In 1961 John, Chuck, and their neighbor, Dennis DeYoung, formed a band called the Tradewinds.John played drums, Chuck played guitar, and Dennis played the accordion and sang. They played at bars and began gaining popularity as a garage band on the South Side of Chicago. In 1968, Chuck switched to bass. They added guitarists/vocalists James "J.Y." Young and John Curulewski and changed the name of the band to TW4. The band signed to Wooden Nickel Records and changed their name to Styx.