Acknowledgments
Photo credits
Prologue
Hitsburg U.S.A.
1 Too Much Hair
2 The Kids are the Same
The Basement: 1974-1979
3 Blue Whales at The House
4 Street Rock & Party Music
5 The Curse of Al DiMeola
6 I'm Just an Outcast
7 Soul City
8 Red Star on St. Mark's
9 Time and Tide Wait for No Man
The Party: 1980-1988
10 Lucky Bill
11 Up-Front, Left Behind
12 Roman Gods
13 Et Tu Spiritus Dance
14 SUPER ROCK
15 American Beat
16 Fleshtones vs. Reality
17 Time Bomb
18 Pocketful of Change
The Hangover: 1989-1995
19 Waiting for a Message
20 Powerstance
21 The World's Most Unusual Blues Band
22 Pardon Us for Living But the Graveyard's Full
The Remedy: 1996-2006
23 Is This Really Me?
24 Back to the Basement
25 I Can't Change My Luck But I Can Change Your Mind
26 Fun, Truth, and Tradition: Forever Fleshtones
Discography
The Cover Songs
Notes
Sweat is a bare-knuckled account of road-paving rock & roll played in the real world, where success measured over the long haul is redefined each and every hard-won morning. The Fleshtones' story is one of guts, perseverance, and an inspiring work ethic.
Joe Bonomo teaches in the English Department of Northern Illinois University. He is the author of Sweat: The Story of the Fleshtones, America's Garage Band (Continuum 2007), and Installations (Penguin), a collection of prose poems. His personal essays and prose poems have appeared in numerous literary journals.
Formed in New York in 1976, the Fleshtones have never experienced
even a moment of Next Big Thing-ness, and yet they just keep
playing. It's like they couldn't stop even if they wanted to. Joe
Bonomo's Sweat: The Story of the Fleshtones, America's Garage Band
was unputdownable: the people and places who drifted through its
pages were memorable, and the story stubbornly refused to stoop to
pathos.
*The Chicago Reader*
Pursuing an unquenchable lust for life, music, and partying since
forming in a debauched Queens basement, The Fleshtones have paid
homage to Archie Bell and the Drells, Standells-era pink and also
plugged into the hedonistic energy of the New York experience at
gay club The Cock Ring. Dismissed by one critic as a 'mindless
twist band' the Fleshtones weren't feted like their contemporaries
but, undaunted, have released some 20 albums and have gigged
relentlessly, remaining undimmed of spirit and happy that Suicide
are fans. Bonomo's beautifully written band assisted account is
both hilarious and tragic. There's heroic excess, dogged obsession,
personal tragedy and slapstick situations, and even if the Hall of
Fame never beckons, The Fleshtones can at least count their name on
one of the great music biographies.
*Mojo, UK*
What's a Northern Illinois University English professor at Northern
Illinois University doing writing a 400-page tome about an obscure
post-punk band from Whitestone, Queens, who barely ever reached the
outer regions of the Billboard Hot 200? God only knows, but the
'Tones' passion and longevity doing their thing--a rousing
combination of Nuggets-style psychedelic rock, R&B beats and a
British Invasion take on American soul--is matched by the author's
dogged recreation of their long, winding, and mostly hidden,
history.
*Sonic Boomers*
[An] elegantly written biography of the Fleshtones.
*Popmatters.com*
The Fleshtones are a minor footnote in most people's memories, but
Bonomo convincingly explains how a group can stay the same and yet
still matter. As a bonus, The Fleshtones aficionados will also
appreciate the biographer's exhaustive, inclusive discography and
the extensive listing of cover songs The Fleshtones have recorded
and/or performed on stage.
*Skyscraper Magazine*
Besides being a thorough bio of the band and its members, and a
great NYC timepiece, Sweat takes a good hard look at the music
industry, of bands who don't quite make it, who are as good or
better than bands who do make it, and what their lives are like.
It's a story of fighting against the odds with persistence and
conviction, but this book certainly isn't just about struggle; it's
filled with humor, fun, weirdness, bizarre coincidences, and heady
descriptions of their most glorious shows and triumphs...If you
already know and love the band, you're sure to enjoy this book. If
you aren't familiar with the 'Tones, by all means check them
out.
