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the_huntingtons

The Huntingtons

Punk Rock
Baltimore, Maryland, USA

The Huntingtons originally formed under the name Cricket in July of 1993. After several line-up changes and demos (see the Cricket page for details), the band had an album called Sweet Sixteen ready to be released in early 1996. However, Cricket began getting pressure from the estate of Buddy Holly for using the name Cricket, since there had already been a band called The Crickets. The band willingly changed their name, being as they hated the old name anyway.

This was a problem though. It was only two days before all information for the upcoming album was to be mailed to the record company for promotion and distribution. The band had to come up with a new name fast. But all was not to be lost. Mike Pierce knew of a housing development called The Huntingtons, and the band thought it sounded like a cool name, so was to be new name of the band formerly known as Cricket.

While the band thought Sweet Sixteen didn't sound very good and, in fact, it never even got mastered (the final EQing and volume setting stage of album production)… it served its purpose well: that of simple introduction. The Huntingtons played several large music festivals that year as well as their normal share of local gigs, as well as beginning the writing for their next record.

It was about this time that they got the idea of recording a complete album of covers by their favorite band, the Ramones. The band had only spent $650 recording Sweet Sixteen and figured that they could record their favorite Ramones songs for even less. They were right. They went into the studio and 15 hours later, it was finished. But, Flying Tart Records didn't want to put it out, so they decided to do it themselves. The band's deejay friend, who had helped them get signed, had some money he didn't know what to do with so the band asked him for the funding. He agreed and a few months later, The Huntington's Rocket to Ramonia was finished and released by the label Lying Fart Records (an obvious jab at our real label). This record is limited to 1000 CD-only copies.

In the Fall of 1996 Cliffy was given the phone number of the man they considered to be their all-time favorite producer. His name is Mass Giorgini. He's recorded albums by Screeching Weasel, The Queers, Riverdales, and many others. For several years, Cliffy had daydreamed about having Giorgini's name appearing on an album of his, so now that he had his number he was gonna use it. Cliffy called the number and was surprised to find himself talking to him. After a couple questions (namely, who are you?), Cliffy was told that anyone could buy time at Giorgini's studio but that he wouldn't directly work on it unless he liked the material. So, the band sent him Sweet Sixteen and Rocket to Ramonia and called him again a few weeks later. He said that he liked the songs and would help us record something that actually sounded good. The Huntingtons would be given 10 days of Mass' time in the latter half of January 1997.

Getting the label to agree to the expense involved was no easy task as they were still a little sore over the band's using a parody of their name for the Rocket to Ramonia record. In addition, the label had recently been sold to a large corporation and was unsure of getting the go ahead of such expense for such a relatively unknown band. The expense needed was really not that much when compared to most records in America, but it was a pretty big jump from the cost of the previous record they had put out. After about a month or so they agreed and the band began preparations for the recording. The 10 days in the studio with Mass Giorgini actually turned out to not be enough time and we had to sacrifice backing vocals on three songs. Still, the guys had made the album they wanted to make, entitled Fun and Games, which was released in July of 1997. A single was also released at the same time, called The Only One and featuring three songs from the Mass Giorgini sessions that didn't make it on the album.

After recording the album they decided to add an additional guitarist to the band. While playing the Cornerstone festival the previous summer the guys met a kid by the name of Brad who had hung out with them during the festival and had given them a demo tape of a band he was in. So, the band called him up to talk about the possibility of him joining the band. He mentioned his band was breaking up and he would be ready to move to Delaware in a few weeks (no easy task as Brad is from Illinois, quite a huge distance from Delaware). On February 23, 1997 Brad became an official member of the Huntingtons.

After the release of Fun and Games in July they again played the music festivals, as well as making plans for their first ever tour. The tour would be a month long, covering the Midwest and the south. The tour got booked and off they went driving through the country the entire month of September 1997. It was a highly successful tour. This actually surprised them since they had heard many horror stories from other bands who had tried to tour. Then, they returned home from tour to find out that Flying Tart Records was being shut down by the corporation who had bought it. So, they signed with Tooth & Nail Records in November 1997.

December came and off they went again. Back to work with Mass Giorgini for the second time, and on their fourth full length album. High School Rock was recorded the album in 15 days and was released May 12, 1998, on Tooth & Nail Records. Lately, The Huntingtons have been really busy touring and releasing several new projects, including a 20-song Ramones cover album released April 12, 1999, entitled File Under Ramones, and two albums of original content, entitled All The Stuff & More Volume 1 and Get Lost, an album of new material with 14 songs released July 27, 1999. They are now working on more albums, including an album of new material entitled Plastic Surgery, which will be the first album for latest drummer Josh Zimmer, the replacement for Davey.


Discography

1996 Sweet Sixteen Flying Tart Records
1996 Rocket to Ramonia Burnt Toast Vinyl
1997 Fun and Games Flying Tart Records
1997 The Only One Flying Tart Records
1998 High School Rock Tooth & Nail Records
1999 Live: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Tooth & Nail Records
1999 File Under Ramones Tooth & Nail Records
1999 Get Lost Tooth & Nail Records
2000 Plastic Surgery Tooth & Nail Records
2000 Split Melted Records
2001 Rock 'n' Roll Habits for the New Wave Burnt Toast Vinyl
2001 Songs in the Key of You Tooth & Nail Records
2003 Self-titled Album Fast Music
2003 The Soothing Sounds Of… Wynona Records
2005 Pull the Plug

the_huntingtons.txt · Last modified: 2019/09/17 15:24 by admin