Jellyfish (power-pop band)

haven't seen much, if any discussion on this band. I love them... Got turned onto them by being a big King's X / Galactic Cowboys fan. Andy Sturmer has such a memorable singing voice and drumming style, and Jason Falkner & Roger Manning are equally awesome. If you dudes dont know about this band, do me and yourselves a BIG favor and check them out. They had 2 albums in the early 90s, that had such a Beatles vibe that it was almost uncanny. Other noticeable influences include Beach Boys and Queen.

So let's discuss this amazingly underrated band.

Ps. They're about to release the only two albums of thiers on vinyl. Might just have to pick those up...

I saw "the King is Half Undressed" on MTV and got hooked immediateley. Love both albums and have seen them live 2 times.
 
Loved seeing them live. Andy Sturmer was standing up front with his tiny drumset, singing and drumming. Never seen anything like it.
 

Love the band! Spilt Milk is a masterpiece. Mike thinks so too... It's a pity so little is available on the band. I hope that an official dvd is released someday with their clips & the two German tv broadcasts they did. Rumor is that Andy & Roger are back on speaking terms & may be thinking of recording another album together.
 
 

Another Jellfish album would be very interesting........ good rumors

They also put out the box set "Fan Club" which is great too. Four discs, one full of demo's and one mostly live for each album. All the b-sides are on there too. Awesome band.

KISS 76
 
Rumor is that Andy & Roger are back on speaking terms & may be thinking of recording another album together.

 
wha?????????????
 
got a link? or just hearsay rumor? last I heard a few years ago, the two were not really even on *speaking terms*
 
I would be floored even just for a reunion concert, let alone new material.

angra1

I would be floored even just for a reunion concert, let alone new material. 

 
Seriously. I would fly wherever this were to happen. In a heartbeat.
 
Pre-Jellyfish, there was Beatnik Beatch. Nowhere near the quality of Jellyfish, but you could hear the seeds germinating. Roger's solo albums have been good, but could really use some beefing up. And Falkner solo has been awfully hit or miss for me. When he's good, he's amazing. When not, he bores me to sleep.
 
 

"Got turned onto them by being a big King's X / Galactic Cowboys fan."  I'm curious what the connection is there.
 
"New Mistake" has been jammed in my head for the past two months, which is a good thing.  I honestly think it is one of the greatest pop songs I've ever heard.  I like the hooks, the melody the build up to the end of the song.  Just pure awesomeness.

Jellyfish rules! 
I have both of the German TV performances on DVD (actually, I put them on DVD myself from VHS), the Not Lame 4 disc boxed set, a 2 disc tribute album, and some bootlegs of Andy Sturmer demos.
 
There's also Imperial Drag which was Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. (guitar/keys/vocals) and Eric Dover (guitar/vocals).  Very 70's, T-Rex sort of feel with lots of Moog thrown in.  They only had one album but I have some live performances I bought off Roger's site plus they released through Weed (anyone still remember them?) all of the demos they recorded for the album (almost 40 songs!).  Very good stuff there.
 
Roger also has 2 solo albums now and (I might be wrong but) I think he plays most or all of the instruments.  Also very power-pop, 70's, retro sounding with very lush production.  It's interesting to hear his solo stuff because you can hear just how much of that Jellyfish sound was just him. 
 
Eric Faulkner (original guitarist) has some solo stuff out there.  I've never gotten into it but it is available. 
 
A reunion of any sorts would be awesome.
 
Now, if we can just get Eric Valentine and Dan Arlie to speak again, maybe we could have a T-Ride reunion (or at least a release of the songs they'd already recorded for album number two)!

WTF is power-pop?

LIVESTRONG


WTF is power-pop?

Jellyfish.  Duh. 
 
Bands that usually have their type of sound, usually heavily influenced by The Beatles - Cheap Trick, Squeeze, XTC, The Smithereens, etc.

Heard of them, though never heard them...will find some this weekend and check them out.

I actually have been often reminded of Ty Tabor's voice when hearing Roger sing.

Yeah they are a great pop band. I'm especially fond of Spilt Milk.

Shoegazer


They also put out the box set "Fan Club" which is great too. Four discs, one full of demo's and one mostly live for each album. All the b-sides are on there too. Awesome band.

yep.. just got my hands on this. made me happy that while it sucks they only gave us 2 studio albums, the box set was quite the gift to nosh on!

KISS 76


Rumor is that Andy & Roger are back on speaking terms & may be thinking of recording another album together.

Don't you tease me........

tangentuniverse


"Got turned onto them by being a big King's X / Galactic Cowboys fan."  I'm curious what the connection is there.

Not too much a connection, I just get similar vibes between the bands... Heavy Beatles influence, but of course Jellyfish took a more retro/vintage sound than the other 2 bands. I found out about Jellyfish through a King's X related forum. I've noticed that most people who know about both bands are pretty big fans of both, or are at least willing to give a heavy listen to find out if they are (which i recommend).
 
Seriously though... I haven't had that really 'giddy' feeling of musical discovery in quite some time until i recently found out about Jellyfish. Before then it was Dream Theater, & King's X.. but holy shit... literally the perfect pop-rock band.

DTnewbiefromTroy


Heard of them, though never heard them...will find some this weekend and check them out.

bro trust me... you're a huge King's X guy like me, you're going to fall in love with them ;)

Jellyfish is A-MA-ZING!!
 
Spilt Milk is every bit Sgt. Pepper in my eyes....simply not a dud to be had.

^truth!!!!!

