Wheatus

Wheatus biography

Wheatus is an American rock group from Northport, New York. They are best known for their 2000 single "Teenage Dirtbag" which was featured in the movie Loser, as well as in the HBO miniseries Generation Kill.

History

1995-2002: Formation and Wheatus

Wheatus was formed by Brendan B. Brown in 1995, on the lower east side of New York City. Brown began by writing a few songs, and subsequently enlisted the help of his brother Peter Brown on drums, Philip Jimenez on keyboards, samples, percussion instruments and harmonica, and Rich Liegey on bass. The band regularly performed at a local venue entitled the Luna Lounge, until in 1999, they hired New York attorney Ray Maiello to shop their self-produced debut album to major record companies. They soon signed a record deal with Kevin Patrick at Columbia Records, and Maiello was subsequently hired as the band's manager. Their self-titled debut album was released in October 2000. The album spawned the band's first and largest hit, "Teenage Dirtbag", a song which charted at No. 2 in the United Kingdom. Their second single, "A Little Respect", also reached very high chart positions, peaking at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart. Their third single, a double A-side of "Leroy" and "Wannabe Gangstar", didn't perform as well as expected, only reaching No. 23 in the UK Singles Chart. Another song from the album, "Punk Ass Bitch", was bought by the creators of the Jackie Chan Adventures, remixed and used as the theme for the end credits of the programme.

2002-2005: Hand Over Your Loved Ones and Suck Fony

The band began work on their second album in the summer of 2002, with Brendan enlisting the help of his sister, Liz Brown, and the band's merchandiser, Kathryn Froggatt, as backing vocalists. Shannon Harris of Relish, a band who had previously supported Wheatus on their earlier tours, was also added to the band as keyboardist. The album's first single, American In Amsterdam, was heavily underpromoted after the band had a dispute with their record label over their request to lip sync on Top Of The Pops. When their second studio album, Hand Over Your Loved Ones, was released in Autumn 2003, it received little or no promotion in the United Kingdom, and was never released in the United States due to the ongoing dispute. In October 2004, the band made the decision to part with their record label, and as such, formed their own record label, Montauk Mantis. During this time, they also enlisted Michael Bellar as a replacement for Shannon Harris, who had decided to leave the band over the dispute. In February 2005, the band re-released Hand Over Your Loved Ones under the new title Suck Fony. For the re-release, the album included new songs, including the new track "William McGovern", and a cover of the Pat Benatar classic "Hit Me with Your Best Shot". The album was originally only made available via the band's website, until 2007, when it was added to iTunes and Amazon MP3 after the band signed a distribution contract.

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