Fiasco was originally formed in Atlanta in 1978 when Phil Monte and Rob House would get together to play electric guitar in each other's basements (the noise was too loud and offensive to be played anywhere else). Eventually Thom Freeman joined the fold to pound the skins behind the chunky axe designs of Monte and House. Sufficiently chunky as they were, they sensed that something was missing. Phil's younger brother Tracy was tapped to play bass. From here it gets sketchy.

To begin with, there was no designated singer. This was due to the fact that none of the band thought they could sing and also because they could not play their instruments competently and sing at the same time. Because of this embarrassingly apparent musical skill gap, Fiasco went through a bit of a flux period which included such notable garage names as Lex Agnew (who owned a Black Beauty Les Paul Custom and a nice stack), Kelly Crowley and Paul "Mick" Cooper (Paul was rather enamored with his performance on "Jumpin' Jack Flash" at the first and most famous Fiasco Birthday Gig). Almost overnight, Fiasco had a following among the north Atlanta teen set. Just as the lineup seemed to have solidifed, Agnew, Crowley and Cooper departed, leaving the original members without any transportation.

Fiasco really gelled as a band over time at rehearsals in Thom's basement (which was the only place that their rehearsals could be tolerated). Fond recollections of this den of decibels from Rob House: "The noise was terrible. We had amp wars trying to be heard over each other. Somehow it eventually all worked out. Then came the Mr. CHS intermission show. That kind of launched us." Asked to provide musical backing and entertainment during the intermission of a local high school popularity show, Fiasco blossomed as never before.

By this time, the Yes-influenced Ralph Dobalina had joined as acoustic balladeer and lead singer. Not having been comfortable with his guitar work, Ralph took a mic and lead the band through rousing renditions of "China Grove", "Mother Freedom" (sung by drummer Thom) and other mid-70s rock covers. Just before the band was leaving the stage, the crowd demanded an encore. The group met in the hallway beyond the stage and tried to coerce Ralph to sing the controversial "Hot Blooded." Controversial because Ralph was not as yet confident on his vocal ability for the song, controversial because of the song's taboo nature. The remainder of the band was upset, yet opted for "Back in the U.S.S.R" before making Ralph "mad at everybody." He still performed with gusto. Rob assumed the lead vocal, as well as lead guitar chores for this rocker. The crowd went wild and sustained Rob and crew throughout the fast and furious guitar solo and into the final verse. Ralph shook a tambourine and sang backup.

The last hurrah for Fiasco came at the second annual birthday gig in the spring of '79. From that point on, the band's musical interests began to fragment and the cohesive unity that had marked their earlier efforts was draining from rehearsals. Thom made an attempt to keep the band together by bringing in multi-talented keyboardist Wendy Massive. The band added 70s keyboard-laden hits to their potential repertoire but it wasn't enough. During this time, Thom developed a hunger for guitar and refused to be relegated to the drums. One of the band's live recordings was mysteriously missing after a dispute about the quality of the band's performance. Things got petty as they tend to do sometimes when success takes hold of artists (we have no idea how this relates to Fiasco, however).

Fiasco's light was snuffed out as quickly as it began. The Monte brothers left to jam and join other bands, especially Trace 'Bass' Monte who would later add rockin' bass lines to The Nyquil Prophets and eventually The Luddites. Immediately after Fiasco, Thom and Rob formed another band called "Pegasus" which, including the name of the band, reeked of pretentiousness.

After high school, Thom put a 4-track studio together in his basement where he and Rob cut their teeth on sound engineering and production. They issued a single and had a couple of album tracks on Imaginary Records in the 80s as Slow Natives. Slow Natives kind of drifted apart when Thom and Rob were each married and began to feel the tug of domestic life. The last known session for Slow Natives was around 1986.

With little or no contact amongst band members in the 1990s, Phil Monte sent an e-mail to several friends with a new address and phone number. From this exchange the idea of a Fiasco reunion was born. Primarily Tracy's idea, the concept was to get together and record all new originals at Rob's studio. Trace would be back on bass taking a short leave of absence from being a Luddite. Phil, a far more accomplished guitarist than in the Fiasco heyday, readied himself for the sessions. Rob would pen 2 originals to be recorded together with the Montes. Thom, far away in Colorado, would compose and record a tune for the others to complete at Rob's studio.