I just checked them out on YouTube. Very enjoyable. I will look for more. Their sound kind of reminded me of a band that I heard warm up for the Los Lonely Boys, named "hacienda". I rarely buy CDs of warm up bands at concerts, but I bought Hacienda's. It was quite enjoyable. Beatlesque hooks and Beachboy type harmonizing. Check out their album, "loud is the night"

I received this email late last year from Bruce Brodeen from Not Lame Records who put out the awesome Jellyfish box set. Bruce no longer runs not lame... but has a new site that will be up & running soon  http://www.popgeekheaven.com/
 
JELLYFISH FANS - you are receiving this because you picked up a Jellyfish or an album from Roger or Jason from me here.

And...this is news I hope you will welcome.

I have a band recommendation (ORANJULY) and wanted to let you know that I will have some big news for Jellyfish fans in the next few months.  It's a project that will be coming together the rest of the year and will see the light of day on the front half side of 2011!

What is it? Well, that is still under wraps but I will let you know as soon as I am able to share that with you.

For now, this band ORANJULY is one of THE most Jellyfish inspired bands I have heard in a long time. 

Check them out below - at the least, just listen the samples I just uploaded and make note of them. I promise - it will not hurt!

ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND!
Bruce


 
 

I checked out their first album on Spotify yesterday.  Cool stuff.  I actually remember That Is Why from when it came out 20 years ago.  I also listened to New Mistake from Spilt Milk.  What a great song.  Very interesting band.  Thanks for the recommendation!

Thanks for reminding me how great Jellyfish were. Spinning their records now....
 
When I saw Jellyfish at the Town and Country Club in London back in 1991 I was also impressed by the support act Katydids. Has anyone heard of them?
 
They released 2 albums before they split up. I got both of them and like them a lot. It's been a while since I heard them though, just as with Jellyfish.
 
You can listen to Katydids on their myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/katydidsmusic/music
 
Or you can find both albums on Spotify

KISS 76


I received this email late last year from Bruce Brodeen from Not Lame Records who put out the awesome Jellyfish box set. Bruce no longer runs not lame... but has a new site that will be up & running soon  http://www.popgeekheaven.com/

JELLYFISH FANS - you are receiving this because you picked up a Jellyfish or an album from Roger or Jason from me here.

And...this is news I hope you will welcome.

I have a band recommendation (ORANJULY) and wanted to let you know that I will have some big news for Jellyfish fans in the next few months.  It's a project that will be coming together the rest of the year and will see the light of day on the front half side of 2011!

What is it? Well, that is still under wraps but I will let you know as soon as I am able to share that with you.

i'd be willing to be it's another project between Roger & Jason.

The "front half side of 2011" is gone already...so I hope we hear something soon....

never heard of them until I was asked to play "Joining A Fan Club" for my classmate's final performance at uni. It was a pretty awesome tune!

Just to bring this full-circle:
 
I grew up being friends with Jason Falkner's younger brother, Ryan (amazing storyboard artist and illustrator), and knew the whole ridiculously-talented Falkner family (artist dad Avery, sister and famous chef Elizabeth, brother musician Jason, and brother artist Ryan).  The crazy part about reading this whole Jellyfish-appreciation thread on a DT board is that way back when (early 90s), it was none other than Ryan Falkner who was freaking out about this awesome band Dream Theater that his brother (Jason) was turning him on to.  Ryan was also really into King's X, as well as XTC.  As he talked, these were all bands that I had never heard of, of course.  :)
 
Anyway, though I didn't become a real DT fan (mostly because I hadn't ever found their material) until this past decade, it was still specifically because of Ryan that I eventually did look them up and checked them out.  Once I did, the rest was of course inevitable.  Became a big fan.
 
My enjoyment and appreciation of DT today would never have come to be if it wasn't for Ryan Falkner and his family's excitement about DT.  Just a weird circular personal thing for me to see on-line.  Very cool.

awesome story! thanks for sharing. glad to know he was a King's X fan.

kingsXrocks

DTnewbiefromTroy


Heard of them, though never heard them...will find some this weekend and check them out.

bro trust me... you're a huge King's X guy like me, you're going to fall in love with them ;)

Okay....I bit and picked them up......HOLY FRAQ.....lovin it. Where the fraq was I when they were around. This will
be in rotation for quite a long time.
 

I actually heard of Imperial Drag first, and loved it.  They were 10 years too early, that album would be a hit now.  Shame.

DTnewbiefromTroy

kingsXrocks

DTnewbiefromTroy


Heard of them, though never heard them...will find some this weekend and check them out.

bro trust me... you're a huge King's X guy like me, you're going to fall in love with them ;)

Okay....I bit and picked them up......HOLY FRAQ.....lovin it. Where the fraq was I when they were around. This will
be in rotation for quite a long time.

whatd i tell ya?? get both studio albums, get the box set, and check out the live clips on youtube. you're gona be hooked !

Should have some more Jellyfish news regarding the new project in the next week or so...
 
 

Jellyfish are a great band, love both albums and Spilt Milk particularly is one of my favourite albums ever. Discovered through Frost* I think, both Jem and John Mitchell are huge fans and I think they might have suggested them to me.

KISS 76


Should have some more Jellyfish news regarding the new project in the next week or so...

updates?

Re-bump.

http://omnivorerecordings.com/artists/jellyfish/
 
Jellyfish discography will be available on vinyl January
 
:)
 
yay

kingsXrocks


http://omnivorerecordings.com/artists/jellyfish/

Jellyfish discography will be available on vinyl January

:)

yay

 

niice! 
 
I actually have been on a bit of a vinyl binge this year (I have a list here that's over 80 now set up on my rym page, more than half I'm pretty sure I purchased in the last 6 months, lol).
 
The other day I meant to purchase a copy of Bellybutton on Vinyl on discogs.com and never paid for it after adding it to my cart.
 
I just pre-ordered both of these and I think I saved at least $3 or $4 in shipping.
$47 for both of these records on Vinyl? that's definitely worth the cost.