Da Slyme reunites for St. John's talk at Lawnya Vawnya

Members of an accidental punk band that helped grow the scene in St. John's will be passing along their stories and knowledge when they speak at Lawnya Vawnya on Sunday.

Da Slyme broke the mold, and a lot of beer bottles, the night the band debuted at a Memorial University party in the late 1970s.

"We were never intending to be anything other than a joke," said George Smith, aka Goohaw Groon.

"We decided to do this gig, what was supposed to be this one-time thing to raise some money for MUN's radio station."

The one time gig quickly became a thing.

"It is a punk band. It is a joke but it's also a punk band," said Craig Squires, aka Dr. No Moniker.

"The whole thing was really theatre. There were always themes for every show."

Craig Butler, akaSnottySlyme, said it was always about having fun.

"I don't know if there was any real intention to turn into a real band."

The band put out a double vinyl LP in 1980 and then called it quits around 1984 but not before havinganinfluences on the St. John's music scene, according to Squires.

"All of a sudden was a flowering of young people doing punk and they had been directly influenced by us."

The legend of Da Slyme grew internationally in the 1990s with their album being sought after in places like Italy and by punk legend Jello Biafra.

On July3, 1999,DaSlyme released a CD, "The 20 Year Scam"

On Sunday afternoon some of the seven members of the band will reunite and give a two-hour talk at the Eastern Edge gallery as part of the Lawnya Vawnya week.

A little older, and a little wiser, the taxpaying punks will offer up their take on musicA journey that began in 1977 at Memorial University and only lasted a few years but left a lasting impression on the music scene in St. John's.