It all started in early 1983 when drummer/vocalist John "Bubba" Beschler heard a Jerry Jeff Walker song coming out of a bar. The musician playing that song was John Cunningham.

"I was a big fan of his from then on," said Beschler, who immediately asked Cunningham to start a band.

"No," said Cunningham. Actually that's not all he said, but it's all that he said that this paper will print.

Cunningham eventually changed his mind, calling Beschler and asking if he could get a bass player to play with them at a hay ride in October 1983. After that show the singer/guitarist joined with Beschler again in early 1984 to form the Screaming Ducks.

"As we went on it was kind of an accident that we ever became a band," said Cunningham.

The Screaming Ducks will celebrate their 18th anniversary with a performance today at Players Nite Club, 112 W. College Ave. It is a 21 and over show with the doors opening at 9 p.m. and the band going on around 10. The cover is $5.

Filling out the current lineup of the band are guitarist/vocalist Andy Tolins and bassist Ronnie Wasco. Also sitting in with the band on Friday will be Arthur Goldstein on piano, Tom "Mugs" Gallagher on saxophone and Jeff Bennett on percussion.

Former members of the band are also expected to appear. The band says that fans should expect anywhere from four to eight musicians on stage at a time.

The band plays what Wasco describes as "just rock and roll."

"Interspersed with acoustic music," Cunningham quickly adds.

The Ducks draw from a repertoire of covers that at its largest numbered nearly 500 songs.

"There was a time when we played three nights a week and didn't repeat a song," said Beschler.

Although the band knows so many songs Beschler brags that "We've never played with a set list."

Cunningham described the process of deciding what to play as, "We just stand up there and go 'what do you want to play?'"

"Basically we play songs we always wanted to do. The Ducks is like an alter ego to play stuff we love," he added.

Over the years the band has played over 1600 shows including former weekly shows at The Phyrst, 111 1/2 Beaver Ave., The Brewery, 233 E. Beaver Ave. and Café 210 West, 210 W. College Ave.

In recent years the Ducks have played less often together. Cunningham has released three CDs of original solo material. Tolins and Wasco both play in the Triple A Blues Band, which has released one original CD.

"This is almost the side project at this point," said Wasco with a laugh.

Cunningham agrees, "One thing that's nice about not playing that often is that it's really nice when we do play together."

During their lengthy time together the Ducks have opened for such artists as Ziggy Marley, The Guess Who and Commander Cody.

They were also mentioned in Sports Illustrated as "The Greatest Rock and Roll Cover Band in America."

"We're just the ultimate garage band," said Cunningham.

"Considering we didn't expect to play for more than a couple of months, it's pretty amazing."

Beth Allison also contributed to this article.