Carlos C. Carlos, Sid Herpes and Hector La Paunche began to record as a group called the Anachronisms in 1981. Their first album, "Songs from a Bowele", on which Sid Herpes recorded using the name "Johnny Clapp", was released in 1983. While recording their second album, "The Basement Tapes", in the autumn of 1983, they were joined by another member, Dulcimer C. Zither. The rest, as they say, is history.

For a brief time, during the period of the "Al" and "Tory Perverts" albums (released in April and June of 1984, respectively), the group was joined by another member, Desi Bell. As well, there have been many guests performing on their albums, not least of which are Sue de Nym and the legendary blues performer Muddy Slide. Sue de Nym was a featured guest on "The Gods at Play" album (released in August of 1987). Muddy Slide has appeared on various albums, but his first appearance was on the "Pushing Back the Envelope" album (released in January of 1989), when Muddy was re-discovered by blues aficionados from the BBC.