Of the countless bands to emerge from the New York City underground during the post-punk era, few if any were as unique and influential as
the Feelies; nerdy, nervous, and noisy, even decades later their droning, skittering avant-garde pop remains a key touchstone of the American indie music scene. Named in reference to Aldous Huxley's paranoid classic Brave New World,
the Feelies formed in 1976 in suburban Haledon, New Jersey, where singers/guitarists
Bill Million and
Glenn Mercer first met while in high school; bassist John J. and drummer Dave Weckerman rounded out the original lineup, although they were replaced in 1977 by bassist Keith Clayton and drummer Vinny Denunzio. The revamped group soon made its N.Y.C. debut, quickly creating a buzz throughout the city's new wave circuit -- a Village Voice headline even dubbed them "The Best Underground Band in New York."
Drummer
Anton Fier replaced Denunzio in 1978, and a year later
the Feelies cut their debut single, "Fa Ce-La," for the British indie Rough Trade. Their refusal to work with outside producers jeopardized their immediate hopes for a major-label deal, however, and so their brilliant 1980 LP,
Crazy Rhythms, instead appeared on another U.K. indie, Stiff; the record's manic melodies, jittery rhythms, and opaque lyrics made it a huge critical favorite, and although it made little impact outside of underground circles, many latter-day acts --
R.E.M. chief among them -- cited the album as a major influence. Still,
Crazy Rhythms' commercial failure sat badly with Stiff, which began pressuring
the Feelies to produce a hit single; the pressure ultimately forced the group into a kind of suspended animation, with
Fier soon exiting to join
the Lounge Lizards and later mounting
the Golden Palominos.
With
the Feelies out of action for the better part of the early '80s, the remaining members turned their focus to a variety of side projects -- in 1982,
Million and
Mercer reunited to compose the score to Susan Seidelman's film Smithereens, concurrently playing in a series of Jersey-area bands including Weckerman's new outfit
Yung Wu,
the Trypes (who issued the 1984 EP The Explorers Hold), and the instrumental Willies. Finally,
Million and
Mercer reactivated the
Feelies banner in 1983, reuniting with Weckerman as well as two of their Willies bandmates, percussionist
Stanley Demeski and bassist Brenda Sauter; still, the revitalized group's performance schedule was sporadic at best, limited primarily to holiday appearances. Finally, they entered the studio with producer
Peter Buck of
R.E.M., releasing the folky
The Good Earth on
Coyote in 1986.
That same year,
the Feelies appeared in director
Jonathan Demme's film hit Something Wild; combined with critical praise for
The Good Earth, the group's raised media visibility caught the attention of A&M, which released the follow-up, Only Life, in 1988. Time for a Witness followed in 1991, but on July 5 of that year
the Feelies gathered at the Maxwell's club in Hoboken, New Jersey to play their final show -- soon after
Million unexpectedly moved to Florida without telling any of his bandmates, not even leaving a forwarding address. In the months to follow
Demeski began playing in
Luna, Sauter worked with
Speed the Plough and
Wild Carnation, and
Mercer and Weckerman reteamed in
Wake Ooloo; when that band fell apart in 1998 after three LPs for the Pravda label, the duo again joined forces to form another new unit,
Sunburst.
In the summer of 2008 the classic 1983 lineup held a low-key reunion, opening for
Sonic Youth and playing two sold-out shows at Maxwell's. A year later they appeared at a tribute to
R.E.M. concert at Carnegie Hall and performed at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Monticello, New York, playing the
Crazy Rhythms album in its entirety. The band signed with
Bar/None that same year, and began work on a new album. Recorded at Water Music in Hoboken, 2011's
Here Before represented the outfit's first collection of new music in nearly 19 years. After the album's release, the band played periodic live dates, mostly on the East Coast, and in February 2017
the Feelies returned with their sixth studio album,
In Between, released by
Bar/None. ~ Jason Ankeny