The Shakes Society are:

Around 1985, Mikey left for college and the group disbanded. At the same time, Mikey's older brother Mark, also a guitarist, moved back to Florida and started the band Empty Sky with singer/guitarist Mike Silverthorn. Some of the Dialogue members joined up. Silverthorn had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and decided to spend his remaining days writing and playing music.

Mike Silverthorn died much sooner than anyone anticipated. After Mike's death, the band morphed into the Shakes (taken from the Dogmatics song, "Gimmie The Shakes"), which was essentially the old Dialogue band, with Mark Upledger on guitar. The following year, Mark was killed in an accident, and his brother Mike filled in on some gigs. Then he rejoined the group, thus completing a strange, somewhat surreal, journey.

The old Dialogue band was back, intact, and playing again. But they were now called the Shakes.

1987 was a good year for the Shakes. First, a local cadre of musicians/engineers put together the "Have A Tampa" compilation album -- twelve Tampa bands on one album. This album created some buzz for the Tampa scene, including a brief stint on the College Music Journal's top ten list. The Shakes' tune, "Let Go," written and sung by Stuck, was critically lauded by many music reviewers. ("The best song on the album," said one.)

Second, the Shakes auditioned for the role of "the band" in an Elvis Presley musical which was scheduled to tour Germany and the Netherlands that summer. They told the driector take them as a unit or take none. The director took them all, and, in fact, wound up liking the band so much that he booked them seperately in most of the cities where the Elvis show was to play.

So, the Shakes played concerts in Berlin, Amsterdam, Cologne, Bonn and many other cities that they neither remember nor could ever pronounce. (Lemgo? WTF...) High points included playing at the Milky Way (where Bob Marley made his European debut); a concert at the Brandenburg Gate, within earshot of East Germany; and an international festival in Bonn (then the capital of West Germany), where Lee & Mikey were featured briefly on Russian television. Good times.

Steady left the group upon their return to the states, while Grant, a former bandmate of Mark Upledger, joined in on keys and sax. The band played some nice events (Palm Beach's Sunfest, Artists & Writers Ball, WMNF's Heatwave, Guavaween) and scored five songs for the low-budget horror film "Camp Killemoffa."

After a band quarrel in 1989 or so, Lee left the band, and was followed shortly thereafter by Grant. This left only Stuck and Mikey as original members, playing with an ever-increasing number of temporary musicians. And in 1990, after a particularly uninspired gig at a giant cowboy bar in Plant City, the Shakes became no more.

Lee and Grant kept playing together, however, and eventually teamed up with Stuck and drummer Neil Van Erde, who had been playing with the Shakes after Steady left. The group christened itself the Shakes Society, a nod to the ever-changing cast of players who came in and out of the band.

Over the 90s, the band became a stalwart fixture on Ybor City's Seventh Avenue strip (Irish Pub), played at every Nudestock Festival, and contributed compositions and horn work to numerous third-wave ska compilation albums. It was a very prolific time for the Shakes, who released more recorded work in that time than any other, past or present.

And Stuck still gets the occasional royalty check for his composition, "The Bone," which was featured on the album Closer Than You, a compilation of Florida Ska bands.

In 1997, the original Shakes band got back together for a ten year reunion concert of the "Have A Tampa" compilation album. Many of the bands that appeared on "Have A Tampa" got back together for this "one off" show at the State Theater in St. Petersburg. And in all modesty, the Shakes totally rocked the house, delivering the most charged and energetic show of the evening. The Shakes smoked it.

Rather intoxicated by this event, the band talked about regrouping, but nothing came of it. The Shakes Society continued, with Lee and Grant at the helm, while the other original Shakes went on their own ways.

Then in 2006, the band was asked about doing a reunion gig for WMNF's 27th year birthday party bash at the Cuban Club in Ybor City. The band had a long history with the radio station, dating back to both their inceptions. The band's first airplay and interviews were on WMNF, and they had played for numerous WMNF-sponsored events, including more Heatwaves than probably any other local band. Dialogue/The Shakes also played the wedding receptions of several WMNF DJs, and perhaps a divorce party. (Not sure about that last one.)

So, in October of 2006, the original Dialogue/Shakes band got back together to play a 40-minute set at a multi-stage event that featured over 15 bands, most of which were national acts. The Shakes weren't the headliners or anything like that.

The initial rehearsal sessions were electrifying. The band hadn't played together in ten years, but the old energy and interaction were back in full force. The show night was both great and problematic. The band before the Shakes went waaay overtime -- causing a time crunch in the schedule (and quarrel with the sound crew). The backline presented some issues, and Mikey's guitar strap broke pretty early on in the set (leather gets brittle after 10 years of disuse.)

Yet, the show was killer (some people thought it sucked, others said it was the best thing they saw all night. Truth is in the middle -- not the tightest or smoothest, but dripping with heart, energy and soul).

Afterwards, the band held a few meetings and decided to try and make ago of it once again. All original members, 25 years after. They rented a studio space, and began rehearsing and performing again.

Since then, the Shakes Society have played for Safety Harbor (4th of July, Winter Fest & Seafood Fest), Lowry Park Zoo's Zoofari, WMNF's Dining on the Air Music Series, and many more lesser events and private functions.

As of August 2008, the band is remastering songs from their long and varied career and planning to release a 25th Anniversary CD to commemorate their reunion and history. There's some swag to sell at the shows. Hope to see you at one;)