In the fall of 1990, drummer Tom Schlund was approached by vocalist Andrew Boyer to form a cover band. Boyer was a year out of a year stint in Purgatory and was tired of standing on the sidelines, seeing hair metal bands dominate the local scene.

Along with bands like Street Survivor, The Bronx and Captured, Cleveland was aching for another powerful cover band.

Schlund, recently out of The Bronx, had been discussing a similar arrangement with guitarist Dave Felton, from Hatrix, and brought them together at a Trouble concert at the, long gone, Empire Concert Club.

The initial lineup included the trio along with guitarist Jim Cipiti, whom Schlund had been working and sharing a practice room with. For about nine months the band worked with a few different bass players, including Hank 'The Terminator', Cam, and Tiny. But in the spring of 1991, bassist Kevin Skelly, also from Hatrix, joined the band to complete the lineup.

At this time, SOS was still struggling to find its sound and played many classic rock favorites by bands such as Mountain, Whitesnake, and Rainbow. With the departure of Jim in 1993, to focus on the Scorpions tribute act Lovedrive, brought in guitarist J.J.Secula. J.J.'s presence was relatively short lived, as he went on to play with the emerging Mushroomhead, but it was during this time that the current SOS sound, based primarily on the aggressive guitar and bass work of Felton and Skelly, was defined.

In 1994, guitarist Jeff Endemann, who was working with Boyer and Schlund in the classic rock project Hammered, filled out the SOS lineup. His vocals and guitar prowess took SOS to a new level. At this time, SOS was a regular at the Cleveland Cafe, and dominated the Cleveland 'cover' metal scene.

With the closing of clubs like the Cleveland Cafe and Flash's, the mid-90s saw the beginning of a decline in Cleveland's music scene. Clubs such as the Goal Post and No Excuses provided outlets for SOS, but the 'golden age' was over.

In 1998 Schlund departed SOS for sunny California and was replaced by drummer powerhouse Emery Ceo, who was working with Felton, Skelly, and Boyer in the short lived Porcelain Bus. Emery brought an aggression and skill that truly fit and complemented the SOS sound.

In 2000, with the lack of proper venues and reoccuring internal strife (something SOS was certainly not immune to over its then 10 year history), Endemann departed the band to pursue other projects (such as Spank and later BonFire).

This left SOS with its current and most stable and raw lineup.

Kevin Skelly - Bass
Andrew Boyer - Vocals
Emery Ceo - Drums
Dave Felton - Guitar

The sound and presence of SOS is now at its most powerful and concise. With a significant number of other current projects consuming time and availability of the members of SOS, they are now subject to playing out only once every number of months.

These other diverse projects include (but are not limited to):

Mushroomhead
- Dave Felton

The Miller Brothers (Acoustic Hits)
- Andy Boyer and Kevin Skelly

Mike Onesko and the Blindside Blues Band
- Emery Ceo