The Damn Personals were a Boston-based rock band that existed from mid-1998 until late 2005. The concept was the brainchild of singer/guitarist Ken Cook and guitarist Anthony Rossomando. After several false starts, they finalized their line-up in the summer of 1998, with the addition of Jim Zavadoski on bass and drummer Mike Gill, who had both played in previous bands with Cook and Rossomando respectively.
The band quickly made a name for themselves within the east coast indie and garage-rock scenes of the time, becoming known as much for their earnest, catchy songs and unique arrangements as they were for their rambunctious live shows.
In the fall of 1998, Mike Gill's friend and house mate Chase Lisbon (now of Supercult) allied his screen printing business with locally based indie record label Big Wheel Recreation. While silk screening T-shirts, Chase played Big Wheel Recreation's owner, Rama Mayo, The Damn Personals' recently completed 4 song demo. Rama became a quick fan, and asked Gill to arrange a meeting with his band to discuss a record contract.
The resulting 2 album deal would yield The Damn Personals' 1999 debut, "Driver, Driver" (with producer Darron Burke) and 2002's follow-up album, "Standing Still In The USA" (with producer Michael Deming).
In mid-2003, Jim Zavadoski left the band and was replaced by ex-Nigel 6 member, Mike Faulkner. Later that year, the band became label-less with the dissolution of Big Wheel Recreation. 2004 would see Ken Cook's relocation to New York City, and increasingly frequent requests from England's The Libertines for Anthony to fill in for their notoriously awol member, Pete Doherty.
Regardless of the disarray, the band recorded an album titled "The World Will End" with producer Andrew Schneider. This would become their final record.
The Damn Personals decided to call it quits in late 2005, playing their final show on New Year's Eve, ushering in 2006 and a new era.
Anthony formed Dirty Pretty Things with Libertines members Carl Barat and Gary Powell. Jim Zavadoski joined Boston's The Snowleopards. Ken Cook took up keyboard duties for Brooklyn's Weird Owl, a band fronted by former Damn Personals tour manager, Trevor Tyrrell. Michael Gill formed The Murder Mile with his old friend, ex- Spring Heeled Jack USA and Lost City Angels frontman, Ron Ragona. Michael Faulkner joined the Murder Mile in the summer of 2008.
In late 2007, The Damn Personals final album, "The World Will End," was released exclusively online for internet download.
In September 2011, it was announced that the Damn Personals will reunite for a 10/20/11 show at Webster Hall in NYC, within a Fenway Recordings CMJ showcase headlined by their friends, We Are Scientists.
Drummer Mike Gill died unexpectedly on May 6, 2022.
Blood, Sweat & Tears is an American jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. BS&T has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and has encompassed a wide range of musical styles. Their sound has merged rock, pop and R&B/soul music with big band jazz.
The Libertines are an English rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât (vocals/guitar) and Pete Doherty (vocals/guitar). The band, centred on the songwriting partnership of Barât and Doherty, has also included John Hassall (bass), and Gary Powell (drums) for most of its recording career. The band was part of the garage rock revival and spearheaded the movement in the UK.
Pure Prairie League is an American country rock band which featured in its original lineup, singer and guitarist Craig Fuller, drummer Tom McGrail, guitarist and steel guitarist John David Call. Fuller started the band in 1970 and McGrail named it after a fictional 19th century temperance union featured in the 1939 Errol Flynn cowboy film Dodge City. In 1975 the band scored its biggest hit with the single "Amie", a track that originally appeared on their 1972 album Bustin' Out. Pure Prairie League scored five consecutive Top 40 LPs in the 1970s and added a sixth in the 1980s. They disbanded in 1988 but regrouped in 1998 and continue to perform as of 2023. The line-up has been fluid over the years, with no one member having served over the band's entire history. The band's most recent line-up consists of Call, drummer Scott Thompson, keyboardist Randy Harper, guitarist Jeff Zona and bassist Jared Camic. Among the other notable past musicians to have played with Pure Prairie League include guitarists Vince Gill, Gary Burr and Curtis Wright.
The Explosion is an American punk rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. On February 13, 2007, the band announced that they had left Virgin Records, and on April 30, 2007, that they were to split up. On September 4, 2007, the band played their final show in New York though they have subsequently played multiple reunion shows.
Michael Eliot Gordon is an American bass guitarist and vocalist most recognized as a founding member of the band Phish. In addition to bass, Gordon is an accomplished banjo player, and is proficient at piano and guitar. He is also a filmmaker and author. He has released six solo studio albums and three studio albums with acoustic guitar pioneer Leo Kottke.
