The History of the Slugs

The History of the Slugs - Part I

...according to Gregg Juhlin

"Well, well, well. Has it been 15 years? Ahh...the magic, the heartbreak, the ennui, the lethargy. What I'm going to try to do, is for the very first time, anywhere, put together the first, comprehensive, cohesive, insightful history of Chicago's very own...or at least how I remember it. Recollections might be clouded at this point, memories foggy, a date or two transposed, but I swear, I'll try to be accurate, and give a drink by drink account of the past decade and a half - or at least put myself in the best light possible.

But where to start...

The Slugs first ever band photo (l-r) Dag, Gregg, Mike, Al: The Slugs in 1983

THERE WAS ONLY ONE OF US WHO KNEW HOW TO TUNE A GUITAR

I won't go into the story of how I encouraged young Dag to first pick-up a guitar, that would be too self-serving. But I will say that through out high-school, Dag & I 'jammed' - and that term is used very loosely - with some fellow Maine Southians - all of whom are still are friends today. Being indigenous to Park Ridge, our parents were all affluent, middle-class homeowners, with disposable incomes in which to indulge their pre-pubescent male youngsters on such flights of fancy as - GUITARS!! A couple of members of this loose-knit quintet would later become the foundation of www.theslugs.com - but that's later.

There was Bob Lee, the owner of the only real guitar(s) in the 'band' - a Gibson Melody Maker, and later, a Fender Stratocaster. Bob was the only one who knew how to tune a guitar. He could also play leads, had perfect pitch, and loved KISS. He also taught me the only KISS song I know how to play to this day - 'Rocket Ride'. Al Paulson - trust me - there will be much more on Al a little later, had some dreadful Decca, that as he put it, "defied tuning". Dag & I had 'Kays - the first guitars of the stars', and were happy just to have these 30 dollar specials around our collective necks. These were later replaced by 'Bradleys', bought by Mom, much to our thankful and delightful suprise. Thanks, Mom! Miles Johnston sat behind a real-life, honest-to-God, sparkley-orange Slingerland drum set (the same kind that Micky Dolenz played), with real-life, honest-to-God Zildjian cymbals. Many a-lazy afternoon was whiled away to the dulcet tones of 'Stranglehold', 'Mother Freedom', and the inevitable 12-bar blues jam. Those were the halcyon days.

But like what happens to all 17 & 18 year-olds, time marched on. Some went on to colleges, mainly of the junior, community, or state school variety, some got jobs, some got better guitars and moved on to different bands. Dag joined a band called 'Horizon' (ahh... the 70's), and later, Dag and I spent some time in purgatory with a band called 'Chaser'. This band did songs of the Doors/REO/Stones ilk - complete with keyboards and a sax. We even did three, count em', three paying shows. The lure of fast money, that's what started me on this downward spiral.

THE TRUE ORIGIN OF THE NAME

In early 1982, Dag, Al Paulson, and myself, found ourselves working at SportsVision (later SportsChannel, now FoxSports Chicago) as cameramen, TelePrompTer operators, and floor directors. We had all still been playing our respective guitars, and holding on to the pipe dream of forming some sort of band that would set the world on it's musical rear. By this time, all of us had purchased, somewhat independently, guitars that were decent,stayed in tune, and amps that were, dare I say, professional. The three of us would gather in Al's basement, or if the weather was nice, mosey on to his back porch, to cut loose on our ever expanding repertoire of songs. We weren't great, but we weren't bad either. Were we serious? I don't know. We were as serious about this as anything else in our banal little lives. Our work schedule permitted us to go in about 4 in the afternoon, and be done by about 10:30 pm. We were making pretty good money, working in television, so we figured, what the hell, why not.

I will now reveal one of the most closely guarded secrets in the annals of Slugs history...the truth behind name. Al, Dag & I were working in the studio, doing another interminable White Sox game when something trivial happened, like a light burning out. It was Dag's job (we always took turns performing these menial chores) to replace the aforementioned bulb. Al made some off-hand remark about the swiftness on which Dag had completed his appointed task. "Key-rye, you move about as fast as a slug. From now on, you're the studio slug."

Ha-ha-ha. Dag's a studio slug. Dag quickly pointed out that Al and I really didn't set any land speed records either. Duly noted. We were all studio slugs.

As the days progressed, and we were starting to get more and more serious about the whole 'band' thing, we decided to put up an ad in local music stores, one of them being Guitar Center on Milwaukee Avenue (hmm...perhaps a harbinger, an omen of things to come). But a name, we needed a name, we still needed a name.

Hey...what if we called ourselves the...

Next...someone answers the ad (Gee, I wonder who). Put your seat belt on, because now the ride really begins!

More to come... GO TO PART II

The Wanted Poster The original "wanted" poster found hanging in Guitar Center in 1983