YodaPez was born of repercussions from an emotional meltdown of a potential drummer and a need for the "show to go on" (no puns intended here).  When our original drummer unprofessionally quit the band three weeks before the first show, we were forced to go on stage as an all-acoustic act. After the first night, we knew that we had tripped upon something very special.

Our name is due to the playful observation of Ben Morabito (vocals), who after spying a "Yoda" Pez dispenser sitting on a desk at an old rehearsal space, and expressing his frustrations that we could not come to a compromise on a name said, "…fine we'll just be… there, YodaPez. That's our name!" Jim Cipiti (guitars, vocals) loved it right away and it stuck. Besides, that name rocked compared to some of the other suggestions at the time like:

o Stone Crow
o Crop Circle
o mmm...
o Liquid8

There were other suggestions like "Jesus Chrysler" and "JFKFC" (mostly for laughs), but YodaPez really fit. And for Jim, it was kind of like, "…yeah, candy coated wisdom…what would Yoda tell Luke Skywalker about this situation?"

Next we faced a membership crisis: "…who's playing bass and percussion this week?"
Past members included (in no particular order):

o Dave "Shot" Segulin - Guitars, some keys, and "group entertainer"
o Duane Tindall - Percussion, vocals
o Dude (his real name is Mike, but it's not as fun as "Dude") - Bass (even though it really wasn't his "cup of tea")
o John Simons - Bass
o Mark "Bellflower" Belfiore - Percussion, vocals
o Tom Schlund - Drums, percussion, synths
o Gary "G-Rock" Stulak- Bass and vocals

Of course Ben our glamorous (um...) and talented (aw, shucks!) vocalist (occasional shakers and even the Bass once), and Jim our resident guitar enthusiast/virtuoso (he even learned how to sing!) have been the foundation of YodaPez ever since. Thank God for the concept of the Duet!!

Throughout we've maintained a primarily acoustic/unplugged flavor with the occasional plugged in /electric set or show for variety. Currently, Ben and Jim pepper in both concepts to the show.