| The Wallflowers | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Genres | Rock, roots rock, alternative rock |
| Years active | 1989 – Present |
| Labels | Columbia Interscope |
| Website | TheWallflowers.com |
| Members | |
| Jakob Dylan Fred Eltringham Greg Richling |
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| Past members | |
| Mario Calire Barrie Maguire Jim Snider Peter Yanowitz Tobi Miller Michael Ward Rami Jaffee Stuart Mathis |
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The Wallflowers is a rock band from Los Angeles, California, fronted by Jakob Dylan. Formed in 1989 and originally known as The Apples, the ensemble has gone through numerous personnel changes with Dylan the only constant.
They have released five studio albums, one compilation album and have had various songs on television and movie soundtracks. They have won two Grammy awards for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Best Rock Song for their song "One Headlight" in 1998.
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The band started in 1989 in Los Angeles's clubs. Their self-titled debut album was released in 1992 on the Virgin Records label. It sold 40,000 copies initially, and has sold an estimated 1,000,000 to date.
The original members of the Wallflowers include Jakob Dylan (vocals and guitar), Barrie Maguire (bass guitar and vocals), Peter Yanowitz (drums and percussion), Rami Jaffee (keyboards and vocals), and Tobi Miller (guitar). This quintet broke up shortly after the album's release due to conflicts within the band and with the record company.
The band seemed quiet for a few years but stormed back on the scene with their 4x platinum 1996 release, Bringing Down the Horse, which comprised such hits as "6th Avenue Heartache" (with Adam Duritz of Counting Crows), "One Headlight" , "The Difference," and "Three Marlenas." The band switched record labels, from Virgin to Interscope. For this album, Dylan was joined only by Rami Jaffee from the original lineup. Michael Ward (guitar), Mario Calire (drums and percussion) and Greg Richling (bass guitar and vocals) were called in to form the new band. "One Headlight" peaked at #2 and "6th Avenue Heartache" peaked at #33 on the Billboard American Hot 100 Airplay charts. At the Grammy Awards of 1998, The Wallflowers walked away with two Grammys; one for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "One Headlight," and Jakob Dylan was awarded Best Rock Song for writing "One Headlight." Bruce Springsteen joined the Wallflowers for a live performance of their song "One Headlight," at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards. "One Headlight" was the #1 video of the year for 1997 on VH1 and #5 on MTV.
After almost four years, the Wallflowers continued work on their next album, (Breach), released October 10, 2000; the first single was "Sleepwalker," the video of which poked fun at Dylan's "rock star" status following the success of Bringing Down the Horse. "Sleepwalker" was followed by "Letters From the Wasteland", which was featured with Dylan in a commercial for Coca-Cola. The record was featured on MTV's First Listen show. The band also played Saturday Night Live, featuring the songs "Sleepwalker" and "Hand Me Down".
(Breach) ends with a hidden track entitled "Babybird," often played in concert. Guests on the album included Elvis Costello, who lent vocals on "Murder 101." (Breach) peaked at #13 on the Billboard 200. The album was certified gold on September 21, 2001.
The band supported this album through tours with Tom Petty and John Mellencamp, as well as an extensive headlining tour. While on tour the Wallflowers covered Blur's "Song 2" and The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" regularly. Guitarist Michael Ward left the band following the tour, citing creative differences. The band has officially been a 4-piece ever since.
On November 5, 2002, The Wallflowers released their fourth studio album, Red Letter Days. Red Letter Days peaked at #32 on the Billboard 200. This was the first Wallflowers record that featured Jakob Dylan playing a majority of the lead guitar parts. The album had a much more aggressive sound than any of their previous releases, especially the song "Everybody Out of the Water," which they performed on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. The first single and only music video shot was for "When You're On Top." The single was a smash hit on AAA radio stations, but received little mainstream attention. Subsequent singles from the album include "Closer to You," and "How Good It Can Get" which received radio airplay across multiple formats. Some versions of the album featured an in-studio cover of "(What's So Funny About) Peace Love and Understanding."
The band was a part of many exclusive performances during promotion of the record, including a Live at the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame concert for MTV, and a special televised concert for VH1, Live at Alcatraz, being the first band to ever play a concert on the infamous island. They also played "When You're on Top" on Last Call with Carson Daly, and "How Good It Can Get" on The Late Show with David Letterman.
The band's most recent release, Rebel, Sweetheart was released on May 24, 2005. This is the first Wallflowers record available as a DualDisc. The DVD, directed by American video director Jason B. Bergh, included interviews and exclusive performances and arrangements of many of the band's songs, including reworked versions of "One Headlight" and "6th Avenue Heartache" as well as an amusing band interview with comedian Jon Lovitz. Brendan O' Brien (Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Train) was called in to produce the record and played guitar as well. Fred Eltringham, the newest Wallflowers member, played drums. A video was filmed for their first single "The Beautiful Side of Somewhere" which hit #5 on AAA radio.