*Tone and Groove magazine*
As the subtitle accurately describes, the career of the Fleshtones
could be narrowed down to "30 years, 2,000 shows, 1,000 blue
whales, no hits, no sleep". It's always been about fun, and not
stardom, for Peter Zaremba, Keith Streng, and the rest of this
(should be) legendary band. Bonomo accurately describes not only
the positive points in the band's history, but also the
frustrations, addictions, and boredom of never being the right band
in the right place. Verdict: As they say on the web, Ohmigod! Old
CD's were immediately copied onto the iPod, and old vinyl was
dusted off after years of storage. Now if I only was confident
enough to attempt to drink some blue whales, the band's poison of
choice.
*Prime Magazine*
What a long, strange trip it's been. That Grateful Dead designation
really belongs to The Fleshtones, New York City's long-running
garage rock band. Sweat, Joe Bonomo's energetic, warts-and-all
biography, encapsulates The Fleshtones' three-decade and counting
career) as the cover proclaims: "30 years, 2,000 shows, 1,000 Blue
Whales, no hits, no sleep"), but the book is actually a story of
determination, perseverance, and persistence...While Sweat is
geared toward fans, this is one of the rare rock music biographies
neophytes can peruse with enjoyment, due to the band's brio and
banter, which gives Sweat more clarity and candor than typical
like-minded accounts. Discover for yourself how Wigstock, Joan
Osbourne, Jason and the Scorchers, The Hoodoo Gurus, R.E.M.'s Peter
Buck, Seve Albini, the Big Apple's disco scene, horror movies and
Gene Simmons all have one thing in common: The Fleshtones...
*Skyscraper Mag, Spring 2008*
FIVE STARS; As far as rock biographies go, Joe Bonomo's 400-page
labour of love is almost impossible to fault. It's got it all:
social and musical background, undying belief, frustration,
heartache, tragedy, laugh-out-loud anecdotes and a welter of
rock'n'roll excess from the late 60s onwards. It's also another
thrilling testament to the lost New York. Bonomo's research is
peerless, his writing engaging and the band's narratives frequently
hilarious. Most importantly, the book instils the desire to track
down some of these lost classics. If nothing else, when they do
finally hang up their guitars, The Fleshtones will have this
magnificent tribute to tell them what they did, and that they did
make their mark.
*Record Collector*
I would have given this book 873 stars, but they only let me give
it five...A love letter, a labor of love, and a gripping read about
people who have brought nothing but happiness to thousands of
people for a long, long time...it is a brilliant book no matter
what.
*Book Notes, Music*
Most bands have a narrative arc that runs from formative years to
rock-star years to rock-star ascent to inevitable breakup. The
Fleshtones' chart flatlines somewhere between fame and obscurity,
and this is where Bonomo takes an interesting angle. By recounting
the band's Sisphean chase of fame, which is rewarded only with a
raging cult following, he offers a unique "view from the
bottom"-familiar to 99.9 percent of the all bands-of rock's last
three decades.'Sweat' reads like a true labor of love. It's a
highly detailed account of the band that refused to go away until,
through determination and stamina, they got the book they
deserved.
*New York Post*
Dr. Joe Bonomo interviewed about the writing of Sweat: The Story of
the Fleshtones by Collin Quick, RRStar.com, September 26,
2007
A Chicago area resident and teacher at Northern Illinois
University, Joe Bonomo is nearly religious in his devotion to the
long-running combo fronted by Peter Zaremba, who some may remember
from his side job as the host of MTV's alternative showcase, "120
Minutes." In Sweat: The Story of the Fleshtones, America's Garage
Band (Continuum, $19.95), the author approaches his tale with the
same scholarly devotion that Drummond employed...In the end, the
author concludes that it will go one as long as the musicians are
still walking and breathing, and their story is ultimately one of
perseverance and faith in a rough 'n' ready aesthetic originally
defined on long-forgotten 45s but so enduringly powerful that grown
men devote their lives to it.
*Chicago Sun Times*
Nice cars, Playboy bunnies, wealth and thrown underwear - as the
Nickelback song suggests, the awesome life of a rock 'n' roll band,
right? According to NIU English professor Joe Bonomo, not quite.
"Sweat: The Story of the Fleshtones, America's Garage Band,"
Bonomo's first biography, was published by Continuum in September.
For seven years, Bonomo spent his summers trekking to New York to
interview and research for his book. As the title suggests, the
book chronicles the lives of the Fleshtones, a little known band
Bonomo first heard in the 1980s. According to Bonomo, The
Fleshtones are the only band that debuted at CBGB that played
together uninterrupted since. "The Fleshtones redefined what it
means to be successful," said Bonomo. "They're simply a great
American rock band that no one's heard about." However, Bonomo says
his book is more than just a biography of an obscure rock band.
