Late in 1989, guitarists and twin brothers Marc and Brent Belke disbanded their influential skate punk band SNFU due to a rift with singer Ken Chinn and their desire to experiment musically.
With Marc Belke as lead vocalist, the band departed from SNFU's punk sound and played melodic alternative rock.
The Belkes reformed SNFU in September 1991, and Rees and Buhler departed the Wheat Chiefs early in 1992 to form the new band Cowboy Dick.
Drummer Ed Dobek (of Jr. Gone Wild and the pre-SNFU band Live Sex Shows) and bassist Rob Johnson (a former Wheat Chiefs roadie and future SNFU member) completed the new lineup.
[12] The Wheat Chiefs continued to perform sporadically, but the members faced a blow when SNFU's Epitaph contract expired.
The Wheat Chiefs disbanded following Brent Belke's departure from both bands to work in film and television music composition.