Rural punk band formed in south west Scotland in 1980, Zachariah Toadstool & the Magic Mushrooms scored local success briefly with a mostly original set, with covers of the Ramones and the Bay City Rollers thrown in (because they only had three chords, the band explained). Comprising the Sinclair brothers, Pete (on drums) and Paul (on vocals), Scott Maxwell on bass, the improbably named Owen Figgis on lead guitar and Harald Thomson on rhythm, the band''s primary notoriety focused on a riot caused by them in Creetown Village Hall, when they insisted on playing their "tribute" to the then Prime Minister, and waving a hangman''s noose at the audience.

The band then imploded and promptly reformed as a mainly covers band, with a set list ranging from TheTubes'' "White Punks on Dope" to Eric Clapton''s "Wonderful Tonight". Several line-up changes ensued (David Watson and Alistair Davidson featured on guitar, Pete Fergusson on drums, Jon Kentley on vocals) before they finally split in 1986.

Reformation in 1997 featured Paul Sinclair, Maxwell, Thomson, Watson, Fergusson and Kentley, with an amalgam of styles. A 3-day recording session during the 1998 World Cup ("Scotland were getting shafted so we had nothing better to do") spawned the flawed "Down in the Garden", comprising the majority of the original line-up''s set, a couple of originals from the mid-80s, and some new material. Though the recording captured some of the energy of the live performances, it also captured some of the imperfections of the stage-rusty personnel.

Undaunted, the band has emerged shuffling from the shadows every couple of years to play in village halls from Humberside to Galloway, and frequently at the Wickerman Festival where they have shared the stage with their original heroes The Stranglers, The Buzzcocks, a Ramone and a band which was once nearly (but not quite) Hawkwind. Personnel during these latter years (generally supplementing a core of Sinclair, Maxwell & Thomson) have included Bruce McKenzie (guitar and drums), Doug Jackson (drums), Chris Hendry (drums) and Jamie Thomson (bass), the latter''s appearance in 2007 marking the only occasion the band had performed without Maxwell.