The Feelies

The inception of the Feelies began in the mid-seventies when Glenn Mercer and Dave Weckerman were in band called the Outkids. When their bass player left sometime in 1975 they asked Bill Million to join their band. Immediately afterwards their lead singer also departed the band which lead Glenn to become the lead vocalist. Eventually Bill got bored of playing bass and decided they needed two guitars for the sound they were developing. They recruited bassist John J. and by 1976 they had changed the name of the band to The Feelies. They debuted officially as a band in 1977 at their high school in Haledon, New Jersey. 
Dave and John left the band later in 1977 and were replaced by brothers Vinny and Keith DeNunzio. In the fall of 1978 Vinny left to work with Richard Lloyd of Television and they would later go on to form The Health & Happiness Show. Anton Fier replaced Vinny on drums and Weckerman returned as the percussionist for live shows. 
Due to the fact the band was very insistent on producing their first record without an outside producer, the major labels in the United States were out of the question. Which lead them to putting out their debut release Crazy Rhythms on the U.K. indie label Stiff Records. For the release Keith changed his last name to Clayton which apparently is Bill Million's real last name. In 1980 Anton Fier left to become a member of the The Lounge Lizards and later founded his evolving supergroup The Golden Palominos. In 1982 Million and Mercer composed the soundtrack for Susan Seidelman's film Smithereens which starred Richard Hell. 
The band took a few years off in the early eighties while Glenn and Bill worked on several side projects such as the The Trypes and Yung Wu. After meeting Brenda Sauter and Stanley Demeski in the Trypes, Glenn and Bill asked them to join The Willies which eventually became the reformed Feelies. The band never enjoyed playing too far from home and usually played on holidays so they would not have to take off from their day jobs. They helped create the Hoboken music scene, along with The Bongos, by performing at venues such as Maxwell's. 
In 1986 The Feelies recorded their long-awaited second album The Good Earth produced by Peter Buck of R.E.M.. That year they appeared as The Willies in Jonathan Demme's film Something Wild. In 1988, they made their major label debut by releasing Only Life on A&M Records. In 1989 they performed a few dates opening for their idol Lou Reed as well as performing some The Velvet Underground material with him during his set. 
In 1991 the band released Time for a Witness and on July 5th after a performance at Maxwell's in Hoboken the band called it quits. Million unexpectedly moved to Florida without leaving a forwarding address to become a locksmith in Disneyland and withdrew from making music. All the remaining members went to other bands with and without each other. Soon afterwards Stanley Demeski joined Dean Wareham in Luna. Brenda Sauter went on to become a member of Speed the Plough and formed Wild Carnation with her husband in 1992. Glenn and Dave created Wake Ooloo and released 3 albums. In 1997 all the members of The Trypes (excluding Brenda) created Sunburst which released 4 songs on their web page but have yet to release an album. In 2003 Brenda, Stanley and Glenn (along with Dean Wareham and Robert Quine) performed on the solo artist Lys Guillorn's debut album. In August 2005 Glenn Mercer performed live with Vinny DeNunzio at Knitting Factory in New York City on the same bill as Anton Fier. 
In 2008, after a seventeen year hiatus the band reformed to play three live shows at Maxwell's (one by invitation only) and as an opening act for Sonic Youth in Battery Park, New York City on July 4th. The band is reportedly working on a new album and have performed in 2008.