The Psychoholics story began many years ago. Tim Mrak and Charlie George first met in high school around 1982. They rode the short bus and attended the same school for disciplinary problem kids together. They both had limited guitar knowledge, with Charlie being a bit more adept. He showed Tim a few more chords and in particular, "power chords." Tim thought they didn't have the talent to be a professional musicians. After they were introduced him to the rudimentary song writing of the Sex Pistols and the Ramones, they realized what they might lack in technical proficiency, they could make up for with creativity and heart. They began writing songs together and separately. They formed The Boages as a duo and played many talent shows and lunch time performances at school. After high school, they played a few gigs at some early 80's punk venues like Raw Power and Third Wave, occasionally performing as Black Poop. That's not to mention the impromptu performances on the hood of Charlie's car in parking lots. Rewind further to 1981, when Tim was walking by an apartment complex near his parent's old house. He was sixteen at the time. Just your typical white boy, long-haired, Led Zeppelin loving, rocker kid. There were legions of them back then. That's why there was such a thing called the Kiss Army. NOT THAT THEY WERE MEMBERS. As he was walking along in the old 'hood, he happened upon an older cat with a beard setting up a beautiful Ludwig drumset out in the parking lot of the apartment complex, like he was letting it out for a little sun. He went up to him and said "Play Moby Dick" like that was some kind of test of his ability. Boop bap bappitty boom boom bap tinga-tinga-ting crash! Fuckin' great. No guitars, no bass, no band, just a guy and a drumset in the middle of a parking lot. Needless to say, Tim was impressed. He eventually got to know Vince and his Dad Nick who worked there at the apartment complex as maintenance men. The two of them lived right above the maintenance storeroom where Charlie and Tim used to set up their crappy little band equipment and play gawd-awful amateurish versions of Twist and Shout, Louie Louie and Wild Thing. Even if they were horrible, they were very serious about making said noise, to the point that they literally cut a hole in Vince's bedroom floor, to gain access to the downstairs storeroom, day and night. Hence the Boage-Hole was born. There were many jam-box recordings done in this little cave of theirs and one of them still exists of Nick unplugging them and yelling at Vince that enough is enough. "This damn racket has been goin on ALL day and ALL night.!!! Goddammit, 'Nuff Snuff!!" On the recording someone has the audacity to say "rock-n-roll" and without missing a beat, Nick raises his voice and says "Rock-n-roll!?!? I'll ROCK YER NUTS WITH MY FIST AND ROLL YOUR ASS OUT THE DOOR MISTER. GODAMMIT 'NUFF'S S'NUFF!!!!!" They will always be grateful to Nick for putting up with them, while they learned their craft. Back then, Charlie and Tim were trying to keep The Boages alive. They had very little equipment and even less skill. They were serious underdogs compared to the other bands that Vince was in. He was always being laughed at by his other bandmates for playing with the Boages. His answer to that was "Hey, at least they got the balls to get up there in front of people and do it." Tim moved away from and then back to San Antonio several times during the 80's, forming the Moby Dickheads in Phoenix and a S.A. heavy metal band known as Hardenfäst. Charlie formed a short-lived trio with Claude Hughes called the Bloody Sex Beatles. By 1990 and 91, Charlie and Tim had seen each other go through a lot of shit. Failed relationships, failed marriages, failed bands, jobs, cars, pets, deals, transactions and their lives just generally. Lives that were steeped in failure. They started jamming with Vince Pretter and Wes Ritchey, calling themselves Psychic Underwear, the Retardles, or Schizoid Embolism. Needless to say, they were stetting themselves up for even more faded dreams and dashed hopes. Somewhere around this time, they decided on the creation of "a new band." Tim made the brash declaration, that he would lead this brave new group of musicians to boundless glories and royalties galore, a virtual cornucopia of new age cool shit, a plethora of excesses and Bacchanalian delights. They didn't actually have the name at first, but it was like it was already on the tips of our tongues. They had been playing with the PSY prefix already with Psychic Underwear. When two friends were talking (Dawni and Mallory) they had been arguing with each other during a drinking binge. "You're fucked up!" "You're psycho!" "You're psycho-alchoholic." "Dude,...you're PSYCHOHOLIC!!!!!" "Hey Charlie, there's a name for your stupid band. The Psychoholics™". Fuckin' A. It stuck. Tim knew it was right when it fell out of Charlie's mouth. Psychoholics™. OK, they had a name for the band, now all they needed was...a direction, some songs, equipment, talent, a manager, a recording contract, van to haul shit, inspiration, groupies and a clue to exactly what the fuck they were trying to do here. They had nada. "Charlie, you are gonna be the bass player." "But I don't wanna be the bass player" "Goddammit Charlie, we need you to be the bass player" "but I don't wanna play bass, I wanna play guitar and sing" "I'm the singer/guitar player, Goddammit." The next day he calls me up and says. "OK Goddammit, I'll play bass in your fucked up band....you little asshole..." The first song we did was My Way ala Sid Vicious. The Psychoholics were born. Well, the boys had now evolved from Psychic Underwear into full-fledged Psychoholics. Wes Ritchie soon had to move to Houston, so now they had to search for a new lead guitar player. In 1992, Eric Kreush of Mad Apple suggested Alvin Khoury, a friend and former bandmate of his. They brought him over to audition, and Alvin seemed to learn the songs before they were even done showing them to him. Alvin's attitude and energy fit the band perfectly. The boys were soon gigging around San Antonio and began making a name for themselves. A year or so later, Vince Pretter was replaced on drums by longtime Psychoholics friend Rick Lewis. Rick's heavy-handed drumming style and Rush influence somehow