Surgery was a scummy, no-holds-barred, blues-drenched post-hardcore band from Manhattan's lower east side that included Sean McDonnell (vocals), Scott Kleber (guitar), John Lachapelle (bass), and John Leamy (drums). Signed to the noisy Amphetamine Reptile label, the band fit right in and made their full-length debut in 1991 with Nationwide. The Trim, 9th Ward High Roller EP followed two years later. They then became part of the feeding frenzy that occurred in the wake of the major label signings of Nirvana and Helmet, and they made the hop to the WEA-distributed Atlantic for 1994's Shimmer. The closest the band got to notoriety in the mainstream sense was when MTV's 120 Minutes program played that album's "Off the A-List" a couple times (not that the band cared). On January 18, 1995, McDonnell passed away, the victim of complications from asthma. Saddened by their loss, the remaining members of the band decided to quit.