The Feelies

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The Feelies
Origin Haledon, New Jersey, USA
Genre(s) rock
new wave
College rock
Years active 1977 — present
Label(s) Rough Trade
Stiff
Coyote \ Twin/Tone
A&M
Members
Glenn Mercer
Bill Million
Dave Weckerman
Keith DeNunzio a/k/a Keith Clayton
Anton "Andy" Fier
Brenda Sauter
Stanley Demeski

Vinny DeNunzio
John J.

The Feelies were a rock band from Haledon, New Jersey. They formed in 1976 and disbanded in 1992. They frequently played at Maxwell's, a live music venue and bar restaurant in Hoboken in the 1980s. Their first album, Crazy Rhythms (Stiff Records, 1980) was cited by R.E.M. as a major influence. The Feelies rarely worked with outside producers and created shimmering soundscapes with multiple guitar layers that set them apart from the punk/new wave atmosphere of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Their name is taken from Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World, in which "the feelies" are a medium of entertainment in theaters where all of one's senses are involved, not merely vision.

Although the Feelies never sold a great number of records, their influence remains felt on the indie rock scene today, with a number of current artists citing them as influences.[citation needed] A WFMU DJ once said that they were "The best thing to come out of New Jersey since the light bulb". The novelist Rick Moody has also cited the band as one of his influences (allegedly, he based the punk band in his first book "Garden State" on them).[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Early days

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" [1]. 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.

[edit] Crazy Rhythms

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.

[edit] Offshoots

[edit] The Trypes

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, Mark 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.

[edit] Yung Wu

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.

[edit] The Willies

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.

[edit] 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. ([2]) The band occasionally even performed under the name "The Feelies", most 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.

[edit] The Good Earth

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.

[edit] Only Life

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. ([3]) Recently, the album's title track has been used as the introductory music for the Harvard Business Review's HBR Idea Cast ( [4] )

[edit] Time for a Witness

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.[citation needed]

[edit] Film appearances

The band was featured in a Jonathan Demme movie called Something Wild playing as a high school reunion band. They were not however featured 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". The Feelies song "Too Far Gone" also made it onto a Demme soundtrack with the film Married to the Mob[5]. Million and Mercer were also brought together by director Susan Seidelman to create the score for her film, Smithereens.

[edit] 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 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.

[edit] 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 Fier - 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)

[edit] Discography

[edit] 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

[edit] Reunion

The band has announced reunion shows that will occur in early July 2008, including shows at Maxwells, Hoboken, NJ (July 1 and 2, 2008) and opening for Sonic Youth at Battery Park, New York, NY on July 4, 2008.

[edit] External links