The Styrenes

The Styrenes, Cleveland's early proto-punk outfit, originated in 1971 when singer/guitarist Jamie Klimek joined forces with bassist Craig Bell and drummer Mike Weldon. Known initially as the Mirrors, the three high school students recruited guitarist Jim Crook, shaping a noisy pop style so far removed from prevailing local sounds that live opportunities remained scarce. The Mirrors nonetheless pressed on, laying down a 1975 session whose results surfaced as the single "She Smiled Wild" on Hearthen, the label operated by Pere Ubu's David Thomas, in 1977. By then the group had adopted the name the Styrenes, installed Jim Jones in place of Bell, and released the single "Drano in Your Veins." In 1980 Klimek and keyboardist Paul Marotta relocated to New York City, assembled a new Styrenes lineup, and issued the LP Girl Crazy the next year. Monster and the Devil, released in 1989, found the band supporting onetime Pagans frontman Mike Hudson. After years of relative quiet, Another Nail in the Remodeled Coffin, a newly recorded Mirrors album, appeared in 1994. Weldon went on to edit the cult favorite B-movie magazine Psychotronic Video, while Jones later joined a latter-day incarnation of Pere Ubu. The band unexpectedly reunited in 1998 and picked up where it had left off, delivering the distinctly rough and tumble rock sound that had long identified the group across its native Ohio.