complemented the band's sound. Personal and musical differences and miscommunication led to founding member Charlie George to leave the band in 1994. Although he was no longer in the regular lineup, Charlie continued to make numerous guest appearances and contribute songs. He was replaced by another longtime Psychoholics friend, Doug Nelson. The band continued to make a name for themselves with their high-energy performances and bizarre stage antics and costumes. Sneakers and Rock Island were two venues to host many Psycho shows. Shortly after Charlie left, Rick Lewis moved to San Francisco. He was replaced by numerous other drummers starting with Kelly Kiser. Former Spank drummer Justin Case (Robbins) and Josh had the longest stints on skins, before the band ultimately acquired Shane Self. Shane was yet another long time friend who had been in the band Toxic Shock with Charlie George in their mid teens. Shane took over percussion duties during the recording of the first Psychoholics CD the city that never sleeps. In addition to Mrak, Khoury and Nelson, several drummers appear on the recording along with longtime roadie Todd Quaglia, Christian King and Charlie George. Not long after the release of the CD, it was decided that the band could benefit from the addition of a second lead player. Former Trap guitarist Artie Hickman was added to the fold. This incarnation of the band continued the Psychoholics reputation and standard of excellence adding many shows at heavy metal sanctuary Medieval Knights. In Early 1998 the unthinkable happened. Artie Hickman, Alvin Khoury, Doug Nelson and Shane Self left the band to form Dynamo Humm with future Psychoholic keyboardist Steve Cohen and vocalist/guitarist Rino Gonzales. After the shocking departure of Artie Hickman, Alvin Khoury, Doug Nelson and Shane Self, Tim was left alone to start again from scratch. He turned to longtime Psychoholics alumnus Charlie George. Tim managed to regain Shane Self on drums and Chris Smith on lead guitar. This lineup was short-lived as communication problems with Charlie again arose. Chris Smith also became unavailable. Tom Concholla took over on bass, and Ground Zero and Wolfpack alumnus David Williams was brought in on Lead Guitar. Although this lineup was also short lived, two important gigs were played: The last Psychoholics Sneaker's show and the ill-fated "Starfest" gig. Once again, the band did not gel and soon fell apart. Tim decided to give it one more go with the Psychoholics and Charlie George. In late 2000, Tim and Charlie began jamming with a new drummer. Alvin Khoury. Having tired of guitar, Alvin had begun picking up drums after the recent demise of Dynamo Hummm. A chance meeting with David Crisci on the Internet, brought him in to the brethren. Dave had known Charlie from middle school, and Tim and Alvin from his Mad Apple days. He fit right in. Also brought in from the ashes of Dynamo Hummm was a Psychoholics first: a keyboard player. Steve Cohen, also a peer of Charlie's from Clark High School filled a void the band never knew that it had. The new much fuller sound freed the band to explore directions it had never dared. The Psychoholics began gigging around the city again. Smitty's pub hosted the first show, with more to follow at Carlsbad Tavern. With their new powerful sound, the band was able to play more musically intricate material such as Pink Floyd's The Great Gig in the Sky. A female vocalist, Barbara Johnson, was brought in for backgrounds as well as some lead singing. 2001 had now seen two firsts for the band: A keyboard player and a female member. The Psychos continued finding new venues to play. Tequila Mockingbird, Sam's Burger Joint and Carlsbad Tavern began hosting regular "Psychoshows." It was on the night of September 7, 2001, 4 days before the 9/11 attacks that shattered this country, that the band suffered it's own regrettable disaster. The Medieval Knights show. This show featured an untimely meltdown in morale that resulted in the departure of Barbara and Alvin. Finding themselves again without a drummer, they turned to an old friend. Original drummer Vince Pretter. Vince slid back into his former role like a comfortable old shoe. Charlie also brought in friend Suzanne Taggart as an additional vocalist. It was late in 2003 when Alvin Khoury, bringing along another former Psychoholic Doug Nelson found the nerve to return to playing music with Tim. Since this group of people resulted in too many people playing the same instruments, a second band, tentatively known as The Quitters, was formed, with Steve and Dave joining the project. With an overwhelming urge to record the huge backlog of songs the band had accumulated as well as their new material, the boys decided it was time to combine these two bands and record a new CD. Charlie would also finally get to fulfill his destiny of playing rhythm guitar for the band now that Doug would be available on bass. This is when they stumbled upon a golden opportunity. David Valley, a old friend of Tim and Charlie had recently returned to San Antonio by way of Austin. He had recently closed down his recording studio there and had a huge amount of recording equipment and nowhere to play with it. David was also in need of studio players to help him record his own material. A partnership was formed, and a full fledged studio was set up at Tim's house, where the band practiced. The Psychoholics were now afforded a luxury that usually was only available to an A-list band like the Beatles or U2; The ability to record at their own leisure. With no money clock ticking on their recording sessions, they could take their time in getting everything just right. This freedom allowed them to explore their songs and find new nuances and dynamics for them. The recording phase of the still untitled CD project closed in the 3rd week of October, 2003. The Psychoholics now have as many as 30 songs to be released. This project promises to be by far the most ambitious and artistically advanced music ever heard from this unlikely source. As of this writing, most of the mixdown has been completed and we are hoping for a Christmas, 2005 release. A few tracks have been selected for the sample CD, Ripped Off From You, available now. With a fresh attitude, new members and new songs, the best is yet to come.