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The Feelies are an American Rock music band from Haledon, New Jersey. They formed in 1976 and disbanded in 1992 after having released four albums. The band reunited in 2008, and released new albums in 2011 and 2017.
Although not commercially successful, the Feelies had an influence on the development of American indie rock. Their first album, Crazy Rhythms (1980), was cited by R.E.M. as influencing their sound. The Feelies were influenced by the Beatles, the Velvet Underground and Lou Reed.
The Feelies rarely worked with outside producers, although Peter Buck of R.E.M. co-produced their second album, The Good Earth, one of their most successful albums. They frequently played at Maxwell's, a live music venue and bar/restaurant in Hoboken, during the 1980s.
In 1978, Vinny left the band and shortly after John Piccarella of The Village Voice dubbed the then-unsigned Feelies "The Best Underground Band in New York". Anton Fier, who had just arrived to New York from Cleveland, joined the band through a mutual acquaintance, Charles Beasley, who was briefly a percussionist in the Feelies. With the line-up of Mercer, Million, DeNunzio and Fier on drums, the Feelies released their first single, "Fa Cé-La", on Rough Trade Records in 1979.
The Feelies' debut album, Crazy Rhythms, was released on Stiff Records in 1980, featuring the same line-up as on the "Fa Cé-La" Rough Trade single.
Million, Mercer, Sauter, Demeski and Baumgartner also gigged around New York and Hoboken under the name Yung Wu, which was fronted by and featured the songs of Feelies' percussionist Dave Weckerman, who also sang lead. Yung Wu released one album on Coyote Records in 1986, titled Shore Leave. It featured Weckerman originals, plus covers of "Big Day", "Child of the Moon", and "Powderfinger", a staple of their live gigs.
The Willies, also known as the Willies From Haledon, were yet another Feelies offshoot that played around the New York/Hoboken clubs in the early 1980s. The Willies shared a similar lineup as the later Feelies, but their live sets consisted mostly of cover songs, extended instrumentals and psychedelic jams, such as "Third Stone From the Sun" and "Sedan Delivery". The Feelies' appearance in Jonathan Demme's Something Wild was credited to the Willies.
Reformed as a quintet featuring Mercer, Million, Weckerman, Sauter and Demeski, the Feelies recorded The Good Earth in 1985 with Peter Buck of R.E.M. on board as co-producer with Mercer and Million. The album was released in 1986 and featured ten original Mercer/Million compositions. The band toured in support of the album as an opening band for Lou Reed as well as R.E.M. that year.
In 1988, the Feelies signed to a major label and released the album Only Life on A&M Records. The lineup was the same as The Good Earth, and Mercer and Million again handled production duties. The disc was a critical favorite, coming in at No. 27 on The Village Voice
The band's final album before a hiatus, Time for a Witness, was released on A&M in 1991. The album broke little new ground from Only Life but still earned the band critical praise.
In 1994, Weckerman and Mercer started their project, Wake Ooloo, with their first album being Hear No Evil. A European tour took place in 1995.
Bar/None Records reissued Crazy Rhythms and The Good Earth on September 8, 2009. Domino Records reissued both albums outside of the U.S. and Canada.
In March 2011, the Feelies released their first record in 20 years, Here Before, which was produced by Bill Million and Glenn Mercer for the Bar/None record label. The band remains "one of the nation's most beloved alternative-rock bands."
The Feelies have reunited sporadically over the last two decades to play concerts at their early home at Maxwell's. On June 10, 2016, for the band's 40th anniversary the Feelies performed with their original line-up of Mercer, Million, and the DeNunzio brothers.
The Feelies sixth studio album, In Between, was released in February 2017, also on the Bar/None label. Reviews were generally favorable, with Metacritic calculating an average critical rating of 81%.
A reunited Feelies played at Wilco's every-other-year festival, Solid Sound, in North Adams, MA, in June 2019.
In November 2022, the Feelies performed a tribute concert for Anton Fier, who had recently passed and were joined on-stage by Keith DeNunzio on bass.
In October 2023, the Feelies released a Velvet Underground cover album entitled Some Kinda Love: Performing The Music Of The Velvet Underground. It featured covers of 18 songs and was released on the Bar/None label. The recording itself comes from a performance at White Eagle Hall in Jersey City, New Jersey, on October 13, 2018.
No Feelies songs appeared on the Something Wild soundtrack,Note: also omitted was the version of The Troggs' "Wild Thing", after which the film was entitled. but their song "Too Far Gone" was included on the Married to the Mob soundtrack, another Demme film. Million and Mercer were also brought together by director Susan Seidelman to create the score for her debut feature-film, Smithereens. Demme included the song "Let's Go" from the band's second album, Good Earth, in his 2002 film, The Truth About Charlie; it is also featured on the soundtrack of Noah Baumbach's 2005 film, The Squid and the Whale, and the 2023 film Robot Dreams.
Their song "When Company Comes" from their Good Earth album was featured in the 2018 movie The Miseducation of Cameron Post.
Former
Extended plays
Singles
Film appearances
The band was featured in the 1986 Jonathan Demme movie, Something Wild, playing a band at a high school reunion. Credited as "The Willies", they performed bits of five songs, including "Crazy Rhythms" and "Loveless Love", as well as covers of David Bowie's "Fame" and The Monkees "I'm a Believer" (written by Neil Diamond).
Side projects and alumni bands
Musical style and legacy
AllMusic referred to the Feelies as "heroes of the 1980s indie underground". Their sound has been described as "noisy" and "droning" avant-garde pop. One of their greatest influences was the Velvet Underground, closing their third album, Only Life, with a cover of the band's song "What Goes On".
Band members
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
1979 "Fa Cé La" Crazy Rhythms 1988 "Away" 6 Only Life 1991 "Sooner or Later" 13 Time for a Witness
External links
Categories: Official Website, Musical Groups Disestablished In 1992, American Jangle Pop Groups, American Power Pop Groups, Musical Groups Established In 1976, Musical Groups Reestablished In 2008, Domino Recording Company Artists, Musical Groups From Passaic County, New Jersey, Rough Trade Records Artists, Stiff Records Artists, A&m Records Artists, American Post-punk Music Groups, 1976 Establishments In New Jersey, People From Haledon, New Jersey, American Musical Quintets, None Records Artists
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