Tuscadero was an American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band from

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, one of the most prominent on the

TeenBeat Records Teen Beat is an American independent record label, originally based in Arlington, Virginia, now based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was founded by Mark Robinson (of Unrest) in 1984 at Wakefield High School, along with Phil Krauth (of Unres ...

roster.

Biography

Melissa Farris and Margaret McCartney met while working at the Zig Zag Cafe in Washington, D.C. They founded Tuscadero on Halloween of 1993 with bassist Phil Satlof and drummer Jack Hornady. The band took its name from

Suzi Quatro Susan Kay Quatro (born June 3, 1950) is an American singer, bass guitarist, songwriter, and actress. In the 1970s, she scored a string of singles that found success in Europe and Australia, with both "Can the Can" (1973) and "Devil Gate Drive" ...

's ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marsha ...

'' character

Leather Tuscadero ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most succ ...

. The band was signed with Mark Robinson of

Teenbeat Records Teen Beat is an American independent record label, originally based in Arlington, Virginia, now based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was founded by Mark Robinson (of Unrest) in 1984 at Wakefield High School, along with Phil Krauth (of Unres ...

shortly after and released two EPs in the spring and summer of 1994: ''Mt. Pleasant'' and ''Angel in a Half Shirt''. Their debut LP, ''The Pink Album'', was released that fall, influenced by

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...

s and the

pop culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art pop_art.html" ;"title="f. pop art">f. pop artor mass art, some ...

of its members' 1970s childhoods, such as board games and

Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a fictional character appearing in several mystery book series, movies, video games, and TV shows as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudo ...

. After touring with

Sebadoh Sebadoh () is an American indie rock band formed in 1986 in Northampton, Massachusetts, by Eric Gaffney and Lou Barlow, with multi-instrumentalist Jason Loewenstein completing the line-up in 1989. Barlow co-created Sebadoh as an outlet for his ...

, the band signed with

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

and re-recorded their debut album in 1995 with Mark Waterman, who had previously produced

Elastica Elastica were an English rock band formed in London in 1992 by guitarist/singer Justine Frischmann and drummer Justin Welch after their departure from Suede. The band was stylistically influenced by punk rock, post-punk and new wave musi ...

's debut. Tuscadero's second album, '' My Way or the Highway'', was released in 1998, and they toured with

Cheap Trick Cheap Trick is an American rock band formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1970 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. Their work bridged elements of '60s pop rock, guitar pop, '70s har ...

to promote it, but after the album's release, Elektra dropped the band. Farris later founded the band Dame Fate with bassist Yalan Papillon, releasing one album, ''Time and Tide Wait for No Man'', in 2002. Tuscadero reunited in February 2005 for a one-off performance at TeenBeat's 20th anniversary celebration. They reunited once again in 2013 for the 20th anniversary of Washington, DC's

Black Cat A black cat is a Cat, domestic cat with black fur. They may be a specific Purebred, breed, or a common domestic cat of no particular or mixed breed. Most black cats have golden iris (anatomy), irises due to their high melanin pigment content. Bl ...

club. Two additional reunion shows were played in December 2014 as a benefit for a Teen-Beat Records intern who was facing mounting costs from leukemia. Tuscadero reformed again in 2023 and played their first concerts since 2014 supporting Velocity Girl, who also reunited.

Lineup

*Melissa Farris –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

*Margaret McCartney –

*Phil Satlof –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

*Jack Hornady –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Discography

*"Mount Pleasant" 7-inch (

, April 1994) *"Angel in a Half Shirt" 7-inch (

, July 1994) * ''The Pink Album'' (

, November 1994 / Rereleased by

, 1996) *''The Mark Robinson Remixes'' 7-inch (

, March 1995) *''Step Into My Wiggle Room'' EP (

, September 1995) *"Tickled Pink" split 7-inch (with Jetlag) (Duchess Records, July 1996) * '' My Way or the Highway'' (

, May 1998) * ''Live at Tramps 1996 New York City'' (via Bandcamp, September 2022)

References

External links

Artist page at Teenbeat Records
Indie rock musical groups from Washington, D.C. {{US-indie-rock-band-stub