Fred met Toody in 1966, when his band's car broke down in Portland on the way to Alaska. Toody was sweeping the floors at the first venue where they got a gig. The two were hitched a year later, at 18, and have been together ever since.

At that time, Fred's band — a psychedelic garage rock group named The Weeds and later known as The Lollipop Shoppe — toured up and down the West Coast, playing the psychedelic scene with bands like Janis Joplin, The Byrds and Love.

In his early 30s, Fred was playing with King Bee, an old blues and rock-and-roll band. But everything changed when he opened for The Ramones. "They totally turned me on to the whole punk speed of things," says Fred.

Fred, who was primarily a lead singer at that point, started focusing on learning guitar and writing more up-tempo songs. Encapsulating the amateur punk-rock ethos of the time, he taught Toody how to play bass and recruited a friend, Rod Hibbert — who had never played drums before — to be their drummer. Together they started playing punk shows in the Northwest as The Rats.

As with his earlier band Lollipop Shoppe, Fred found himself at the center of another musical revolution. It was 1979 and punk was blossoming. The Rats played with everyone: Black Flag, The Dead Kennedys, The Misfits … and the list goes on.

After The Rats, the Coles joined with a diehardfan, Andrew Loomis, to forge Dead Moon, their most influential band to date. Together for 20 years, the band recorded a dizzying amount of songs, played countless shows and cultivated a diehard cult following — grunge champions Nirvana and Pearl Jam both cite the band as a major influence.

After five decades in rock-and-roll, it's hard for Fred to imagine not playing music. The Coles' latest group Pierced Arrows, released an album for VICE Records, but has since returned to their own DIY label Tombstone Records. Pierced Arrows continues to record and tour the world, playing with bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Godspeed You Black Emperor!

Beyond their musical legacy, Fred and Toody have made a life together. They have three children and seven grandchildren. They built a Western-themed general store by hand (which they sold) and the now-defunct Tombstone music store.


Fred wrote the new song "We Won't Break" about never losing sight of what's important — his everlasting love for Toody.

Formed by now married Nick and Heather Millward in Boise, Id in 1999. Moved to Seattle following year- recruited Dustin Miller. Many personnel rotations around this nucleus. Toured the US in 2002- much of the west coast 2003-2006.
Described as powerpop twang- sounds like a midwest band from the '80s trying to sound like a British Invasion band. Many are reminded of Elvis Costello and the Replacements.

We would love to put you into a melodic-induced coma, and dissect your ego, piece by piece.

Beer fueled, sweat drenched Rockn'Roll influenced by the 60's NW sounds, 70's and 80's punk rock, and 90's college rock.