One night Nick asked Jeff to be in a band with him. The main goal of the band was to have serious music, with funny lyrics. Derek promptly added that he could play drums. The band was formed.

The three guys wanted another guitarist. In Nick's words, "I am a mediocre guitarist at best,I need someone else". That someone else was the legendary Sam Cook. Sam agreed to join the band in the fall of 1996.

At this point the band was not named, until one day Derek told Jeff that he looked like that fat ass kid from the movie "The Goonies", Chunk. A few days later there was universal decision for the name, Chunk and the Goonies. The Goonies were formed.

Jeremy Noel was also acquired in these first few months. He was dubbed P-R Man, and was forced to wear an extremly smelly shirt for 2 months that advertised the Goonies first big concert.

JEFF--"I can still remember waiting and anticipating playing, the day of our concerts. We talked about how Kenny Whicker shoved drum sticks up his butt to play faster and listened to pump up the jams by Technotronic to pump us up."