The Huntingtons
Huntingtons | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Origin | Baltimore, Maryland, United States |
Genres | Punk rock, Christian punk |
Years active | 1993–2005, 2009–present |
Members |
Mikey Cliffy Josh Chris |
Past members |
Mikee Tommy Bradley A. Jay Danny Davey C.J. Danny No. 2 Marty J.R. Andy Tom Rick |
The Huntingtons are a punk band from Baltimore, Maryland which formed in 1993-1994 in the Maryland/Delaware area by Cliff Powell (aka Cliffy Huntington), Mike Holt (aka Mikey Huntington) and Mike Pierce (aka Mikee Huntington). The band is heavily influenced by the Ramones.
History
1993-2005
The Huntingtons debut album Sweet Sixteen was released in 1996 by Flying Tart Records. A few months later, their first attempt at recording Ramones covers, entitled Rocket to Ramonia saw limited release via the Burnt Toast Vinyl label. At this point the band added a second guitarist, Tom Rehbein (later in Small Towns Burn a Little Slower). After working with producer Mass Giorgini for the band's next album, Fun and Games, Tom was replaced by Brad Ber. After the album's release in the summer of 1997, the band started touring and gained a cult following. Their big break came in 1998, when they signed to Tooth & Nail Records and released High School Rock.
After touring for the High School Rock release, the band made a conscious decision to take their Ramones sound to the extreme and released five albums in a one-year period. Live: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, File Under Ramones and Get Lost all made it into stores before 1999 was over. The band also played the first of what would become two shows as Joey Ramone's backing band at CBGB's in NYC. Plastic Surgery and Split were both released to stores in January 2000. During this period the band went through multiple line-up changes before finally settling in for good with Josh Blackway (aka Jonny Huntington) on second guitar and Josh Zimmer (aka Danny No. 2) on drums.
The band spent the remainder of 2000 on the road touring throughout the US and Europe.
The spring of 2001 saw the release of Rock 'N' Roll Habits for the New Wave (a collection of newly recorded versions of selected songs from the band's pre-Tooth And Nail era). Upon completion of this record, Josh Zimmer left the band and original drummer, Mikee, came back to help the band with their next record, Songs in the Key of You, which was released in late summer 2001.
Cliffy left the band just before the release of the Songs in the Key of You record and after a short break, the band regrouped with a new guitarist (Andy Dibiaso) and drummer (Rick Wise) and toured throughout 2002.
2003 brought two more releases from the band: an EP entitled The Soothing Sounds Of... and their final full-length of all new original material, Self-Titled Album.
The band ended their 10-year run in 2005 with a 30 song best-of disc entitled Growing Up Is No Fun: The Standards '95-'05 and played its final show at the Cornerstone Festival, bringing back Cliffy on guitar.
Reunion and new releases
Two years after the band decided to officially call it quits, they reunited for a show in Elkton, Maryland and had so much fun that they ultimately decided to keep the band going in part-time "do what we want, when we want" status. In 2009, the band released a new record Punk Sounds which included b-sides, rarities and two new tracks. Official remasters of several of their albums have also been released. Limited edition vinyl pressings of Sweet Sixteen and Fun and Games were released in the summer of 2011. A complete collection of the band's demos (Prime Times: The Tascam Tapes) was released in early 2015.
Members
- As of January 2016 [1]
- Current
- Mike Holt ("Mikey"): bass guitar, lead vocals (1993–present)
- Jonathan Walker ("Cliffy"): guitar, backing vocals (1993–2001, 2005–present)
- Josh Blackway ("Jonny"): guitar, backing vocals (1999–present)
- Chris Eller: drums (2015–present)
- Former
- Mike Pierce ("Mikee"): drums (1994–2001, 2009)
- Tom Rehbein ("Tommy"): guitar (1996–1997)
- Brad Ber ("Bradley"): guitar (1997–1998)
- Adam Garbinski ("A. Jay"): guitar (1998–1999)
- Justin Garbinski ("Danny #1"): drums (1998–1999)
- David Peterson ("Davey"): drums (1999)
- Chad Prather ("C.J."): guitar (1999)
- Josh Zimmer ("Danny #2"): drums (1999–2001)
- Matt Kirkley ("Marty"): bass guitar, lead vocals (2000)
- JR Smith: drums (2001)
- Rick Wise: drums (2001–2005, 2007–2015)
- Andy Dibiaso: guitar, backing vocals (2001–2002 + 1 show on 9/17/15)
- Tom Giachero: guitar, backing vocals (2003–2004)
Discography
- Studio albums
- Sweet Sixteen (1996)
- Rocket to Ramonia (1996)
- Fun and Games (1997)
- High School Rock (1998)
- File Under Ramones (1999)
- Get Lost (1999)
- Plastic Surgery (2000)
- Rock 'n' Roll Habits for the New Wave (2001)
- Songs in the Key of You (2001)
- Self-titled Album (2003)
- Pull the Plug (2005)
- Split albums
- Split (2000)
- The Soothing Sounds Of... (2003)
- Compilations
- All The Stuff (And More)-Vol 1 (1998)
- Growing Up Is No Fun: The Standards '95-'05 (2005)
- Punk Sounds (2009)
- 1-2-3-4!: The Complete Early Years Remastered (2010)
- Prime Times: The Tascam Tapes (2015)
- Live albums
- EPs
- The Only One (1997)
References
External links
- Mikey Huntington's year by year history of the band
- All Music Guide, The Definitive Guide To Popular Music
- PunkMusic.org
- Tooth & Nail Records Huntingtons page
- HUNTINGTONS official Facebook page