World Domination Is At Hand
Typhiod Mary was formed in September of 1988 during a long-distance phone conversation between Rev. Steve Hammond "The Gatekeeper" and Jeff "Inspector" Bechter, the founding members of the band. Steve was living, temporarily, in Milwaukee at the time and was looking for an excuse to move back to Akron. Jeff was still playing with The Attix, a band Steve had recently been kicked out of, but wanted to form a band that did all original material, so he was quite receptive when Steve suggested that they form their own band. A second phone call that day added drummer "Jam Master" Joe Scheeser, another former member of The Attix, to the band's line-up. They considered calling the band The Ex-Attix but didn't, since they wanted to distance themselves from their former group.
Steve had shortened the list of potential band names down to four candidates when he booked studio time the next day at The Recording Workshop in Chillicothe. When told the studio needed a name to book the time under, Steve blurted out the first one that came to mind. Thus, the new band was named Typhoid Mary. Some of the rejected names were Black Mariah, House of Usher, Acid Reign and Fourth Reich.
Since it's formation, Typhoid Mary has had a revolving door of band members come and go, some lasting as little as two days, as was the case with Ron "Piece Of The Action" Caine." At this time, Steve is the only original member still left in the band.
During it's time in Akron the band was forced to mix cover tunes with their original material in order to get gigs. At that time no bar would book a local band that did all original material. In fact, since Typhoid Mary did original material they were only booked as an opening act. Some sets contained as few as three Typhoid Mary originals. Regardless, the band built a solid following and received coverage from the local press and local radio stations. Typhoid Mary also played the infamous Katheryn Alley Riot at Akron University in October of 1989 and managed to show up in some TV footage on the 11 o'clock news. The band escaped unharmed just as the police were showing up to quash the riot.
In January of 1990 the band broke up when Steve moved to Youngstown in order to begin working for CD-106 WNCD. Steve continued to write and record songs but it wasn't untill November of that year that Steve was persuaded by Chris Bell and Allen Sillaman to form another working version of Typhoid Mary.
The 1990 Youngstown version of Typhoid Mary played only three live shows but sold out all three and began attracting the attention of the local media due to the band's controversial songs and stage show.
In May of 1991 Steve put the band on "hiatus" so that he could spend the summer riding the Harley-Davidson he'd recently purchased. This caused alot of friction among band members, some of whom swore they wouldn't return to the band if and when Steve re-formed it.
Fall of 1991 rolled around and Steve formed yet another working version of Typhoid Mary. Chris Bell and Gary Weicek returned to the band and Joel "B.F." Stoker was added on lead guitar shortly thereafter. The band began playing to sold-out houses in February of 1992. More gigs and media attention followed. The band also began work on a demo tape in their basement rehearsal studio with the help of John "Lightning Fingers" Wagner, although the project was soon abandonded due to conflicts among band members over which musical direction the band should take.
This all ended rather abruptly in July of 1992 when Steve was offered a job at 99.7 The Blitz in Columbus and he accepted the position. The band broke up on extremely bad terms, with some members still not on speaking terms to this day.
Showing his never-say-die attitude, after moving to Columbus Steve re-formed Typhoid Mary yet again. A variety of musicians came and went, but Steve continued to write songs and record them at the Reording Workshop in Chillicothe with the help of producer/engineer Joe Keiser. The band's debut album, Eat the Cookie, was released in May of 1997.
The 1997 incarnation of Typhoid Mary, briefly included former lead guitarist Joel "B.F." Stoker. Joel's return to the band was shortlived, however, when it was realized that the time and distance seperating Joel from Columbus was just too much to overcome. Joel currently plays with the Youngstown-based War Pigs, an Ozzy/Black Sabbath tribute band. He and Steve have not ruled out the possibility of working together again someday.
Typhoid Mary's next release, an EP titled Pet The Duck was scheduled for release in Spring 1998, but the loss of the band's producer, and Steve's move to St. Louis, delayed the release of the EP indefinetly.
The band already has two songs finished for the EP, Eight Ball, and The D.T. Boogie. Pet The Duck will be ready for release as soon as Rest Stop Party and Another Splendid Night are finished.
In January of 2000, Steve Hammond re-formed Typhoid Mary again. What number version of the band is this? Well, who's counting?
In June of 2002, founding member Steve Hammond moved back to his hometown of Akron, Ohio, to take up his new job with WONE, The Home Of Rock & Roll.
As of August 2002 Steve had not decided wether or not he'll re-form Typhoid Mary so stay tuned to his website for continuing updates!
The complete story of Typhoid Mary, all 33 pages of it (that's right, 33 pages), is available upon request if you really want to get into the unbelieveable but true history of Ohio's #1 Unsigned All-Original Hard Rock Band, Typhoid Mary.
