the Implants formerly known as the Shriners

If anyone cares

The Implants formerly known as the Shriners actually decided to re-unite in September of 2023. Mainly to re-release their old stuff plus have a few new mixes for old songs done. Possibly have something new out in some near future.

In 2023 two versions of Floater were released - Radio Edit recorded and produced by Tom Queyja and regular version recorded by Randy Cauley and mastered by Howie Weinberg. In April 2024 "Flyerstepper" (recorded by Randy Cauley n 1995 and produced by Dawid Gorgolewski in 2024) and "Faded" (recorded also by Randy Cauley in 1995, mixed by Chris Bolster in Abbey Road Studios and mastered by Greg Gould) will be out.

The Implants formerly known as the Shriners were an American rock band from Oxford, Mississippi which incorporated elements of punk, rock and grunge in their music. The band was notable for their wild live concerts as well as radio show performances. The group disbanded sometime after the release of the 1996 album, Leprosy.

The founding members of the Implants included singer/guitarist Mike Jones, singer/guitarist Wojciech Wypych, drummer Brett Broadway and bass player Adam Ellerbrock. Adam left the band shortly after it was founded, and Wojciech switched to bass. Adam was the most experienced and established musician of all the band members.

At many live shows, the band played as a four piece with Robbie Alexander of the Neckbones or Adam Ellerbrock of the Splinter on bass or Randy Cauley on guitar. In a sense, Randy became a regular. In recording studio second guitar tracks would be added by Wojciech and Mike.

In the early days the band would also rehearse with Patrick Flynn of well known punk band Schlong on bass. He was also a band member at that time.

Initially the band was managed by Nate Parkin who would occasionally join the band on vocal during live shows.

Whatever

The Implants were formed in March of 1995. Initially were named the Shriners. To avoid any lawsuits, beatings and bans they changed the name to the Schriners and finally to the Implants formerly known as the Shriners. They gained local popularity thanks to wild live performances in Oxford, MS including the Gin, Proud Larry's, Lafayette's, Billiard Club, the Hoka and others in Meridian, MS. That included i.e. fights with the crowds and dressing in offensive clothes for Halloween shows. As much as they usually played their own songs depending on audience, they would also play offensive cover versions of "Sweet home Alabama" as much as self made up "My mama (your mama)". According to band members their favorite show took place in Meridian, MS even though they didn't remember it. Based on third party information, they offended the crowd, broke the bass belonging to show staff and ran away from the show using metal bars off Brett's drums stand to get thru the crowd.

Also, their appearances on the radio "Local mail" show on 92.1 drew attention due to their obnoxious behavior. It was pretty common to have callers requesting for them to be kicked out of the studio. Many of those appearances took place in late 1995 to mid 1996. 

In 1996, the Implants released their debut album "Leprosy" available on cassette at "Uncle Buck's Records" store. The album was also released in limited quantity on CD with a larger set of songs. The album sold out and received a positive review by Tobie Baker in "Oxford Town" local newspaper focused on music and culture. According to the author, "Widespread Panic keyboardist JoJo John Herman wasn't sad he missed the last two innings of the all-star baseball game to see the band", at the album release show performed at Proud Larry's on 9th of July, 1996. "Tyler Keith of the Neckbones slurred, "They play with a lot of energy"" (Baker, Tobie in Oxford Town: Oxford punks The Implants release Leprosy" July 18, 1996 (The Oxford Eagle). The band was mentioned numerous times in articles about the local music scene in the same newspaper. They were also featured on Channel 12 Newswatch (NBC affiliate) where parts of their live show and interviews were aired (hosted by Kim Chaney, now with abc24). Their songs "Floater", "Faded" and "Flayerstepper" received decent air play on 92.1 radio station. Also "Athens", "Fresh taste" and "Dinner music" were played over the air by that station. They were closely associated with the Neckbones of Oxford, MS with whom they played live shows at City Grocery and the Hoka. By pure coincidence they had The Kudzu Kings as an opening act at The Lafayette's. 


They quoted The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Nirvana as their main influences. During radio shows they mentioned Hall & Oates, Abba, Pet Shop Boys and Captain & Tenielle as favorite acts with deep meaning for their songs. 

Original songs performed by the Implants were written by Mike Jones  and Wojciech Wypych. Many of the songs released on the "Leprosy" album came from recording session by Randy Cauley of December 31, 1995 at his Home Grown Studio done basically in one take. Those songs were mixed by Randy and Wojciech. Mastering was done years after for anniversary release purposes in 2014 by Wojciech Wypych and five other songs were done as well by Howe Weinberg Masterdisc. Other songs were recorded in October, 11 1995 by Tom Queyja (formerly the Wobbity and the Cooters) at Sweet Tea Studio. Tom later founded famous The Lip Studio in LA. One of the songs ("Floater") was to appear on Terrible Rotten Things That Happen to Kids (1995) compilation CD on Kathode Ray. The edited (clean) radio version was prepared for that cause. It didn't show on that compilation though, possibly due to a delay in payment for recording sessions by the Implants. The other version states that the song didn't exactly match the purpose of that compilation due to its lyrics, e.g.: "Go away (...) Didn't love you anyway". All songs recorded by Tom were also mixed by him. A few of the songs including "Smell my feet" and some hidden tracks came off the live show at Proud Larry's recorded by Al Cotten in March 14, 1996. Al did sound at most of the band's shows. Many of the live shows were recorded. Album artwork was done by Eddie Voicheckski (Wojciech).

The band travelled in Wojciech's Chevy astro van, called simply "the van".

Brett (drums) and Wojciech (guitar) also took part in Adam Ellerbrock's (vocals & guitar) side project called Splinter (along with Blake Ogletree of Vampires a go go on bass). By pure coincidence in July of 1996 Mike and Wojciech got to jam with Chris Duarte at the after party of his show performed at the famous Proud Larry's.

Even though most of the time the band was a three piece band, they started as a four piece with Adam Ellerbrock on bass and Wojciech on guitar. In 1995 Randy Cauley played as a second guitar player on a pretty common basis and at a later stage, he was considered as a fourth band member.

Most of the photos presented on this website were taken by Jake for promo purposes in mid 1995. Others were taken in the beginning of 1996 during a live show at Proud Larry's by Rich.

The band has not been active since September of 1996.