Fetchin Bones was a cross-genre rock band from North Carolina. During a five-year career they produced four albums but were most celebrated for their consistently inspired live performances. As one reviewer put it they were "a band that must be seen live for a full grasp of their eclectic frenzy". During numerous tours Fetchin Bones supported such well known acts as R.E.M.

R.E.M.

R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...

, the B52s, X and the Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...

. Allmusic described the band as "a truly underrated group that didn't hit it big when they should've".

Musical style

The band's mixture of blues, punk and country music somewhat baffled critics of the era though Hope Nicholls' "powerhose" vocals were compared to Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin

Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...

's in their "dirty intensity". In an 1985 Whistle Test interview with Andy Kershaw

Andy Kershaw

Andy Kershaw is a British broadcaster, known for his interest in world music.His shows feature a mix of country, blues, reggae, folk music, spoken word performance from the likes of Ivor Cutler, and other music from around the world.- Early Life :Kershaw and his sister, fellow broadcaster Liz...

 Hope herself described her influences as including British bands Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Cocteau Twins

Cocteau Twins

Cocteau Twins were a Scottish alternative rock band active from 1979 to 1997, known for innovative instrumentation and atmospheric, non-lyrical vocals...

. The band's musical dexterity was particularly obvious in their concerts. For example when reports emerged of Hurricane Gloria

Hurricane Gloria

Hurricane Gloria was a powerful Cape Verde-type hurricane that formed during the 1985 Atlantic hurricane season and prowled the Atlantic Ocean from September 16 to September 28. Gloria reached Category 4 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale near the Bahamas, but weakened significantly...

 approaching the Carolinas on the night of a September 1985 Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...

 concert, the band worked up an impromptu version of Van Morrison

Van Morrison

Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...

/Patti Smith

Patti Smith

Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....

 classic Gloria just minutes before going on stage. The first three Fetchin Bones records were produced by Don Dixon

Don Dixon

Don Dixon is a record producer, songwriter, musician, bass guitarist, and very occasional actor. He is originally from South Carolina.-Biography:Don Dixon was born on December 13, 1950 in Lancaster, South Carolina...

, and were recorded at Mitch Easter

Mitch Easter

Mitch Easter is a songwriter, musician, and producer. As a producer, he is probably best known for his work with R.E.M. from 1981 through 1984, though he has also worked with many other acts including The Hang Ups, Pavement, Suzanne Vega, Game Theory, Marshall Crenshaw, Velvet Crush, and...

's Drive-In Studio and at Reflection Studios in Charlotte. The final album was produced by Ed Stasium

Ed Stasium

Ed Stasium is an American record producer and engineer who has worked on albums by The Ramones, Talking Heads, The Smithereens and Living Colour.- History :Stasium first surfaced in 1970 fronting the band Brandywine, appearing on their sole LP Aged....

 in Los Angeles.

By their fourth album the band had pioneered a kind of grunge rock. However this was several years ahead of its time and failed to be a great commercial success.

Discography

• 1985 Cabin Flounder (DB)
• 1986 Bad Pumpkin (DB/Capitol)

After Bad Pumpkin, Mueller and White left to form Skeeters, replaced by Richardson and Stewart

• 1987 Galaxy 500 (Capitol)
• 1989 Monster
  Monster (Fetchin Bones album)
  Monster is the fourth and final studio album by the American Alternative rock band Fetchin Bones, released on June 9, 1989 through Capitol Records.- Reception :...
  
   (Capitol)

Monster was nominated in 1990 for the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package (ie artistic merit/look of an album) though beaten by David Bowie

David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

's Sound + Vision (box set)

• 2007 Dead Band Rockin, Fetchin' Bones' live come-back album

External links

• The band's Facebook Site
• Link to their MySpace site