10,000 Maniacs (named after the low-budget horror movie 2,000 Maniacs) was
formed in
Jamestown, NY, in 1981 by Robert Buck (guitar), Steven Gustafson (bass), Dennis
Drew
(keyboards), Natalie Merchant (vocals), John Lombardo (guitar) and Jerome
Augustyniak
(drums). The group gigged extensively and recorded independently before signing
with
Elektra Records and making The Wishing Chair in 1985. Guitarist Lombardo left
the band
in 1986, and they continued as a quintet, releasing the second album, In My
Tribe, in 1987.
This album broke into the charts, where it stayed 77 weeks, peaking at #37 and
selling over
a million copies. In My Tribe featured the hit singles "Don't Talk," "Hey Jack
Kerouac,">
"Like The Weather" and "What's The Matter Here?"
Blind Man's Zoo, the 1989 follow-up, hit #13 and went gold. It featured the hit
singles,
"Trouble Me" and "Eat For Two."
Our Time in Eden was released in 1992, and featured the hit singles, "Candy
Everybody
Wants" and "These Are Days," which served as Bill Clinton's Presidential
campaign theme
song.
As Our Time in Eden had finished its run on the charts, Natalie Merchant
announced that
she was leaving for a solo career. MTV Unplugged was released a few months after
her
departure, featuring a remake of the Bruce Springsteen/Patti Smith classic,
"Because the
Night." The record sold 4 million copies.
10,000 Maniacs continued without Merchant, adding the folk-rock duo John & Mary
in
1994 (original member Lombardo and violinist/vocalist Mary Ramsey). Ramsey was
well-known
to Maniac fans, having appeared as violinist, violist and back-up singer on Our
Time in Eden and MTV Unplugged. The new lineup released Love Among the Ruins in
1997, featuring a cover of Roxy Music's "More Than This," which went to #24 on
the
Billboard charts, the highest-charting single in the band's history. In 1999,
the band
released The Earth Pressed Flat on Bar/None.
The career-retrospective greatest-hits-and-rarities collection Campfire Songs
was released
by Rhino Records in 2004.
10,000 Maniacs, now known for its high-energy, greatest-hits, audience-participation
live show,
currently consists of Oskar Saville on lead vocals; Jerome Augustyniak on drums,
percussion and background vocals; Dennis Drew on keyboards; Steven Gustafson on
bass
guitar; and Jeff Erickson on lead guitar. Mary Ramsey will be rejoining the band
at select
shows in 2006 on vocals and electric violin.
Contact Grabow for more information or to book 10,000 Maniacs
for your next corporate or private event.
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