Toiling Midgets was formed in 1979 by drummer Tim Mooney, of The Sleepers and Negative Trend, and guitarist Craig Gray also of the local San Francisco band Negative Trend, guitarist Paul Hood from Seattle's punk bands Meyce and The Enemy, and bassist Nosmo King (aka Johnathan Henrickson).
[4] Williams and King left the band, with Aaron Gregory (bass, ex-Maggots) and Annie Ungar (guitar, ex-Gun Club) joining, this formation recording the instrumental Dead Beats album, released on Joe Carducci's Thermidor label in 1985.
[1][2] After a few years on hiatus, in 1989 Hood, Gray and Mooney reunited, initially again as an instrumental band, with Joe Goldring on bass, but they recruited singer Mark Eitzel (for whom Williams had been an influence) of American Music Club in 1990.
Williams returned to the band and recorded 6 songs as well as a show in the fall of 1992 but died on November 21, 1992, due to respiratory complications and a mixture of drug and alcohol abuse.
In 2023 a full length LP record will be released by the Clouds Hill label, including special guest musicians Chris Eckman (The Walkabouts), Kevin Kuhn (Die Nerven), Zar Monta Cola (Jumbo Jet) and Chris Cacavas (Green On Red, The Dream Syndicate) and Eugene Robinson (Oxbow) and more is scheduled for 2023, along with aEuropean tour.
Their latest line-up consists of 4 people living in 6 countries: a Czech singer and clarinet player from London, a German drummer from Thessaloniki, Greece who joined the two original members, Craig Gray from Vancouver, Canada and Paul Hood from Seattle, USA.