The Huntingtons
The Huntingtons debut album "Sweet Sixteen" was released in 1996 by Flying Tart Records. A few months later, their first attempt at recording Ramones covers, entitled "Rocket to Ramonia" saw limited release via the Burnt Toast Vinyl label. At this point the band added a second guitarist, Tom Rehbein (later in Small Towns Burn a Little Slower). After working with producer Mass Giorgini for the band's next album, "Fun and Games", Tom was replaced by Brad Ber. After the album's release in mid-1997, the band started touring and gained a cult following. Their big break came in 1998, when they signed to Tooth & Nail Records and released "High School Rock".
Tom Tom Club
There was then a four-year gap until the band's next album, the first version of "Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom", released in 1988. By this stage, the band's non-US deal with Island had expired and the album was released outside the United States on Fontana/PolyGram. On the album, the group adapted a more conventional rock style with a harder edged sound and a hint of menace in the lyrics of some songs. The group's line-up was also solidified along more conventional commercial lines. Whereas the previous two albums had been recorded by a loose collective of a dozen musicians, the band was now reduced to the trio of Weymouth, Frantz, and Weymouth's sister Laura Weymouth. There were, however, a number of prominent guest musicians on the record, including Lou Reed and Talking Heads' front man David Byrne on a cover of Reed's "Femme Fatale." The fourth member of Talking Heads, Jerry Harrison, also featured on some tracks. As with "Close to the Bone", the album was not a commercial success although "Suboceana" received some radio play, mainly in the UK, and the single "Don't Say No" made the UK Top 100 (Tom Tom Club's fifth, and to date final, single to do so). The album was the first Tom Tom Club album to be issued on CD and the Japanese CD version featured an added bonus track, the B-side "Devil, Does Your Dog Bite?", which was also featured on the soundtrack to the film "Married to the Mob". "Suboceana" was also remixed for dance clubs by house music pioneer Marshall Jefferson.