The Selves were formed by Mike Reilly in Northern New Jersey outside of New York City in the mid 1980's. They started out as a garage band with a healthy dose of Velvet Underground and the Stooges influence. In the mid 1980's a 60's garage rock revival was popular with bands such as The Lyres, The Fleshtones, The Vipers, The Chesterfield Kings, and on and on. The Selves were on the fringes of this scene but never wanted to be pigeonholed. In 1987 The Selves released "Cocktails, and Plenty of Them" on a Label from the Netherlands called Houses in Motion. This record is a good mix between the garage rock and the Velvets sound as well as what could be termed Alternative/College rock. Plans are being made to make this record available as well on CD BABY. As the late 1980's came around Hip-Hop started to become an influence. "It was the most exciting thing going on. The Red Alert Show in New York was the rap version of the Alan Freed show, which helped launch Rock n Roll in the 50's." said Reilly. Although the band had changed members often, Reilly (lead vocals and guitar) and Paul Fisher on lead guitar were the constants. Towards the later 80's and through to the end the drummer was Steve Raimo and the bassist was Michael Santoro. Rob Crow was also added on percussion for the last couple of years. Like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who were doing a similar style mix of rock, punk, funk and rap, the Selves revamped their sound. They toured the US in 1989 and continued with smaller tours throughout the early 90's. One minor brush with fame came when the Selves were selected as 4 out of over 3800 bands to play in the Yamaha SoundCheck Battle of the bands in 1992. Another band that was selected was The Toadies. This show was broadcast on ABC-TV right after the Dick Clark New Year's Rockin Eve show, on New Years Eve, 1992. The Selves disbanded in 1993 but continue to play reunion shows now and again.