The first spasm bands were formed on the streets of New Orleans in the late eighteen hundreds,[1] with both styles spreading rapidly along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to Baton Rouge, Memphis, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Louisville and Cincinnati,[2] with jug bands being essentially spasm bands that incorporated a jug player "to handle the bass parts".
[3] They played, amongst other things, a length of gas pipe, a kettle and a fiddle made from a cigar box.
The spasm band style was one ingredient in the development of instrumental New Orleans jazz.
Contemporaries report that the style was imitated by adult orchestras such as the Right At 'Em Razz Band, which featured future Original Dixieland Jass Band clarinetist Alcide Nunez.
The term was also adopted by noise group The Nihilist Spasm Band.