Our Story
“Mission to the unknown, floating so far from home. Will it end before it begins, the robots cannot be our friends…”
The history of NEOTOLEDO goes back to 2005, when Scott “Smalls” Smalley and Khryztof were roommates. Prior to actually writing any songs, the concept for an experimental space rock group featuring “songs about robots” was kicked around. They remained a visual and musical duo for a number of years, creating album art and posters for future performances.
Heavily influenced by bands such as They Might Be Giants, Weezer, Soul Coughing, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, and later Flight of the Conchords, the boys strived to create music where “not all the songs sounded the same”. This experimentation typically made it hard for them to find gigs.
Eventually, they added keyboardist, Jeff “Stecki” Garstecki to the group. Stecki’s virtuosity and creativity lead to a lot of songs becoming fleshed out from their initial drafts. After rotating through drummers, multi-instrumentalist, Bobby Prom was present during the bulk of the finalizations of this set. Unfortunately, time conflicts lead to him being replaced by Chuck Vadun, who would go on to be one of NEOTOLEDO’s longest active members.
House Party Era (2006)
The first official NEOTOLEDO gig was a house party with (L to R) Stecki on keyboards, Khryztof on vocals and guitar, Bernadette on drums, and Smalls on bass. Shortly after this first gig, Bernadette left the group, and may have been abducted by evil robots.
The Classic Era (2006-2009)
After months of auditions, NEOTOLEDO brought in Bobby Prom (second from right) to replace Bernadette on drums. During this era, most of the band’s best-known tracks were written and perfected, such as Holding My Bionic Hand, View from the Moon, and Mission to the Unknown.
The Modern Era (2010-2015)
After a long day of recording, Bobby left his drum set at the studio and never came back. Some thought that the band would never play again, but the surprise addition of Chuck Vadun (at left) brought them back to the stage and studio.
The Future Era (2019)
After founding members, Scott Smalley and Jeff Garstecki relocated, the dream of defeating the evil robots seemed to be coming to an end. Khryztof recruited members of Bandemic, Kelly and Louis, to finally release an album and get back on stage.
Khryztof’s Solo Era (2020-?)
After Kelly, Louis, and Chuck decided to focus on their other projects exclusively, Khryztof went out and bought a bass and a synthesizer. After months of efforts Mission to the Unknown and Alone Amongst the Machines were release on July 12, 2020. Many have speculated about the possibility of a reunion, but unfortunately the future is a mission to the unknown.