Beat Farmers - History

History

In 1984, they were signed to a one-off-deal record deal with Rhino Records. The first album, Tales of the New West, was produced by Blasters / Los Lobos saxophonist Steve Berlin and released in January, 1985. The album included cover songs "Reason to Believe" by Bruce Springsteen, and "There She Goes Again" by The Velvet Underground, and "Never Going Back by John Stewart. It also featured their most well known song, "Happy Boy", which gained national exposure through the Doctor Demento Radio Show, and was played as a novelty song across the country, notably by disc jockeys Jim McInnes and Pat Martin on San Diego radio station KGB-FM and on Pittsburgh station WDVE, where it has been played weekly for more than twenty years.

In 1985, they traveled to England to record Glad 'N' Greasy, a six-song EP for Demon Records. It was co-produced by Graham Parker and The Rumour keyboardist Bob Andrews and included a dancehall version of Neil Young's "Powderfinger" and Country Dick singing of "Beat Generation" with backing vocals from Dave Alvin, Nick Lowe, Gene Taylor, Dan Stuart, and Loudon Wainwright III. Their month-long tour of England drew praise from critics, particularly from Melody Maker, whose editor followed them around and subsequently compared them to The Beatles.

In 1986, the band continued to tour and signed a seven record deal with Curb Records. Fed up by working with Curb Records, Buddy Blue left the band. Their major-label debut Van Go was produced by Craig Leon and featured performances by both Blue and new member Joey Harris, who previously played with John Stewart, The Speedsters, and Country Dick and the Snuggle Bunnies.

The next year, The Pursuit of Happiness was released on Curb Records/MCA. The single "Make It Last" was briefly played on dozens of Country-Western stations across the nation, but the rest of the album was too rock n' roll oriented for the format, and the single was dropped from rotation. "Hideaway" was featured in the soundtrack to the film Major League and "Big Big Man" was featured in The Garbage Pail Kids Movie. Poor and Famous was released in 1989, and included "King of Sleaze", a collaboration by Montana and Mojo Nixon. Later in the year, Montana and Harris formed a side project with Nixon and Alvin called the Pleasure Barons, a group that specialized in lounge music. The Beat Farmers finished the year with a three night stand at San Diego's Bacchannal nightclub. The album Loud and Plowed and . . . LIVE!! was culled from these three nights and released the next year.

In 1991 Montana was treated for a thyroid condition and continued to visit the doctor's office for cancer treatments. The band appeared on Late Night with David Letterman on Friday, June 14, 1991 on NBC.

Over the years, the band grew increasingly dissatisfied with its relationship with Curb Records, and repeatedly attempted to get out of their seven-album contract. Finally succeeding in 1993, the group began to record Viking Lullabys in Vancouver, Canada. It was released in August 1994 by Sector 2, an Austin, Texas record label. In 1995, Curb/MCA released The Best of the Beat Farmers without the consent or involvement of the band. That same year, the Beat Farmers released Manifold, their second record for Sector 2. Paul Kamanski, who wrote several songs on previous Beat Farmers releases, appeared on vocals and guitar.