The Feelies
are a rock band from Haledon, New Jersey. They formed in 1976 and disbanded in 1992 after having released four albums. The band reunited in 2008.
The Feelies rarely worked with outside producers and created shimmering soundscapes with multiple guitar layers that set them apart from most of the punk/new wave bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s. They frequently played at Maxwell's, a live music venue and bar restaurant in Hoboken during the 1980s, often on national holidays.
Although the Feelies never sold a great number of records, their influence was felt on the indie rock scene. Their first album, Crazy Rhythms
(Stiff Records, 1980) was cited by R.E.M. as a major influence. [1]Several bands have in turn influenced the Feelies, including The Velvet Underground and Lou Reed . The novelist Rick Moody has also cited the band as one of his influences. [2]
The band's name is taken from a fictional entertainment device described in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World
. .
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THE FEELIES TICKETS
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Early history
Glenn Mercer,
Bill Million and Dave Weckerman began playing together in 1976 in Haledon, New Jersey in a band called the Outkids. The Outkids evolved into the Feelies with the addition of Vinny DeNunzio on bass and John J. on drums.
In 1978, the
Village Voice dubbed the then-unsigned Feelies "The Best Underground Band in New York"
[3]. With the line-up of Mercer, Million, Vinny DeNunzio's brother
Keith DeNunzio on bass and
Andy Fier on drums, the Feelies released their first single, "Fa Cé-La", on
Rough Trade Records in 1979.
The Feelies' debut album,
Crazy Rhythms
, was released on
Stiff Records in 1980, featuring the same line-up as on the "Fa Cé-La"
Rough Trade single.
Offshoots
After
Crazy Rhythms
, Fier and Keith DeNunzio left the band. With the Feelies in limbo, Mercer and Million collaborated with other local New Jersey musicians, forming one of a number of Feelies offshoots,
The Trypes
, featuring some once and future Feelies members, including
Brenda Sauter,
Dave Weckerman and
Stanley Demeski, as well as John Baumgartner, Marc Francia and Toni Paruta. The Trypes, quieter and more psychedelic than the Feelies, played regular live gigs around the New York/Hoboken scene at clubs such as
Maxwell's and
Folk City. In 1984,
Coyote released a Trypes 12" EP produced by Million and Mercer,
The Explorers Hold
, featuring three original songs (credited to Mercer alone or with other band members), plus a cover of the
George Harrison song, "
Love You To", which originally had appeared on
The Beatles'
Revolver
. The Trypes also contributed a Million/Mercer-produced original song, "A Plan Revised", to the 1985 Coyote anthology of Hoboken acts,
Luxury Condos Coming To Your Neighborhood Soon
. Some members of the Trypes later formed the band
Speed The Plough.
Million, Mercer, Sauter, Demeski and Baumgartner also gigged around New York and Hoboken under the name,
Yung Wu
, which was fronted by and featured the songs of Feelies' percussionist Dave Weckerman, who also sang lead. Yung Wu released one album on
Coyote Records in 1986, titled
Shore Leave
. It featured Weckerman originals, plus covers of "
Child of the Moon" and "
Powderfinger", a staple of their live gigs.
The Willies
, also known as The Willies From Haledon, were yet another Feelies offshoot that played around the New York/Hoboken clubs in the early 1980s. The Willies shared a similar lineup as the later Feelies, but their live sets consisted mostly of cover songs, extended instrumentals and psychedelic jams, such as "
Third Stone From the Sun" and "
Sedan Delivery". The Feelies' appearance in
Jonathan Demme's
Something Wild
was credited to the Willies.
Later Feelies
The members of the Feelies never stopped playing and collaborating in the 1980s, earning them the distinction of being "the New York area's best-loved underground rockers since the late 1970's", according to
Jon Pareles of the
New York Times in 1986.
[4] The band occasionally even performed under the name "The Feelies", often on
holidays at
Maxwell's. At least one such gig featured a reunion of the
Crazy Rhythms
line-up of Million, Mercer, DeNunzio and Fier. By the late 1980s, the band re-emerged from their self-imposed exile with new members and their first new album in six years.
