Maxwell's - Bands

Bands

The first band to play at Maxwell's was "a" which included the three original members of The Bongos (Richard Barone, Rob Norris, and Frank Giannini, who was Maxwell's cook and devised their first menu), fronted by Glenn Morrow (later of The Individuals and founder of Bar/None Records). The Bongos rehearsed in the club by day, were the first from the new crop of bands to be signed to a major label (RCA Records) after a series of British singles and tours, and were seen at the time as ambassadors of the new Hoboken pop scene. In the mid-1980s R.E.M. played there on a frequent basis. The club was important to emerging trends as diverse as punk, grunge, and indie rock of the 1980s and early 1990s. Bands like Husker Du, The Replacements, fIREHOSE, the Meat Puppets, Sonic Youth, Fugazi, Archers of Loaf, The Cynics, Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Juliana Theory, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Fire in Cairo, Tad, the Melvins, Mod Fun, Mystic Eyes, Nirvana, Hole, The Afghan Whigs, The Smashing Pumpkins, and G Love and Special Sauce all have played there. Buzzcocks, Blue Öyster Cult, The Fall, the Minutemen, The Mess Around, Robyn Hitchcock, Katrina & the Waves, Flipper, Rain Parade, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Cowsills, Wire, The Pogues, Pylon, Los Campesinos!, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Joe Jackson, Schoolly D, Crime and the City Solution, Killing Joke, Kevin Ayers, John Cale, Snakefinger, Living Colour, David Byrne, The Slits, U.S. Chaos, X, Joan Jett, Dick Dale, The Psychedelic Furs, Royal Crescent Mob, The Stations, The Strokes, Matt Nathanson, John Doe, Mary Lou Lord, Electric Six, and The Ataris also made appearances on stage at Maxwell's. The Bongos, The Cyclones, The Individuals, Urban Allies, Gut Bank, The Fleshtones, and The dB's were mainstays in the beginning with The Feelies playing frequently towards the later half of the 1980s. They continue this tradition today with bands like The Dirtbombs, Lemuria, Crooked Fingers, Stars and Longing for Liberace.