New Duncan Imperials

Pigtail Dick (guitar and vocals), Skipper Zwackinov (bass, balloons, and vocal) and Goodtime Dammit (drums, drums, drums) started New Duncan Imperials for a laugh, honing a campy brand of rock in the basement of Dick's mother's house. Soon they were named the best live band in the city by both The Chicago Reader and The Chicago Tribune.

"We did this show in Finland at a cultural center in Helsinki. They set us up in like an art gallery. It was really echoey, and we were all jet-lagged because it was right after we got there. It was so awful. They didn't like us. We didn't know how to charm them because we didn't know how to speak Finnish -- I don't think anyone speaks Finnish outside of Finland. Then we were so loud that we knocked this art off the wall. It involved these half egg shells glued into it. It ruined the work of art, and they wanted us to pay for it ... something in kronas. It was way more than we were getting."

— Pigtail Dick, New Duncan Imperials