Reformed as a quintet featuring Mercer, Million, Weckerman, Sauter and Demeski, the Feelies recorded
The Good Earth
in 1985 with
Peter Buck of
R.E.M. on board as co-producer with Mercer and Million. The album was released in 1986 and featured ten original Mercer/Million compositions. The band toured in support of the album as an opening band for
Lou Reed as well as R.E.M. that year.
In 1988, the Feelies signed to a major label and released the album
Only Life
on A&M Records. The lineup was the same as
The Good Earth
, and Mercer and Million again handled production duties. The disc was a critical favorite, coming in at #27 on the
Village Voice's 1988
Pazz & Jop critics' poll, beating out such noteworthy competition as
R.E.M.'s major-label debut,
Green
, as well as the debut efforts by
Jane's Addiction and
the Sugarcubes.
[5] Recently, the album's title track has been used as the introductory music for the
Harvard Business Review's
HBR Idea Cast
[6]
The band's final album,
Time for a Witness
, was released on A&M in 1991. The album broke little new ground from
Only Life
but still earned the band critical praise .
Reunion
The band played reunion shows in the summer and fall of 2008. A performance at
Battery Park in NYC with
Sonic Youth followed several warm-up shows at Maxwell's.
In June of 2009, The band performed an acoustic show at the
Whitney Museum. They also headlined a show at
Millennium Park in Chicago.
In September 2009 they will perform
Crazy Rhythms live in its entirety as part of the
All Tomorrow's Parties-curated
Don't Look Back series.
Bar/None Records will reissue
Crazy Rhythms and
The Good Earth on September 8, 2009.
Domino Records will reissue both albums outside of the U.S. & Canada.
Film appearances
The band was featured in a
Jonathan Demme movie called
Something Wild
playing as a high school reunion band; however, they did not feature on the soundtrack. Credited as "The Willies", they performed bits of five songs, including "Crazy Rhythms" as well as covers of
David Bowie's "
Fame" and
the Monkees' "
I'm a Believer" (written by
Neil Diamond). The Feelies song "Too Far Gone" made it on to a Demme soundtrack with the film
Married to the Mob
[7]. Million and Mercer were also brought together by director
Susan Seidelman to create the score for her film,
Smithereens
[8]
Side projects & alumni bands
- Wild Carnation featuring Brenda Sauter and her husband Richard Barns (both also of Speed the Plough).
- Wake Ooloo featured Mercer and Weckerman, and released three albums with both Mercer and Weckerman on vocals.
- Anton Fier formed The Golden Palominos and has toured with Bob Mould.
- Stanley Demeski joined and toured with the band Luna
- Demeski, Weckerman, and Mercer have been playing in a band called the Sunburst with former Speed The Plough members Marc Francia, Toni Paruta, and John Baumgartner.
- Glenn Mercer's debut solo CD was released by Pravda Records in May 2007. It includes performances by Stanley Demeski, Vinny DeNunzio, Dave Weckerman, Anton Fier and Brenda Sauter.
Band members
- Bill Million - guitars, vocals, percussion (1976-1992)
- Glenn Mercer - guitars, vocals, keyboards, percussion (1976-1992)
- Keith DeNunzio a/k/a Keith Clayton - bass guitar, percussion, background vocals (1979-1982)
- Vinny DeNunzio - drums (1976-1978)
- Dave Weckerman - percussion (1984-1992)
- Andy Fisher - drums, percussion (1978-1979)
- John J. - bass (1976-1979)
- Brenda Sauter - bass, violin and backing vocals (1983-1992)
- Stan Demeski - drums and percussion (1983-1992)
Discography
Studio albums
- Crazy Rhythms
(Stiff LP 1980)
- The Good Earth
(Coyote \ Twin/Tone LP 1986)
- No One Knows
(Coyote \ Twin/Tone EP 1986)
- Only Life
(A&M LP 1988)
- Time for a Witness
(A&M LP 1991)
Singles
Year
| Title
| Chart positions
| Album
|
US Modern Rock
|
1979
| Fa Cé La
|
| Crazy Rhythms
|
1988
| Away
| #6
| Only Life
|
1991
| Sooner or Later
| #13
| Time for a Witness
|
References
- [1]
- Pastemagazine.com
- [1]
- [1]
- [1]
- [1]
- IMDB website
- [1]