"It's a great story of perseverance and staying true to your dreams
and visions," said Bonomo. The perseverance Bonomo refers to
involves a journey of music that has spanned more than three
decades and does not involve fame or fortune. Bonomo joined the
band on its Midwest tour in 2001 and discovered the realistic lives
of rock stars. "The memory I have from that tour is how much they
struggled," said Bonomo. "Sleeping on promoter's floors and in
flea-bag motels, playing to half-empty clubs. It cemented to me why
their story is so unique and so interesting, why it's a worthwhile
story. They didn't give up and soldiered on." Although the
Fleshtones story is enthralling, Bonomo had difficulty getting
"Sweat" published. Bonomo believes that while "Sweat" works as a
manual for those in a band, it is also an inspirational story for
those who have no affiliation with music. "If you're in a band as a
20-something, this is an absolute crucial book. It shows what your
future is," said Bonomo. "[But] no matter what your passion is, you
will find yourself mirrored in this book. As you get older, you
have to redefine what success means. The Fleshtones story is a
great example of how to do that".
*Northern Star Online*
The story of the Fleshtones is a Behind The Music-worthy tale of
hard-earned fans and well-deserved debauchery, but lacks one
essential element: hits. Despite three decades of dedication, the
Fleshtones have yet to produce a wildly popular record that could
propel them past the dead-end intersection of fame, infamy and
obscurity. And yet the Queens-bred bandmates soldier on, refusing
to retreat and amassing a growing number of rabid superfans (author
Joe Bonomo included) in the process. Clocking in at an impressive
400 pages, Bonomo's book chronicles the band's career with fluid
narratives, interviews, pictures, setlists, discographies and
meticulous detail. It's a story for music-makers and music-lovers
alike, with Bonomo finding universal appeal in one small band's
trip from the New York City suburbs to a near-permanent residency
on the road. It doesn't matter if readers don't know the Fleshtones
from the Monotones, as the author's adoring approach, which manages
to be at once casual and encyclopedic, will convert most skeptics.
And even if it doesn't, Sweat is about much more than a
hard-working band that never quite broke even; it champions the
enduring spirit of rock'n'roll, and the lengths to which musicians
and fans will travel to keep that spirit flamed.
*CMJ*
Most bands have a narrative arc that runs from formative years to
rock-star ascent to inevitable breakup. The Fleshtones' chart
flatlines somewhere between fame and obscurity, and this is where
Bonomo takes an interesting angle.By recounting the band's
Sisyphean chase of fame, which is rewarded only with a raging cult
following, he offers a unique "view from the bottom" - familiar to
99.9 percent of all bands - of rock's last three decades."Sweat"
reads like a true labor of love. It's a highly detailed account of
the band that refused to go away until, through determination and
stamina, they got the book they deserved.
*The New York Post*
Rather than chalk up the band to be some amazing quartet who've
surpassed their time in the spotlight (or lack of in this case),
[Bonomo] focuses on their longevity and passion. Thirty years in
the game and no hits to be accounted for but the band still holds
it together because of their love, their pure unadulterated love of
rock and roll.
*Spill Magazine*
I just finished a biography of the band, called Sweat: The Story of
the Fleshtones, America's Garage Band. I would have given this book
873 stars, but they only let me give it five. Me? I live to read. I
lust for the book that I cannot bear to put down. That is what I
like, that is what I look for. This is one of those books. A love
letter, a labor of love, and a gripping read about people who have
brought nothing but happiness to thousands of people for a long,
long time. It helps to already have spent some time living in total
intoxication of the Fleshtones, of course, but it is a brilliant
book no matter what.
*Chicago Boyz*
Interviewed by Rockford Review
Joe Bonomo, across 410 fact/anecdote-packed pages, follows the
trajectory of New York's Fleshtones, from juvenile delinquents
Peter Zaremba and Keith Streng falling under the spell of AM radio
in the '60s, through the band's mid-'80s college rock ascendency,
and on to the present, where the Fleshtones remain a vital
force.It's a quintessential rock 'n' roll story. No shit, man.
