Hullabaloo is a

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...

band from

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, started in 1986 by guitarist/vocalist Sluggo and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist TQ. The band cites myriad influences from

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

and

King Diamond Kim Bendix Petersen (born 14 June 1956), better known by his stage name King Diamond, is a Danish rock musician. As a vocalist, he is known for his powerful and wide-ranging countertenor singing voice, in particular his far-reaching falsetto s ...

contributing to their at times "surreal" and "psychedelic" sound. They also employed unusual instrumentation for a band of their ilk; TQ playing trumpet,

tenor sax The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

and

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...

in addition to vocals. Hullabaloo released several LPs and EPs on various labels over the years, and changed from a quartet to a quintet and back again with varying lineups. Guitarist Kevin James joined the band in 1989 and was a mainstay, with TQ, until the band fizzled out in 1993. Recently, the band has released several archived live performances in digital format, and has announced a reunion show for

WMBR WMBR is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's student-run college radio station, licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and broadcasting on 88.1 FM. It is all-volunteer and funded by listener donations and MIT funds. Both students and commu ...

's Pipeline show 25th Anniversary Festival.

History

Early years: 1986–1989

Along with TQ and Sluggo, the original lineup included Lloyd Dyson III on bass and TQ's brother John Quinn on drums. Lloyd left the group within a few months to be replaced by Pete Foley. Both Lloyd and Pete appear on Hullabaloo's initial EP – '' It's Not Enough to be Loud, You Have to Suck to.'' released by Gawdawful Records. Maximum Rock and Roll called it "Rowdy, dischordant, all hell-bent, psycho riotous musical mania." Later in 1988, Hullabaloo collaborated with several other bands on '' Suffer This: A Compilation of Boston's Backwash'', also on Gawdawful Records. Hullabaloo contributed three songs, including a cover of

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...

's '' Breakin' the Law''. In 1989 Hullabaloo was signed to the

Toxic Shock Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is a condition caused by bacterial toxins. Symptoms may include fever, rash, skin peeling, and low blood pressure. There may also be symptoms related to the specific underlying infection such as mastitis, osteomyel ...

out of

Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, which featured albums by such far-flung bands as Hickoids and

Skin Yard Skin Yard was an American grunge band from Seattle, Washington, that was active from 1985 to 1992. The group never gained a mainstream audience but were an influence on several of their grunge contemporaries, including Soundgarden, Screaming Tr ...

They released their full-length Album, '' Beat Until Stiff'', and toured the United States, performing with labelmates Hickoids, Jesus Chrysler, and House of Large Sizes at various dates. Other notable shows included

Cows Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are called co ...

in Minneapolis, The Hell Cows in Seattle and The Mudwimmin in San Francisco. The Seattle show brought Hullabaloo to the attention of the burgeoning Seattle music scene, where they met Daniel House of

C/Z Records C/Z Records was a Seattle-based punk rock record label established in early 1985 by Chris Hanzsek and Tina Casale. It started with the release of '' Deep Six'', which collected early recordings of what later came to be known as grunge. After ' ...

and

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

. Hullabaloo gained some notoriety during this time by occasionally playing naked, in public.

Byron Coley Byron Coley is an American music critic who wrote prominently for '' Forced Exposure'' magazine in the 1980s, from the fifth issue until the magazine ceased publication in 1993. Prior to ''Forced Exposure'', he wrote for '' New York Rocker'', '' ...

mentions this in his review of '' Beat Until Stiff'' in

SPIN Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

Magazine. Also in 1989 the band participated in Boston's famed

Rock 'n' Roll Rumble The Rock 'n' Roll Rumble (now stylized as "Rock & Roll Rumble"; formerly the " WBCN Rock 'n' Roll Rumble"), begun in 1979, is a Greater Boston " battle of the bands" competition sponsored by Boston Emissions, an online local music program for ...

. They narrowly lost their night to ultimate runner-up

Ultra Blue ''Ultra Blue'' (stylized in all caps) is the sixth album by Japanese–American singer Hikaru Utada, released on June 14, 2006, by Eastworld. It is the first original Japanese language album under Hikaru Utada's name in four years since her third ...

, though they were favorably reviewed for their performance.

