Over 10 years ago five college friends thought it would be a swell idea to teach themselves to play guitar, bass and drums and start a band. They named themselves the Uphill Ski Team. None of them actually remembers why. They started writing songs, playing shows, drinking beer, pulling practical jokes on each other and otherwise managing to have a lot of fun touring around the Chicago-land area in a beat up conversion van literally held together with duct tape and cardboard. Some of them also thought it would be a good idea to pay somebody to hit record. The jury is out on that decision ... but here we present the evidence.