During the mid to late ‘60’s bands had weird names. Such was the case for two Twin Cities’ bands: The Grasshoppers and The Bananas.

The Grasshoppers had a good five-year run and broke up in 1968. Singer Jiggs Lee decided to try his hand at a draft deferment in college.

In 1969, The Bananas were trying to re-align the “image thing” by making some changes. Jim Offerman and Joe Soucheray (today, a highly-paid broadcast professional, author, and columnist) were replaced by Jiggs Lee on vocals and ex-Crow drummer Mike Mlazgar. With Dave Elmeer on bass, Lloyd Forsberg on guitar, and Al Dworsky on keyboards, The Bananas continued to fill existing contracts with the intention of making a change.

What to name the band? Lloyd said “Cain”. Nobody had any objections, and so it began

After numerous teen club dates and school dances, Cain began to stretch its base. College shows, where audiences were more politically active, started to garner a “heavier” reputation for the band.

Cain always seemed to have a devil of a time keeping drummers and keyboard players. By the time the band broke into the Chicago scene, Mike Mlazgar had been replaced by Tom Osfar. Cain learned about the long hours of a working Rush Street band. Six hours per night, seven on Saturday for two weeks straight.

During that period, Al Dworsky left to live on a Kibbutz in Israel and was replaced by Fane Opperman for a short time. Soon the keyboard position was filled by Jerry McGee. When Jerry went on to other things, Chas Carlson filled those duties. Chas authored “Katy”, and other members of Cain began to pen some original material.

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