Scott Earls is a native of Paris, Texas. Since Super Dave's departure to Wisconsin, Scott has been holding down the bottom end for Ruff Stuff. Scott has played for several local hard rock bands.

Michael Monroe Sells is from the same legion of psychedelic hippie space monsters that spawned such humans as Jimi Hendrix, Billy Gibbons and the other rubber fingered blues masters. Like all true gifted musicians, Mike will of course deny or downplay his talents when the comparison is made. Remember kids, true musicians are always very humble folks like Mike, and never ramble on about the equipment they use, how great they are, and why, and who they have jammed with, and so on. No, those are the egomaniacal cretans like myself, who know we can't play worth a darn!!!... But I have said it before, and I'll say it again... "Mike Sells is a certified guitar guru."

Here is a composite of Mike's history that various people have been able to extract from him over the years. It was provided by Cousin Fuzzy through Grapevine Productions.

1970 saw the end of the "Phase" and Mike's return to the US. He reunited with Mark Hendrix and a new bassist/vocalist, Kenny Reynolds to form a new band "Ice". With Kenny's "Trapeze" style of vocals and bass playing, they began writing their own material and rocking Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, opening for acts like ZZ Top (another unknown Texas band at that time), Cactus, and Frigid Pink, they were making a living. After a run to the East Coast, the band fell apart in 1973. Mike set out for Austin to get a foot in the "Music Capitol" of Texas where he joined "Blind Wizard", an established Austin band. He returned to north Texas in 1974 before heading off to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and on up to Wisconsin where he wrote some new material in an old dairy barn. "The acoustics were GREAT" is all he could say about the experience.

In 1977, Sweetwater was an established band with Wendy Hoppe on vocals, Todd Hoppe on bass, Paul Dowlearn on drums, Charlie Gibson on keyboards and acoustic guitar, Marta Gibson on vocals, and Mike on lead guitar. The band opened for bands Bead Fast, Foghat, and Mary Wilson. The group split and reformed as Bittersweet without the Gibson's, and Dowlearn. They added drummer Donnie Lee Garcia on guitar and synthesizer, and Bobby Atwood on drums.

A new album, "Up on a Shelf", was produced in Iowa, but didn't get promoted very well. A video for the song "Nite Flight" aired on MTV's Basement Tapes, and the band appeared on a few cable TV specials.

In 1983, Mike formed Rock Bottom, a three piece with Randy Lipps on drums and vocals, and Jay Savadra on bass and vocals. "It was some mean stuff we were doing at that time...", says Mike. After six years with no results, they disbanded, and sometime later Mike came to Paris, Texas.

That’s when we shook the dust off him again, and like rock-n-roll cupids, led him back to his lifelong love, and the rest is history...