Todd
Duncan ~ Alto Saxophone, Vocals
Joe
Johnson Jr. ~ Tenor Saxophone
Mike
Regan ~ Bass
Danny
Schauffler ~ Tenor, Alto, Baritone Saxophone
Casey
Shaar ~ Keyboards
Carl
"The Truth" Smith ~ Percussion
Tim
Tubb ~ Trombone
Mark
Wanaka ~ Guitar
Rick
Washington ~ Drums
Marc
Baker ~ Manager
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The Crazy 8's At Facebook
Tim Tubb ~ Trombone wrote our hit "Johny Q Public"
About CRAZY 8s
Born from a collection of bored college students stranded in a cow town in the conservative heartland of Oregon came a group of off beat minstrels that made people dance the Reagan years away. Presenting a lethal dose of a challenging, left of center attitude. Actually, CRAZY 8s evolved from the dredges of the jazz program at Oregon State University and the remains of a party band named after my girlfriend's affection for my butt. The Cheeks, they're mondo!A combination of naive confidence and cocky swagger, mixed with an earnest belief that we could make it, helped generate the intense maniacal energy that was the foundation of our early success. A solid lineup of early opening gigs for The Clash, The English Beat, Romeo Void and The Violent Femmes helped get the 8s name out to the college crowd.
It certainly didn't hurt that I was a DJ at KBVR-FM Oregon State University's college radio station, and pals with Marc Baker the station manager. Marc should have been the offspring of Colonel Parker, Malcolm McLaren and Brian Epstein.
My utilization of contacts that I had from a stint with the Eugene based band, Sneakers, helped validate CRAZY 8s early as a headliner throughout the I-5 corridor. "Bakes" secured CRAZY 8s as opening act for The English Beat at the University of Oregon and promptly became manager and took the ball and ran with it toward our breakout effort, Law and Order.
Our trombone player, Tim Tubb, wrote the track that broke us titled Johnny Q. The contagious horn intro launched us to airplay on over 300 college radio stations as well as "screamer of the week" on WLIR in New York City. Law and Order sold over 20,000 units on our own Red Rum label. Despite our best efforts to fail, we appeared on the national cattle call, Star Search. Ed McMahon had one heck of a mini bar in his dressing room! Stir in the incredible cover art by nationally syndicated political cartoonist Jack Ohman with a strong helping of quality musicianship and the outcome became the catalyst for 13 years of intense, powerful, original, independent live music that affected the masses. Not bad from an 8 dollar band fund.
I remember when "Bakes" drove up to Victoria, B.C. and brought our first LP, Law and Order. I can't recall a moment that I felt more proud, I think I slept with that 33 ½ piece of vinyl. I can sincerely recall the love and respect I had, and still have for the butt kickin' band mates and killer musicians that I was fortunate enough to sing with and for CRAZY 8s faithful that I sang in front of during our glorious run.
Twenty years ago when we were wrapping up the final mix of Law and Order, news broke that KAL 007 was blown out of the sky. Fools are still blowing things up, from presidents to terrorists. I believe that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Know your rights!
Todd Duncan 2004
The last five years we played a few reunions and C.D re-release events. This year we have been doing more events, and fans and their kids are showing up in record numbers. The Zoo sold out, as did the Aladdin Theater.
Danny Schauffler, 2010
The Crazy 8s have been nominated along with Eliott Smith to be inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame!August 2007
Portland’s “Crazy 8s” were a fairly popular band at Parkers for a few years around 1988.Peter Andrijeski, November 2012
Some of the other Pacific Northwest music groups represented in members of this group include: Sneakers, Nu Shooz, and many other NW bands.
