When Hootie came on the scene in the mid-90s, the band took the music industry by storm with a string of huge singles (“Hold My Hand,” “Time,” “Let Her Cry,” “Only Wanna Be With You”) and a 16 million selling debut album, Cracked Rear View (1994). The band suffered from overexposure and eventually experienced some backlash. Album sales declined and they parted ways with their record company, Atlantic. When asked if the huge debut was a blessing and a curse, guitarist Mark Bryan said, “It’s hard to look at it as a curse at all. Certainly the quick rise was responsible for the negative press. But if you put it all into one basket, it’s a blessing without a doubt.”
Bryan feels the instability was caused by the record industry’s lack of artist development. “It started with the boy band craze and now it’s worse than it has ever been with ‘American Idol,’” he said. “The record companies want a flavor of the month image and they couple that with a song written by someone else and that’s your new hit. Everybody’s a one hit wonder today.”
Today, Hootie owns its own label, Sneaky Long Records, distributed by Vanguard Records. “We have always made the albums we wanted to make. But now it’s nice owning our own masters,” Bryan said. “You don’t quite get the promotional push, but from Fairweather Johnson (their 1996 sophomore effort) on Atlantic stopped pushing us anyway. We weren’t benefiting from being on a major.”
In 2000, the band created a private non-profit organization called The Hootie And The Blowfish Foundation, which benefits children of South Carolina through education and supporting school music programs nationwide. The band holds an annual “Homegrown Concert" in Charleston, South Carolina where fans are asked to bring school supplies for the Charleston County School District. They fill a school bus with supplies. The concert is now expanded to 12 different markets across the country. They also hold a “Monday After the Masters” Golf Tournament benefit, which helps restore music programs at five South Carolina public schools. “We started the foundation to help education. It’s been a great way for us to give back,” said Bryan. “It’s cool to know that we are helping the next generation in our state.”
Hootie plays medium-sized venues knocking out 100 to 150 gigs per year. They have a strong fan base across the country that is deeply dedicated to the band. “We know who the real Hootie fans are instead of being the flavor of the month,” said Bryan. “Our live show is one of our strengths, and it’s the foundation of the band.”
For their new tour, the band will be playing their hits along with bringing back favorite fan cuts such as “Honey Screw,” “Tucker’s Town,” “Sad Caper,” “What Do You Want From Me Now,” plus the covers “Add It Up” by Violent Femmes and “Champagne Supernova” by Oasis. “People get used to the radio Hootie, and that’s all they know,” said Bryan, “but our live chops surprise many people. We keep it fresh every night.”
Next up is a break for Hootie while everybody works on solo projects. While Rucker works on his country pop record for Capitol Nashville and Sonefeld will work on his solo effort with Francis Dunnery, Bryan will be releasing his second solo album, End Of The Front, the follow-up to his 2000 solo debut, 30 On The Rail.
“It’s edgier than Hootie material and kind of all over the map," Bryan said. "I got a punk rock song on there, a bluegrass song on there, and everything in between. I just write and whatever comes out, comes out.”
Hootie & The Blowfish will perform at North Fork Theatre at Westbury on Tuesday, August 21.
Tickets are now on sale at the Brookhaven Amphitheatre box office at (631) 451-8010. Tickets are also available at all Ticketmaster outlets including Ticketmaster.com, or by calling (631) 888-9000. For further ticket information, log on to brookhavenamphitheatre.com.
Havens has been the driving force between two traveling shows paying tribute to classic rock bands: this Zeppelin tour, as well as The Music Of Pink Floyd. Havens is a Berklee-trained arranger and conductor who has written music for feature films and virtually every kind of television, from movies and commercial to sports. His TV work includes movies for networks such as ABC, CBS, and The Family Channel, commercials, sports music for networks such as ESPN and even cartoons. Recently, Havens worked with The Doobie Brothers and The Milwaukee Symphony, arranging and conducting the combined group for Harley Davidson’s 100th Anniversary Birthday Party Finale attended by more than 150,000 fans. He is the arranger and conductor for four symphonic rock programs — the Music of Pink Floyd, the Music of the Eagles, the Music of Led Zeppelin, and The Music of The Doors.