Rx Bandits are an American four-piece band based in Seal Beach, California, United States. The band formed in 1995 in Orange County, California. They have appeared on the Vans Warped Tour, at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and at The Bamboozle.
Carl Ashley Raphael Barât is a British musician and actor, best known for being the co-frontman with Pete Doherty of the Indie Rock band the Libertines. He was the frontman and lead guitarist of Dirty Pretty Things, and in 2010 debuted a solo album. In 2014 he announced the creation of his new band, The Jackals.
Big D and the Kids Table is a ska punk band formed in October 1995 in Boston, Massachusetts when its members converged in college. Their first release was on their own Fork in Hand Records label, but have since teamed with Springman Records and SideOneDummy. The band has been noted for its strict DIY work ethic, such as engineering, producing, and releasing their own albums and videos and self-promotion of their own shows.
The Posies were an American power pop group. The band was formed in 1986 in Bellingham, Washington, United States, by primary songwriters Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow.
Mike Stern is an American jazz guitarist. After playing with Blood, Sweat & Tears, he worked with drummer Billy Cobham, then with trumpeter Miles Davis from 1981 to 1983 and again in 1985. He then began a solo career, releasing more than a dozen albums.
Will Haven is a noise metal band from Sacramento, California. Formed in 1995, the group released albums through several labels and toured with acts such as Deftones and Soulfly before going on hiatus in 2002. They regrouped in 2005 and have continued to record and tour since. Throughout their history, they have released seven full-length albums as well as two EPs and a live DVD. Their musical style has been described as a combination of many metal and hardcore subgenres.
Slapshot is an American hardcore punk band from Boston, Massachusetts. The band has been active for over 30 years, releasing eight studio albums and a number of singles and EPs over that time period. Though there have been constant line-up changes, founding member Jack "Choke" Kelly has remained a constant member of the band and its primary vocalist and leader.
Dead Men Walking are a British based rock supergroup with a multi national line-up, who have toured the UK, Ireland and the United States. From 2001 to 2006 they were led by Mike Peters of the Alarm and Kirk Brandon, of Spear of Destiny, with a varying cast of musicians. Since 2015, they split into two bands, one led by Peters called the Jack Tars, and another led by Brandon keeping the Dead Men Walking name.
Anthony Rossomando is an Oscar, Grammy, and Golden Globe-winning songwriter.
Jejune was an American emo band formed in 1996 at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. The band has been commonly identified with the emo genre, and was heavily involved with the scene at the peak of the "second wave" of emo in the mid-1990s. The three founding members, Arabella Harrison (Bass/Vocals), Joe Guevara (Guitar/Vocals) and Chris Vanacore (Drums), met while studying at the college. The band relocated to San Diego, California, in 1997.
Dead Yuppies is the seventh full-length studio album from New York hardcore band Agnostic Front. It was released in September 2001 on Epitaph Records and follows 1999's Riot, Riot, Upstart. Due to the title, the release of the album was delayed in America and a sticker was placed on the cover by the record company following the September 11 attacks.
Eat the Heat is the eighth studio album by German heavy metal band Accept, released in 1989. It was recorded at Dierks Studios in Cologne from September 1988 to January 1989. Although Jim Stacey is presented as rhythm guitar player in the album line-up, the album credits also state that all guitar work on the album was played by Wolf Hoffmann. Stacey did perform second guitar live with the band. Until 2010's Blood of the Nations, this was Accept's only album without Udo Dirkschneider as lead vocalist. U.D.O. contributes with crowd vocals on "Turn the Wheel". U.D.O. has also covered the song "X-T-C" on the 2001 compilation A Tribute to Accept II. Accept later recorded "Generation Clash II" based on "Generation Clash" with Udo Dirkschneider on vocals for their 1994 album Death Row. U.D.O. will still regularly perform tracks from this album, including "X-T-C".
Golden "Big" Wheeler was an American Chicago blues and electric blues singer, harmonicist and songwriter. He released two albums in his lifetime and is best known for his recordings of the songs "Damn Good Mojo" and "Bone Orchard". He worked with the Ice Cream Men and Jimmy Johnson. He was the brother of the blues musician James Wheeler.
454 Big Block was an American metalcore band from Boston.
Mike Zito is an American guitarist, singer, record producer, and songwriter from St. Louis, Missouri, United States. He is a co-founder of Royal Southern Brotherhood that features Cyril Neville, Devon Allman, Charlie Wooton and Yonrico Scott.
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