The second single released was "God Says Nothing Back".
In promoting the record, The Wallflowers performed special televised concerts for the Oxygen Custom Concert Series on the Oxygen channel and were also featured on the PBS series Soundstage. Singer/songwriter Carole King was the special guest performer for the Oxygen concert.
In conjunction with the release of Rebel, Sweetheart the band released an exclusive iTunes Originals album for the iTunes music store. The album featured exclusive performances and interviews with Jakob Dylan. The band also volunteered to perform for sailors on the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis as the troops were returning to California. [1]
Much to the dismay of longtime fans, The Wallflowers did not tour in 2006, although keyboardist Rami Jaffee toured with the Foo Fighters for their acoustic tour, and drummer Fred Eltringham worked with the Dixie Chicks. Jakob Dylan toured with T-Bone Burnett during Burnett's first tour in 20 years. Dylan played 40 minute solo opening sets for the tour. The two share a long history that extends further than just Burnett's impactful production work on Bringing Down the Horse.
The Wallflowers parted ways with record company Interscope in 2006. Jakob Dylan recorded a couple of solo songs in 2006, including "Here Comes Now", which was featured prominently in the television show Six Degrees.
Jakob Dylan performed John Lennon's song "Gimme Some Truth" with Dhani Harrison for the Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur CD.
On August 31, 2007 The Wallflowers announced that they would be touring for the first time in two years. The band played shows at clubs in the Northeast and Midwest United States in October and November 2007. In a late 2007 post on the band's website it was revealed that keyboardist Rami Jaffee left the band. Singer-songwriter Stuart Mathis joined the band as the lead guitarist for those shows.
Jakob Dylan released his first solo album Seeing Things on June 10, 2008.
The Wallflowers recently announced the impending release of a Greatest Hits record on their MySpace page. They will embark on a nationwide tour to support the release, which will include two unreleased tracks. The band also announced that Rami Jaffee and Stuart Mathis will be returning for this tour. These will be Jaffee's first shows with the band since the Summer of 2005.The band's website has recently stated that producer Bill Appleberry will join them on tour to play keyboards making no mention of Rami Jaffee as it had previously reported.
The Wallflowers have had numerous original and cover songs featured in television and movie soundtracks:
| Song | Original artist | Soundtrack |
|---|---|---|
| "Into the Mystic" | Van Morrison | American Wedding |
| "Heroes" | David Bowie | Godzilla (also in NHL 99) |
| "I Started a Joke" | Bee Gees | Zoolander |
| "I'm Looking Through You" | The Beatles | I Am Sam |
| "Here Comes Now" (produced by Steve Lillywhite) | Jakob Dylan | Six Degrees |
| "Stardust Universe" | Jakob Dylan | Jericho |
| "Everybody Out of the Water" | The Wallflowers | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation |
| "Empire in My Mind" | The Wallflowers | The Guardian |
| "No Matter What" | Jakob Dylan | NCIS |
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales threshold) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [2] |
US Heat [2] |
CAN [2] |
UK [3] |
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| 1992 | The Wallflowers
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— | — | — | — | ||||
| 1996 | Bringing Down the Horse
|
4 | 1 | 6 | 58 | ||||
| 2000 | (Breach)
|
13 | — | 9 | 161 |
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| 2002 | Red Letter Days
|
32 | — | — | — | ||||
| 2005 | Rebel, Sweetheart
|
40 | — | — | — | ||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Main | US Mod | US Adult | UK [3] |
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| 1996 | "6th Avenue Heartache" | — | 10 | 8 | 26 | — | Bringing Down the Horse | ||
| "One Headlight" | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 54 | ||||
| 1997 | "The Difference" | — | 3 | 5 | 14 | — | |||
| "Three Marlenas" | — | 21 | 17 | 27 | 111 | ||||
| 1998 | "Heroes" | — | 4 | 9 | 20 | — | Godzilla: The Album,The Replacements (in movie not on soundtrack) | ||
| 2000 | "Sleepwalker" | 73 | 26 | 31 | 21 | — | (Breach) | ||
| 2001 | "Letters from the Wasteland" | — | — | — | 38 | — | |||
| 2002 | "When You're on Top" | — | — | — | 33 | — | Red Letter Days | ||
| "Closer to You" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "How Good Can It Get" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 2005 | "The Beautiful Side of Somewhere" | — | — | — | — | — | Rebel, Sweetheart | ||
| "God Says Nothing Back" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
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