The Wallflowers
The Wallflowers are an rock band from Los Angeles, California. The band's self titled debut album was released in 1992 on the Virgin Records label. Although it was praised well by the critics, it only sold 25,000 copies.
Playing early gigs all around Los Angeles, their favorite venue was the Kibitz room of Canter's Delicatessen, one of the town's more fabled hangouts, which they played at every Tuesday night. They soon grabbed the attention of groups such as 10,000 Maniacs, The Spin Doctors, Cracker, and Toad the Wet Sprocket; all of which the Wallflowers were asked to tour with.
The original members of the Wallflowers include vocalist and guitarist Jakob Dylan, bass player and background vocalist Barrie Maguire, Peter Yanowitz on drums, Rami Jaffee on keyboards, and guitarist Tobi Miller. This quintet broke up shortly after the album's release due to conflicts within the band, and with the record company — Virgin Records. Yanowitz went on to drum for Natalie Merchant.
The Wallflowers' sound is influenced by a variety of groups including bands such as Counting Crows, The Band, Bruce Springsteen, The Replacements, Elvis Costello, Tom Petty, and The Clash. Bruce Springsteen even joined the Wallflowers for a live perfomance of their song "One Headlight," at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards. That night they were up for four awards but walked away empty handed. Frontman Jakob Dylan said that the most influential album in his life is The Clash's London Calling, "they had something I could listen to that I wanted to join."
The band seemed to have vanished for a few years but stormed back on the scene with their 1996 release, Bringing Down The Horse, producing such hits as 6th Avenue Heartache, One Headlight, The Difference, and Three Marlenas. The band switched record labels, from Virgin to Interscope. For this comeback, frontman Dylan was joined only by keyboardist Rami Jaffee from original lineup. Guitarist Michael Ward, drummer Mario Calire, and bassist Greg Richling were called in to form the new band.
Their first hit off of Bringing Down The Horse, which eventually went double platinum, was the single 6th Avenue Heartache. They finally scored their first number one song with their second release, One Headlight. This song shows off the talent of Jaffee on the organ; and even features the use of a dobro, an instrument similar to a steel guitar.
After almost four years, the Wallflowers entered in the recording studio working on their next album. The album "Breach" was released on October 10, 2000. The first single from this album is 'Sleepwalker'.Two years later the Wallflowers released their fourth studio album, "Red Letter Days".
The Wallflowers have announced a new album – Rebel, Sweetheart – set to be released on May 24th, 2005.
Discography
- Wallflowers Virgin, 1992
- Bringing Down the Horse Interscope 1996
- (Breach) Interscope, 2000
- Red Letter Days Interscope, 2002
- Rebel, Sweetheart Interscope May, 24 2005