Stern family moved from Toronto to Los Angeles

The Stern family, consisting of older brothers Shawn (guitar and vocals) and Mark (drums) and younger brother Adam (who later played bass), moved from Toronto to Los Angeles in 1970, because their father worked in the film industry. As teenagers, Shawn and Mark were surfers who skipped school to smoke marijuana and attend rock concerts. At 16 and 17, they played in their first band, called Mess, which played Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix covers at parties. A year later in 1978, they discovered punk rock and formed a quirky prog rock / new wave band called The Extremes, releasing a four-song EP on which Shawn sang with a fake English accent .