It's really difficult to know where to start the history of Total Passover.  The band evolved from the work of three guys from Des Moines.  Andy, Tom and Jason all knew each other in the early years of the Des Moines, Iowa punk rock scene.  Andy and Tom started a band called The Missing Paperboys, but never played a show.  Then they formed Children of the Corn, played a few shows, and then Andy moved to San Francisco.  This was all back in the early to mid-eighties.  When Andy moved back in 1988 to attend school at Iowa State University, he looked up his old friends Tom Meehan and Jason Rupe.  They soon formed a band called Sham Rock Shakes, and along with it, a university supported (although there was a question of TRUE university support) club called the Ames Alternative Music Coalition.  Through this club, shows were held at the local Unitarian church as well as sometimes in McKay Hall's auditorium, as long as the club picked up all the cigarette butts left around.

Sham Rock Shakes released a tape (1989's "Give Me Back My Handbag") and a 7" EP ("House of Jep") on their own Final Jeopardy Records label.  The music was straightforward funny punk rock.  As the three band members grew musically, the sound of the band turned more into a Black Flag/MC5 influenced style of music.

The band went looking for a new name.  They played shows in Ames under the monikers MEGAFAUNA and even Levy, Meehan, and Rupe.  Andy had been playing with the idea of using the word "Passover" in a band name, and at one time, the name of the band was going to be Passover.  But then Tom said, "You should call it Total Passover because you use the word "totally" all of the time."  And so, Total Passover was born.

At the same time, the band had added guitarist Kurt Johnson to the lineup, to give the music a bit more "umpf".  As the three-piece MEGAFAUNA, the band recorded four songs for release, but waited until they had recorded six more with Kurt and then released the "Nursing Home Hush Money" cassette.  The cassette was mostly sold locally.  The band played more shows around Ames and the Des Moines area.  Eventually, Kurt graduated and moved to Des Moines.  The band once again became a three-piece.

In the spring of '92, the band released the "SHALOM MOTHERFUCKER" 7".  The band began to receive local attention from the Iowa State Daily.  The A-side of the 7" also received heavy airplay on Iowa State University's KUSR.  Students would call up and request the "Penis song" (Shower Door) that was put on a cart by one of the DJs.  The spring of 1992 in Ames marked a period of original music.  Joining Total Passover were The Dorks, GrainUSA, Dishwater, Funky Thermos and the All Star Soular Grapefruit Band, Male Nurse, and Coco Pope.

Throughout the history of the band, Tom Meehan worked at Dugan's Deli on the west end of campus.  Dugan's was considered the band's "home stadium".  Shows at Dugan's were always very loud, with the band stuck in one corner of the deli, the music blaring, and usually drowning out the vocals.  There was a band called Head Candy from Iowa City, who had made it somewhat by signing to a smaller branch of a major label.  Total Passover set up a show at Dugan's with Head Candy, and even rented a decent P.A.  Total Passover opened up the show and blew Head Candy away.  When Head Candy played, they weren't as loud (or for that matter, good) as Total Passover, and even blew up the P.A.  When asked to pay for half the damages, Head Candy refused.  Tom, since he worked at Dugan's, decided that if they didn't want to help with the P.A., then they didn't have to be paid for the show.

In the early fall of 1992, Jesse Trent was added to the band to play an additional guitar.  The band began rehearsal for their first full-length CD.  At the end of October, the band went to Grand Junction Studios in Waterloo, Iowa for a weekend and laid down the tracks to the songs that would become "Eat My Moneymaker."  The band, except for Andy, returned to the studio at the end of November with up-and-coming local producers/rockstars, Brian Buhman and James Stone of the Dorks, to produce the final mix of the CD.

The band continued to play in central Iowa and opened up for bands like The Supersuckers.  "Moneymaker" was released in the late winter/spring of 1993.  In March, many of the Ames bands recorded a few songs for an Iowa Compilation.  The Iowa Comp was being put together by two fellows from Head Candy.  Total Passover felt their submissions were doomed before they sent them.  While many of the bands were good coming out of Ames, many revered Total Passover as one of the best, because of the good songwriting, performance and the trail they had blazed by playing their own music in a town over-populated with cover bands.  When the two tracks, "All Your Radiance" and "Des Moines Has Gone to Hell" were rejected, Total Passover, along with most of the Ames bands, were somewhat infuriated.  The Dorks even switched tracks on the Iowa Comp.  While they had submitted the catchy, "Cheated On" for review, for the final submission, the raunchy rocking, "Rosie" was sent.  

On graduation day, May 15, 1993, the band once again went into the studio. With Brian Buhman and James Stone behind the controls, the band recorded the full length LP, "Shlomo Rising", in eight hours at James and Brian's home studio, the Maxwell House.  This would be the final recording for Jason Rupe, who moved to Texas to complete his PhD in Industrial Engineering, and for Jesse Trent, who graduated and got a job three hours away in northeast Iowa.

The Dorks broke up to do other musical projects, so this freed up some time for drummer, James Stone.  James had played a Christmas show with Tom and Andy one year, and was very familiar with the band's songs from having been a part of the production team on three recording sessions.  He was a great fit.  

In the summer of 1993, Total Passover was again a three-piece since Jesse had gone.  Andy was talking to Kurt Johnson again about rejoining, and Kurt joined the band on their summer of 1993 tour.  The band played gigs in Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, and Mississippi.  Several new songs were inspired by the tour, including "Unluckiest Band in the World", "Ten Meter Platform" and "Alabama Slammer".  Once back in Ames, these songs, along with about 20 more were again recorded at the Maxwell House.  They were never officially released.

James then decided to move to Houston in 1994.  Once again, Total Passover found a new drummer, this time in the services of Tom Halverson, a local Des Moines boy who had seen Total Passover play many times.  Kurt also rejoined the band.  In February of 1995, the band went back to the studio, this time at Cat Trax in Ogden, Iowa.

The recordings became what many believe is Total Passover's finest work, "...And Then You Woke Up".  Joe Newton, the drummer of Gas Huffer, also known for his excellent album cover artwork, was contracted to do the cover for the CD.  Soon after the CD was released, however, the band broke up.  The farewell gig was held in May 1995 at Hairy Mary's (formerly The Safari), in Des Moines.