The Farleys were born in 1996 when Mike Mitchell (aka "Rasta Farley") and his brother Mark (aka "Musta Farley") began performing at an open-mic hosted by J.L.Smith (aka "Jimmy Danger") on Thursday nights at Scalici's Underground Lounge in Allen Park, MI. Musta played guitar and Rasta sang and recited poetry. As they prepared to go on stage for the first time, they realized that they had no name. On the floor was a candy wrapper with the manufacturer's name plainly evident - "Farley"(not actually the true story). They adopted the name, and although others have been suggested and discarded along the way, "The Farleys" has stuck. Eventually the duo picked up drummer Chris Thibodeau (aka "Chris Farley") and Jimmy began to play bass. By 1999 Musta retired and Jimmy moved to guitar, and the search for a bass player began. In August 2000, the band recorded some tracks with drummer Scott "Rock Action" Asheton of Stooges fame. A follow up session in January 2001 produced additional tracks, and a final session in January 2002 resulted in four more songs. These recordings went on to become the first three Farley CDs "Youth in Asia", "Meet the Stooges" and "Pincushion Sue" (4 song EP). By the spring of 2001, Mark Kaster (aka "Strato-Kaster") had replaced Chris Farley and bassist Kraig Collett (aka "Kraigory Peckary") joined the band. In 2003 The Farleys recorded "96 Eyes", another 4 song EP.