Worm Quartet is a comedy music project created by Timothy F. Crist who uses the stage moniker ShoEboX and performs fast, synth-driven, pseudo-metal punk/pop. The band was formed in 1991 and its name is a reference to cartoons Crist used to draw. Worm Quartet's ''I Bit William Shatner'' was featured as a Top 5 song on the

Dr. Demento Barret Eugene Hansen (born April 2, 1941), known professionally as Dr. Demento, is an American radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograp ...

Show in 2001, ''Frank's Not In The Band Anymore'' was

's 2nd most requested song of the year in 2002, ''Great Idea For A Song'' was the most requested song in 2004, ''You Were Wrong Cabinet Sanchez'' reached #15 in 2006, and ''Fueled By Angst'' reached #7 in 2014. ''The Ballad of Doctor Stopp'' was nominated for a Logan Award in 2013 after having previously won the Outstanding Original Comedy Song award in 2011, ''Fueled by Angst'', and ''Math is Bulls**t'' (featuring Insane Ian) were both nominated in 2015, and ''I Don't Matter'' (featuring Chris Mezzolesta) was nominated in 2017.

History

Pre-Music

While in high school, Crist created a cartoon featuring four worms which were depicted at various times singing songs with silly lyrics, or on mock record covers such as ''Worm Quartet Sings The Songs Of Barry Manilow While Puking And Pissing On Lobsters.''

Early years

Around 1991 Crist decided to begin producing music under the Worm Quartet name. He recorded the album ''Pass the Potatoes'' on cassette using a

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

PSR-6 keyboard. Despite being disappointed in the quality of the first album, Crist went on to record 10 more tapes of Worm Quartets very different style of music. In 1993, upon graduating high school and entering college, Crist was joined by Tony "Coffee" Roche on guitar, and Kevin Morgan on drums and recorded ''No Talent Implied'' which was to be a demo recording. Roche left the band shortly after and was ostensibly replaced by a drum machine. Crist and Morgan went on to record the first official Worm Quartet tape, ''"Urine Sampler"''.

Current era

Crist moved to

Syracuse, NY Syracuse ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, Yonkers, and Rochester. At the 2020 census, the city's p ...

for software engineering work in 1997. Morgan left the band shortly after, so Crist began recording solo with the use of digital studio software, keyboards, and effects pedals, creating the first full-length Worm Quartet CD, ''Sumophobia''. Worm Quartet was played several times on the Syracuse radio stations WXXE, and WERW. He continued working in this manner while he moved to nearby

Rochester, NY Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in Wes ...

in 2001. He returned to Syracuse on August 18, 2001 for his first live performance, part of "TorpedoFest", a benefit for Torpedo Magazine at the Old Parochial League where he sang over a prerecorded CD of the instrumental parts of the music. Worm Quartet released ''Stupid Video Game Music'' on December 19, 2001 which featured the award-winning song ''Frank's Not In The Band Anymore''. For the next several years, he would regularly play live performances. In January, 2004, he released the album ''Faster Than A Speeding Mullet''. Crist collaborated with

Rob Balder Robert T. Balder is a professional cartoonist and singer-songwriter. He graduated from Roanoke College with a major in English in 1993 and, after a variety of jobs, entered a seven-year career in IT, starting as a manager of database development ...

under the name "Baldbox" in 2009 to release one CD ("The Dumb Album") and several follow-up songs, which have also been played frequently by Dr. Demento and other radio shows. From that album, the track ''USF'nA'' was the 12th most requested song on

in 2009.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Sumophobia'' (1999) *''Stupid Video Game Music'' (2001) *''Faster Than A Speeding Mullet'' (2004) *''Mental Notes'' (2007) *''Songs of the Maniacs'' (2012) *''The Pac-Man EP (released via Kickstarter) (2020)

Other releases

*''Urine Sampler'' (1996) *''Unreleasable'' (2007) *''The Dumb Album'' (with Rob Balder as Baldbox, 2009)

Members

Current

* Timothy F. Crist as ShoEboX

Past

* Tony "Coffee" Roche (guitar) * Kevin Morgan (drums)

References

External links

Worm Quartet site
{{Authority control American punk rock musicians American comedy musicians American satirists American parodists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)