Mod Fun
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 Mod Fun - 2007 |
Mod Fun are a power pop/garage punk band from the New York City area. Mod Fun were originally active in the early to mid 1980's and played an important part in the garage revival scene of the '80's in NYC.
Mod Fun is Mick "London" Hale (vocals/guitar), Bobby "Werner" Strete (bass/vocals) & Chris Collins (drums/vocals). Mod Fun started as childhood friends in early 1979 as the "Rage" and counted a lot of FM radio rock and early punk among their influences. In 1982 they discovered The Jam and tried to pick up where the British neo-mod/punk band had left off. Mod Fun wrote and recorded their first original songs and released them on cassette only. Initially, there was a 4-track recording of 4 songs entitled "If You Are New" and later, a professionally recorded collection called "Release For The Mates". During this time Mod Fun were performing frequently in the NYC/NJ area.
In 1984 They released their first single called "I Am With You" b/w "Happy Feeling" on their own "New Records" label. Both songs were a sort of "fuzzed out" homage to the 60's psychedelic garage scene. Still playing frequently at such NYC clubs as The Dive and R.T. Firefly, Mod Fun signed a record deal with NYC's Midnight Records. They released their first album - "90 Wardour Street" to rave reviews[1] in 1985. Their live shows were high energy spectacles that have been said to have influenced many who saw them to start bands of their own. In fact, it has been noted that they preceded Nirvana and Green Day by nearly a decade with their 3 piece high energy, sometimes destructive, sets.
On the strength of their first single and album, Mod Fun set out on their first U.S. tour in the Spring of 1985 , playing gigs all the way from NYC to Los Angeles and up to San Fransico. One notable show was at The Cavern in Hollywood, CA - with Bangles singer/guitarist Suzannah Hoffs and 3 O'Clock guitarist Luis Gutierrez in attandance, a near-riot took place, instigated by local skinheads. The skinheads had come to the Mod Fun show to start trouble because of a "locals only" rule they set. Mick London kicked a table that slammed into one of the skinheads and a fight brought local police to the venue having to escort Mod Fun out of the building.
After returning from the tour, the band had a falling out with Midnight Records and signed to NYC's [www.wfmu.org/~dathedj/cryptovision.html Cryptovision Records]. They recorded material for a single and a second album ultimately entitled "Dorothy's Dream". Before this time they released a 3 song EP on their own "Makin' Tyme" label called "Hangin' Round". This 3 song EP brought them praise from many well known NYC musicians and producers who were beginning to take notice of their influence on the local scene.
In the Spring of 1986 Mod Fun (who had taken to referring to themselves as "The Mod Fun") set out for their second U.S. tour which was much more extensive than the first and brought them to many more cities across the U.S. It was during that second tour that "Dorothy's Dream" was released to critical acclaim. After returning from the second tour Mod Fun played locally in NYC/NJ including a sold out show at Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ. They were featured in many articles and were in talks about having people such as Richard Barone of The Bongos and Peter Zaremba of The Fleshtones producing their next recordings. It's been said that Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth was a fan and interested in working with them as well.
In the Spring of 1987 Mod Fun set out on a European tour that brought them to such places as Bern, Switzerland; Vienna, Austria; Rimini and San Marino, Italy and Hamburg and Berlin in Germany. It was in Berlin where tensions in the band forced them to call it a day and they broke up after their final show in Berlin.
Soon thereafter, Mick and Bobby formed Crocodile Shop and eventually had Chris Collins as their engineer/producer as well as playing keyboards on some of the early tracks.
In 1995 Get Hip Records released a retrospective of most of the band's recorded output (omitting the Midnight Records recordings because of legal issues) called "Past Forward".[2] In 2004 Get Hip reissued the CD and Mod Fun played a reunion show at The Saint in Asbury Park, NJ. The show was well received and attended and inspired Mod Fun to continue on where they left off. Over the last few years Mod Fun has played extensively in the NYC/NJ area as well as Philadelphia, Nashville, Baltimore and Chicago.
In 2007 they released a new double CD (again on their own "Makin' Tyme" label)called "Now...and Again".[3] A double length CD with 10 new original songs and 10 rerecorded classics from their 80's catalog, it also includes a live version of "I Believe" recorded at their July 2006 show at CBGB. The CD has received massive critical acclaim and has been said to be their best recording to date.
Mod Fun is currently writing new material and playing extensively in the NYC area.
Discograghy
"I AM WITH YOU" B/W "HAPPY FEELING" (SINGLE) 1984 NEW RECORDS
"90 WARDOUR ST. (LP) 1985 MIDNIGHT RECORDS
"HANGIN' ROUND" (EP) 1985 MAKIN' TYME RECORDS
'MARY GOES 'ROUND" B/W "GROUNDED" (SINGLE) 1986 CRYPTOVISION RECORDS
"DOROTHY'S DREAM" (LP) 1986 CRYPTOVISION RECORDS
"PAST FORWARD" (CD) 1995 GET HIP RECORDS
"PAST FORWARD" (CD REISSUE) 2004 GET HIP RECORDS
"NOW AND AGAIN" (CD) 2007 MAKIN' TYME RECORDS
Band Members:
Mick "London" (a.k.a. Mick Hale)
Bobby Strete (a.k.a. R.A. Werner)
Chris Collins
LINKS: modfun.com myspace.com/modfun myspace.com/modfunlive
References:
- ^ Midnight Records website listing of reviews in Aquarian Arts Weekly, Matter Magazine, The Bob, etc. - midnightrecords.com/modfun
- ^ Get Hip Records website - gethip.com
- ^ CD Baby website - cdbaby.com/modfun