Randy Jackson, the lead singer of the Long Island-bred rock band Zebra, enjoyed his first foray into recording success with the self-titled Zebra debut album, released on Atlantic Records in 1983. Critically acclaimed for its lush rock sounds, due in large part to Jackson’s searing lead vocals and soaring guitar leads, the album sold 75,000 copies the first week it was released. He has recently produced and engineered their latest CD, Zebra IV. He has also toured as a keyboardist and guitarist with the reunited Jefferson Airplane, and worked extensively in the development of musical software.
The big draw of this Brookhaven show, however, will obviously the music of Led Zeppelin, which never seems to lose it popularity. Bridging the gulf between rock &roll and classical music, Havens takes the podium to present this program he scored to extend the listening experience of Led Zeppelin’s timeless tunes. Performed by an orchestra and amplified with a full rock band and screaming vocals, Havens and his ensemble capture Led Zeppelin’s “sheer blast and power” riff for riff while cranking out new musical colors.
“My concept for The Music of Led Zeppelin was to take the music as close to the originals as we could and then add some colors to enhance what Zep had done,” says Havens. “The wonderful thing with an orchestra is that you have an entire palette to call upon. The band is reproducing what Led Zeppelin did on the albums, verbatim, and then having an orchestra behind the band gives the music richness, a whole different feel, a whole different sense of power.”
Heightened by rock concert lighting, the symphonic rock hybrid has met with riotous approval at both ends of the hall upon its debut. Explains Havens: “When we first came on stage, the audience gave us polite, almost classical applause. Then we hit the first note and they realized it was a rock show … In one concert, during Stairway to Heaven, the entire string section pulled out Bic lighters!”
This national tour is designed to feature some of the best female rockers from New York City, Long Island, and New Jersey. The show features several Long Island-based acts in Dormitory Effect, All Out Riot, The Raygun Girls, and The Rosies. Joining them once again this year will be New York City's G-spot, Loki the Grump, Marisa Mini, and RewBee. The show starts at 7:30 pm, with door open at 7 pm.
This fast-rising tour, now known as "GRGR" to its fans, is presented this year in partnership with The Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls, who will receive a portion of the proceeds. Admission is a $10 tax-deductible donation, which includes raffle tickets for prizes from Sam Ash, JVC, WBAB-FM, and more.
For the past five years, Girls Rock & Girls Rule has featured the best female rockers on the music scene; this year they continue their mission of creating awareness and exposure for independent female artists while helping women and girls in the community. As for this music, this year's GRGR tour features more stops and more style of music – everything from pop-rock to punk to metal to hardcore.
This year’s GRGR tour is hitting many more cities with artists who play harder than you could imagine. These girls like boys, they play with boys, but they are not “one of the boys” – each gal onstage is fierce, independent, and commands her band with passion and presence, playing songs of triumph, love, sex, politics, fun and freedom, bringing heart and their own unique viewpoint on whatever they happen to be singing about.
From September 22 to September 30, the GRGR Tour will travel from Washington, DC to Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and upstate New York before finally ending up back home in Brooklyn. Other bands scheduled to appear on the tour include Edible Red, InfernoPhonic (formerly Tang), The Catholic Girls, Emiko, Esmirelda & The Tidbits, The Twats, Olivia & The Housemates, Semiblind, Soraia, Prima Donna, Odd Girl Out, The Degenerettes, Shooting Ropes, Spark Is A Diamond, If Man Is Five, Pasco Roberts, Covin, Sanity Is Chaos, The Turnaround, Silence Bleeds, Cootie Shot, Cheap Perfume, Royal Pink (formed at Ladies Rock Camp), and Luff. In addition, there will be special guest appearances at select shows from Willie Mae Rock Camp camper bands.
The Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls was founded in 2004 and is a New York City-based non-profit summer day camp serving girls aged 8 through 18. The program offers girls the chance to learn how to play musical instruments, write songs, perform, learn about different types of music, and generally "rock out" in a supportive environment that fosters self-confidence, self-esteem, creativity, tolerance, and collaboration. The camp is named after Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, a blues and rock performer and songwriter who was one of the first women to play the music that came to be known as rock & roll. The camp grew out of the Portland, Oregon-based program Rock & Roll Camp for Girls, which was founded in 2000. For more information, log on to williemaerockcamp.org.
Katie's of Smithtown is located at 145 West Main Street.
