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Genesis was they name the brothers eventually agreed upon and they began their run on the legendary Pasadena backyard party circuit under that name. Of course, it wasn’t long before they realized Genesis was already the name of an English group that had been around since 1967 with Peter Gabriel as a founding member. It’s not too shocking they had never heard of Genesis, though; kids in the early seventies walked out of the record store with either Black Sabbath or Genesis, certainly not both.
    College Days
    Because the family had so little to get by on, despite Jan working ungodly hours, the boys were forced to get creative to pay for drum heads, drumsticks, guitar strings, guitar picks, and guitar cables—and god forbid a guitar or an amplifier. Without the consent of any particular regulatory authority, Ed and Al took to repainting numbers on street curbs for a fee. Knocking on doors one by one. One holding the stencil, the other holding the spray paint. Short work, quick payoff. Their own resourcefulness funded their growing need to pay for the basic objects of the industry. Basically, Edward had just the two “real” jobs in his life: his “honest” job delivering papers, and the rather fly-by-night house number painting scheme. Both were used to finance music equipment.
    Following the Genesis revelation, Mammoth was officially founded in 1972. Mammoth was arguably Edward’s first real rock group. With his brother on drums, Mark on bass, and himself on lead vocals and guitar, the band’s early repertoire included Grand Funk and Cream, as well as Deep Purple and, of course, Sabbath. Very briefly, Mammoth employed a keyboard player, but that tied Eddie down and filled up the middle where he belonged. The trio format was what he was always intent on, and it was to stay that way. Still, Edward would admit lead vocals were not his strong point. He could and he can sing. But the power and tenor of his voice as would be required for the rather heavy responsibility of lead vocalist clearly wasn’t there. He made up for it with his playing for the time being. “I used to sing and play lead in Mammoth, and I couldn’t stand it. I’d rather just play,” he said. In 1996, he added: “I never technically learned how to sing. So, I would kind of do a Kurt Cobain, after five songs and three beers my voice would be gone. You know, I would just scream it out and kind of waste my voice.”
    Jan suffered a horrific accident, particularly for a musician. Edward recalled that, in 1972, Jan “tried to lift up a trailer and it fell on his finger and just chopped his finger off.” Jan essentially quit playing the clarinet. A critical component of his very livelihood had been severed.
    Mammoth remained a relatively solid band throughout Ed’s senior year, and upon high school graduation in 1973, he would follow his brother directly into Pasadena City College—a campus that became the gathering point for the original lineup of an act that changed the world. A fellow student, Michael Sobolewski (who later took the stage name Michael Anthony), started out studying psychology but quickly moved to music. Mike fronted a band called Snake on the same little circuit as Mammoth playing similar music, although with more of a boogie-rock focus.
    Yet another Pasadena City College student was present amongst the backyard party circuit. This guy was also taking music classes. He was even in the exact same classes as the brothers. Musically, he was all about being up front and singing lead. His dad was a doctor, a rather highly regarded doctor at that. He entered into a signed contract with his father for a PA system which he was to work off. Having your own PA is like everyone asking you to help them move when you own a truck. If you have a PA, people come calling to use it. This guy charged though—ten bucks a night for it. He had an entrepreneurial streak. His name was David Lee Roth.

CHAPTER 5 
    “Van Halen” in the Third