10,000 Maniacs

On January 27, 2004, Elektra/Asylum/Rhino Records released Campfire Songs, subtitled "The Popular, Obscure and Unknown Recordings", a two CD set compilation, with 31 digitally remastered songs, four of them demos and one unreleased. The band has denied that the name has any link with the KKK; saying that the name was taken from the number of an Omaha police citation for indecent exposure. Ultimately the band has benefited from the publicity of the rumor, gaining media exposure they would not have received otherwise. In 2003, Gustafson, Drew and Augustyniak formed a new line-up by adding Erikson on guitar and Oskar Saville from Rubygrass on vocals, and played some gigs. In 1997, a rumor started that the band's name, 311, stood for Ku Klux Klan because K is the 11th letter of the alphabet. On December 5, 2001, a 10,000 Maniacs line-up comprising Gustafson, Drew, Augustyniak, Lombardo and Ramsay played on a benefit concert in Toronto, with Erikson on guitar. Lombardo and Ramsay left 10,000 Maniacs in 2002. Aside from their currently released, the band has created two well documented videos (Enlarged to Show Detail and Enlarged to Show Detail 2) of their touring, friendship, and of course: music. Jerry joined a band called Only Human. "Down", "All Mixed up".

Gustafson and Drew, with Jeff Erikson (guitar) started a band called Mighty Wallop. Their first CD, Music was released in 1993 and eventually went gold. Their biggest selling CD was their self-titled release in 1995 (also known as "The Blue Album") which went triple-platinum, and also found mainstream success with the singles. The band took a break. These records, titled Dammit, Hydroponic and Unity, and their live shows, launched their career in the mid west after which they moved out to California in an attempt to be signed onto a major label. Their last concert with Buck had been on November 3, 2000, when the band played with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, in Buffalo. In 1990 and 1991, 311 released three records on their own indy label, What Have You Records. On December 19, 2000, Robert Buck died of liver failure at age 37. All five of the members grew up in Omaha, Nebraska in the 1970s.

In 1997 they released Love Among the Ruins and followed up in 1999 with The Earth Pressed Flat. The members of 311 are Nick Hexum (lead vocals, guitar), Douglas Vincent "SA" Martinez (vocals, turntable, programming), P-Nut (bass), Tim Mahoney (lead guitar), and Chad Sexton (drums). 10,000 Maniacs released two albums with Mary Ramsey on vocals. 311 formed in late 1988 in Omaha, Nebraska as a rapcore/nu metal/punk rock/reggae group. The remaining members of 10,000 Maniacs then absorbed John & Mary, with Ramsey on viola and vocals. On April 19, 1993, 10,000 Maniacs recorded MTV Unplugged and Merchant announced her leaving the band on MTV on August 5, 1993. (Her first solo album, Tigerlily, was released by Elektra on June 20, 1995.) The 10,000 Maniacs MTV Unplugged CD was released in October of 1993.

In 1991, during the recordings of a new album, Merchant revealed to the other members that she would be leaving for a solo career in two years time. In 1992, Our Time in Eden was released. Lombardo and Mary Ramsey, who had formed a folk act called John & Mary, opened gigs for the Maniacs on the Hope Chest Tour in 1990. In 1990, with the help of Lombardo, they remastered their first two records (Human Conflict and I-Ching) and released them as a compilation called Hope Chest. The remaining five members started the recordings of a new album in Los Angeles, with Peter Asher as the producer. In My Tribe, a more pop-rock oriented record, was released on July 7, (1987), hit the charts and established a large US audience for the group, which was expanded by Blind Man's Zoo (1989).

Lombardo left the band on July 14, 1986. They recorded their second full-length album, The Wishing Chair, in London with Joe Boyd as producer. Peter Leak, an Englishman living in New York City, became interested in the band, made contact and was made their manager. With the help of Leak and Elektra Records A&R man Howard Thompson, 10,000 Maniacs signed to Elektra in 1985. During 1983 and 1984, touring was a way of life for the band and they also played some gigs in the UK.

One song, "My Mother the War" turned out to be a minor hit in the United Kingdom, and it entered the independent singles chart. The record was well-received by critics and it caught the attention of John Peel, a DJ at Radio BBC Radio 1 in London. Between March and July they recorded songs for a second record, Secrets of the I Ching — their debut album — which was pressed by Mark Records for the band's own label, Christian Burial Music. The Maniacs met Augustyniak when they played in Buffalo, New York, where he was in a punk band called The Strains and he was invited to be part of the band.

At the beginning of 1983, drummer Jerry Augustyniak (26) joined the band. More gigs followed in 1982. In February-March 1982, with Jim Foti on drums, the band recorded an EP called Human Conflict Number Five. Tired of playing other people songs, they started to write their own, usually with Merchant writing lyrics and Lombardo the music.

Edborg left and Bob "Bob O Matic" Wachter was on drums for most of the 1981 gigs. They performed as 10,000 Maniacs for the first time on September 7, 1981 (Labor Day), with a line-up of Merchant, Lombardo, Buck, Gustafson, Drew, and Tim Edborg (drums). The band changed its name to Burn Victims and then to 10,000 Maniacs, after the low-budget horror movie Two Thousand Maniacs. Various drummers came and left.

Newhouse and Cardinale left the band in July, and Merchant became the main singer. John Lombardo (28; guitar) who was in a band called The Mills, used to play with Still Life occassionally and was invited to join permanently. Gustafson invited Merchant, then aged 16, to do some vocals. The band was formed, as Still Life, in Jamestown, New York, by Steven Gustafson (then 23 years old and a bass player), Dennis Drew (23; keyboards) and Robert Buck (22; guitar), Terry Newhouse (Buck's ex-wife and a vocalist) and Chet Cardinale (drums).

Perhaps the most well-known member has been Natalie Merchant, who left the band in 1993 to pursue a solo career. 10,000 Maniacs is a US rock band, formed in 1981 and active with various line-ups since that time.