Changing line-ups; 1990–1991

At the end of 1989, Pete decided to leave the band. A search for a new bass player proved fruitless, so JQ volunteered to move to bass, Chris Rossow was added on drums, and Kevin James, formerly of Loving Six, joined as a second guitar. The lineup produced a more grunge sound, with the dual guitar attack. They also continued to explore odd meters and unusual song forms. ''Dead Serious'' was also released in Europe on the Musical Tragedies label, where it caused quite a stir due to the cover art, being censored in Germany. The label blocked out the genitalia, then offered to send a sticker to replace it, if sent pornography in the mail. '' Dead Serious'' and '' Beat Until Stiff'' were subsequently released together on a single CD. As the band prepared to tour in support of ''Dead Serious'' a dispute with drummer Chris Rossow occurred, causing him to leave the band. At this point John returned to drums and Sluggo took over bass duties. The tour, which started with dates in Canada, abruptly ended in Dayton, Ohio when the band ran out of money. Upon returning to Boston, this lineup recorded the LP '' Lubritorium'' for

, after which Sluggo left the band for the west coast, where he founded the bands Ain't and The Grannies. Soon after John Quinn left as well.

Later years; 1992–1994

The band released the EP ''The United Colors of Hullabaloo'' on Musical Tragedies to coincide with a European tour, which began in November 1992. The lineup at this time consisted of TQ, Kevin James and newcomers Scott Ewen on bass and Matt Lyon on drums. In 1993 Sluggo gathered early, unreleased studio and live recordings together with the tracks from the ''It's Not Enough to be Loud...'' EP into a CD release entitled ''Regurgitator'' which was also released by Musical Tragedies. The European tour was a moderate success, grabbing the attention of Zuma Records. Zuma released ''Bruiser''; Hullabaloo's final studio album in 1994.

Other recordings and recent activity

Over the years, the band released many songs on various compilations, notably ''Noise from Nowhere Vol. 2'' on

which also included Hickoids, Sloppy Seconds, and House of Large Sizes, and Hard to Believe: Kiss Covers Compilation which featured

and

The Melvins ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

. All of Hullabaloo's recordings have been re-issued in digital format, by Wondertaker Records, and are available on all digital purveyors. On Dec. 4, 2012 the band released, in digital format, a recording of their first performance at

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in the East Village, Manhattan, East Village in Manhattan, New York City. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for ''Cou ...

25 years to the day after it happened. They subsequently released a recording of the band performing on WBCN's Boston Emissions show in 1990. They are currently planning to release, digitally and on CD, live performances from

's Pipeline show to coincide with a reunion show for Pipeline's 25th anniversary.

Discography

Albums and EPs

* '' It's Not Enough to be Loud, You Have to Suck to.'' (EP 1988, Gawdawful Records) * '' Beat Until Stiff'' (LP 1989,

) * '' Dead Serious'' (EP,CD 1990 Beat Until Stiff''">D includes '' Beat Until Stiff''

(US), Musical Tragedies (Europe)) * '' Lubritorium'' (LP,CD 1991

) * ''United Colors of Hullabaloo'' (CD, 1992 Musical Tragedies) * ''

Regurgitator Regurgitator are an Australian alternative rock band from Brisbane, Queensland, formed in late 1993 by Quan Yeomans on lead vocals, guitar and keyboards; Ben Ely on bass guitar, keyboards and vocals; and Martin Lee on drums. Their debut stud ...

'' CD release of '' It's Not Enough to be Loud...'' plus unreleased studio and live recordings (CD, 1993 Musical Tragedies) * ''Brusier'' (CD, Zuma Records)

Compilation albums

* '' Suffer This: A Compilation of Boston's Backwash'' (LP 1988, Gawdawful Records) * ''Teriyaki Asthma Volume II'' (7-inch EP,

) * ''Noise from Nowhere #2'' (7-inch EP,

) * ''Noise from Nowhere #9'' (7-inch Single,

) * ''Decade of Disaster'' (CD,

Westworld ''Westworld'' is an American science fiction dystopia media franchise that began with the Westworld (film), 1973 film ''Westworld'', written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced Wild West, Wild-West-th ...

) * ''Teryaki Asthma Volume I-V'' (CD,

) * '' Hard to Believe: Kiss Covers Compilation'' (LP, CD,

)

References

External links

Hullabaloo MySpace PageHullabaloo on Reverb Nation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hullabaloo Alternative rock groups from Massachusetts Punk rock groups from Massachusetts American grunge groups C/Z Records artists Musical groups established in 1986