Cory took a call from Peter and Sheri asking if Effluvium could get back together for the annual Peter and Sheri Fest. Everyone agreed to do the show and again we were back in business. We tore down the place in classic Effluvium style and had the people begging for more. One hitch, Dave had decided he didn't want to continue with the band for personal reasons, and once more we had no bass player.
We searched Southeastern Wisconsin and came up with Scott'' The Hammer'' Huffman a well know musician from the area. Effluvium was set for the yearly Halloween show in '02 and it was a huge success, only to find out that Scott wasn't right for the band and he soon quit after.
Jeff , Cory, and Chuck didn't know what to do so just kept writing lyrics and practicing amongst themselves. After a couple of months with no success in the attempt for a new bass player things were looking grim. Little did we know the answer was right in front of us. Jeff was out ice fishing one day with a good friend of the band, Mike Malice. Jeff was bitching and complaining about the lack of success with the bass players in the band. Mike decided to give it a shot. He was always the one guy who came to the shows and rocked the hardest so the guys thought this would be a perfect fit.
In March of ' 03 Mike joined the band and before long he had learned 8 originals. Shit he had learned enough by April to do a show in Whitewater to test out the antics of the new bass player. They fuckin rocked so hard they flipped out and threw us off the stage in 15 mins into our set. To make a long story short we took a piece of that place and to this day it still isn't the same.
So after tightening up with some good practices we went to Bedrock Studios and knocked out a 4 song demo with Jim ''The Magic Maker'' Sharkus. That pretty much sent us on our way; lineup set, kickass cd completed, and lots and lots of promoting. We had the cd release party New Years Eve 2004. We had a chance to show a packed house the new high energy off the fuckin wall Effluvium and it was a large success.
That brings us to where we are now, and it wouldn't right if we didn't start with a thank you to the people behind the scenes that have helped us out. Jay Anderson, for all the cd sleeve work and printing and burning for us on a weekly basis. Tracy, who on his own time started us up a kickass websight. And Jim Sharkus, for lending his time , ears, equipment, patience to us .These people will always be considered Effluvium's closest friends. Thank you just isn't enough to say about these guys. Also we need to thank some diehard followers of the band in no particular order; Danny , Frank, Kevin, John J , Denny, Jim B, and Paul. There are a lot of people that we missed, but they know who they are. One last thanks to the people who took cd's and came to the live shows. Without you there would be no Effluvium. Keep track of the latest shows and happenings with the band right here at the websight www.effluvium.us.
EFFLUVIUM IS
JEFF BLACK - VOCALS
CORY CROSS - GUITAR
CHUCK BLOOD - BUCKETS
MIKE MALICE - BASS