*Harp Magazine*
Everyone has a favorite overlooked bank they feel should have sold
millions of records, filled arenas and enjoyed household-name
status; among those commercially unsuccessful stalwarts, the
Fleshtones rank as one of America's most enduring musical forces.
Crawling out from under New York City's punk and new wave scenes in
the mid-1970s, this gang of misfits dubbed their fuzzy yet
danceable mix of guitars, Farfisa organ, old-school R&B,
rockabilly and surf music as "Super Rock," then watched
contemporaries such as the Ramones, Talking Heads, R.E.M., and
Blondie become stars. Topping out on the Billboard album charts at
no. 174, the Fleshtones, still active 30 years on, make for an
unconventional study in rock 'n' roll survival. Bonomo, better
known for his essays and poetry, has conducted new interviews with
all the principals to provide an exhaustive account of the band's
checkered history, colored by excessive amounts of alcohol and
drugs, mismanagement and the 2005 suicide of sax man Gordon Spaeth.
Bonomo marches a parade of colorful characters in and out of his
narrative, including past and present band members, business
associates, friends, family members and fellow musicians, to
present an honest and dramatic look at rock semi-obscurity.
*Publishers Weekly Annex*
Joe Bonomo has written a fine book; a book not only about a band or
times passed, but also about the rare virtue of endurance.
*Nick Tosches*
In Sweat, Joe Bonomo confronts the realities of life in one of
America's great unsung bands of heroes: the Fleshtones. Rocking the
house down night after night, holding on to their unique vision
forever, whether laughing in the face of failure, caught in the rip
tides of American culture, battling on the New York streets, or
crowded in the back of a van on its way to the furthest reaches of
the solar system...It's a 'Blue Whale' of a story: hilarious,
harrowing, and ultimately inspiring.
*Peter Case, singer-songwriter*
More than an account of a particular band, sound, or specific era
in rock history, Joe Bonomo's compelling, well-researched, and
thoroughly riveting account of the Fleshtones is an homage to a way
of living your life -- one that revolves around raucous music, what
Jack Kerouac once called the "quest for kicks," and most of all a
whole lot of sweat and passion.
*Jim DeRogatis, pop music critic, Chicago Sun-Times, and author,
Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, America's
Greatest Rock Critic.*
Rock and roll is a pretty egalitarian affair. On any given night
any band can be the best band in the world, if only for ten
minutes. The amazing thing about the Fleshtones is that every night
for the last thirty years they have consistently been the best live
band on earth. Year in, year out -- high, low and in between -- the
Fleshtones have embodied the very essence of rock and roll. This
great book by Joe Bonomo really gets to the heart of who the
Fleshtones are, and the price they paid. Now it's up to you to
check out the Fleshtones when they hit your town. And in my own
defense, that fire that Keith and I started in France was really a
very small fire. Not worth mentioning at all. Please.
*Peter Buck, R.E.M.*
Mention in Memphis Flyer
Imagine the myth of Sisyphus recast as a garage band-and a good
one-and you have the story of the Fleshtones. One of the latter-day
CBGBs bands, championed by REM and critically adored for their
explosive concerts, the 'Tones shoulda been contenders. But what
happened? First-time author (and fan) Bonomo tells their cursed
story with religious fervor and a near-lyrical quality to his
prose. Bonomo expands on a history that would otherwise be summed
up by a pithy entry in All Music Guide over a sprawling 400 pages,
packed with new interviews and anecdotes. In cataloging a
decadeslong litany of indignities and misfortunes that did little
to deter the Fleshtones' passion, the book raises deeper questions
about what making it in music means. Does the distinction of being
the only CBGBs-era band to keep going without an inactive year
count for anything? Consider this the mad-eyed older brother of
James Greer's biography of the indie-rock band Guided by Voices or
Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your Life. This is the secret
history that even NYC punk histories like Please Kill Me couldn't
handle. Recommended for libraries with large popular music
collections.
*Library Journal*
Bonomo writes with verve, objectivity, humor, and always just the
right note of seriousness. The result is an enjoyable, satisfying,
and very necessary study of a band on the edge. Sweat is a
comprehensive book, thoroughly researched with interviews from
seemingly anyone remotely connected with the band, quotations from
articles and reviews from long defunct but important New York
newspapers and magazines, an extensive bibliography, discography,
and a list of over 250 covers performed at one time or another by
the Fleshtones. Ultimately, though, Sweat is about the cultural
power of rock and roll and its ability to shape lives.
*Popular Music and Society*
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