The Hooters burst onto the Philadelphia music scene in 1980 as a new and different kind of rock band formed by songwriting partners and players Rob Hyman (vocals, keyboards, accordion) and Eric Bazilian (vocals, stringed and wind instruments). They met at the University of Pennsylvania and after playing in a number of progressive bands such as Wax (Lightyear Entertainment) and Baby Grand (Arista), they decided to pursue a different musical direction.
The group was named for the “hooter,” their nickname for the melodica, which was a part of their special sound as well as a visual symbol of this new project. Eric and Rob started writing in a funky warehouse affectionately called “The Ranch” in Manayunk, PA on the edge of the Philly city limits.
First to join them was drummer David Uosikkinen and this trio started to record some demos on Eric’s 4-track PortaStudio. “All You Zombies” and “Fightin’ On The Same Side” were two of the first original songs that Rob and Eric wrote for The Hooters at the Ranch, a pair of songs that instantly defined their style and are still part of their repertoire. Shortly thereafter John Kuzma (guitar, vocals) and Bobby Woods (bass, vocals) came onboard and then they were five.
To help get some gigs, they also prepared a 10-song demo at the Ranch to be recorded by their friend and engineer John O. Senior. (John had introduced the name “hooter” to the band vocabulary during these early sessions.)
That demo included their raw, rocking version of a classic Jamaican instrumental by the Skatalites called “Man In The Street” – this track eventually became their initial song to receive some local radio airplay courtesy of DJ Michael Tearson (WMMR).
The Hooters played their very first show in June 1980 at a club called Mattie’s Place in Levittown, PA. They mixed original songs with ska/reggae covers which had the curious crowd dancing as well as intrigued. In a word, they were all “Hooterized”, band and audience alike. This led to a “boot camp” of gigs for the group at another small Levittown club called Vernon’s, often playing that tiny stage 5 nights a week, 4 sets a night.
New original material started to replace the covers night by night - if the crowd liked it, it stayed in the set. Some songs would come and go as quickly as they were written, but the audience only grew…
And so the band moved from the suburbs into the city of Philadelphia. Fortunately, there was an active club scene ready to host them with venues like Stars, The Bijou, Cabarets, Empire Rock Room, and Ripley’s. Perhaps most notable was Grendel’s Lair, where the group performed a 6-month residency on Monday nights to a diverse and enthusiastic mix of rockers, punks and dreadlocked Rastas. These ska/reggae/rock “dance parties” started to sell-out as word-of-mouth spread.
The band played over 125 nights in its first nine months. They were on a roll when they entered KAJEM Studios with recording engineer Bill Wittman (Baby Grand) to record their first indie 45, “Fightin’ On The Same Side” and “Wireless”. Another early highlight was a performance at the alternative venue Emerald City in Cherry Hill, NJ.
The show was broadcast live on rock station WMMR and led to the release of another 45 by popular demand, a live version of “All You Zombies”. A major high point of this original Hooters lineup was opening an outdoor festival show at JFK Stadium in 1982 with The Who, The Clash, and Santana.
However, not long after this, the band took a break only a few years into their career as other opportunities presented themselves. This included an invitation to Rob and Eric from their long-time friend and record producer Rick Chertoff, who asked them to help arrange and perform on a debut album for a newly-signed solo singer named Cyndi Lauper. Cyndi and Rick joined Eric and Rob at the Ranch in Philly to work up arrangements and demos for songs such as “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”, “All Through The Night”, and “Money Changes Everything”.
After some chilly winter months hibernating in Manayunk, the four went up to NYC’s Record Plant in Spring 1983 where they recorded Cyndi’s She’s So Unusual with Rick Chertoff producing, Eric on guitars and saxophone and Rob on keyboards. “Time After Time”, written by Rob and Cyndi, was also quickly arranged and recorded in the studio as a last-minute addition to complete the project for Epic/Portrait Records. Cyndi’s debut album went on to include four “Top-Five” Billboard singles. When she accepted the 1984 Grammy for Best New Artist, she thanked “The Hooters, who were my band before I had a band”.
After Cyndi’s success, The Hooters reunited with two new players - John Lilley (guitar) and Rob Miller (bass, vocals) - both of whom had played with Robert Hazard and the Heroes, another popular Philly group. With renewed energy and some brand-new material, The Hooters expanded their sound and focus adding new management as well. They soon went into Studio 4, deep in downtown Philly, with engineer Phil Nicolo to record their first independent album Amore. The 8-song album was met with great support from their fans as well as Philly radio, and it achieved much local success as a “DIY” project, eventually selling over 100,000 copies.
Amore enlarged their audience and performance radius, and the band now set their sights on moving beyond the Philly city limits. They looked to new areas for gigs, pushing to points south such as Baltimore, Washington DC, and Richmond VA. They also headed up north into NJ, NYC, New Haven CT, and Boston MA, while continuing to write and perform newer material mixed in with the old.
Things were going well until a car accident unfortunately sidelined Amore bassist Rob Miller. Thankfully Rob recovered but the band needed a player quickly to fulfill their booking commitments – he was now replaced by Andy King (bass, vocals) from the Delaware band Jack of Diamonds.
Meanwhile the momentum grew. The Hooters' strong and powerful presence, as performers and as songwriters, led to their first major record deal, signing with Columbia Records in 1984 with Rick Chertoff producing.
It was “back to the Ranch” as well as some songwriting road trips to the Poconos, PA, for even newer material. Their debut national album Nervous Night was released in Spring 1985 to critical and popular acclaim.
Accompanying the album’s release was the band’s first international travel as well, first to London where they shot their debut video for “All You Zombies”. Next up was a quick pre-Christmas trip to Australia in December ’85 with headlining concerts in Sydney and Melbourne, accompanied by a flurry of press conferences and TV appearances. Following non-stop national touring Nervous Night quickly achieved Gold and Platinum status in the USA, Australia and Canada with the hits “And We Danced”, “All You Zombies”, “Day By Day”, and “Where Do The Children Go”.
Live Aid - JFK Stadium, 1985
It was an exhilarating time for the group. Rolling Stone magazine named The Hooters the "Best New Band of the Year" in 1985 - they also shared such a nomination at the MTV Music Awards. And in July of that year, the group was thrilled and honored to open the historic Live Aid concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. The national touring continued and in the following summer of 1986, The Hooters were invited to perform at the Amnesty International Concert at Giants Stadium, NJ, with global artists such as U2, the reunited Police, Miles Davis, Fela, Lou Reed, and Peter Gabriel among many others.
In 1987, the group released their second Columbia album, One Way Home, again achieving Gold and Platinum status as well as opening up new markets for airplay and touring opportunities in Japan and Europe. The album featured new sounds and songs including "Johnny B" (with a video directed by David Fincher), "Karla With A K", and “Satellite” which hit the UK charts. The group was then invited to perform the song on the celebrated “Top of the Pops” British TV show, where they met Paul and Linda McCartney (who were also performing) as well as an elevator meeting with George Harrison at the BBC, two very memorable highlights of their career.
In another line-up change in 1988, Fran Smith Jr. joined the band on bass and vocals, and in 1989 The Hooters released Zig Zag, their third major label album on Columbia. It introduced a more acoustic, unplugged Hooters sound as well as a more political world-view vision. With the legendary folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary on backing vocals, their updated version of the classic "500 Miles" became an international hit which led to another Platinum success for the band.
It was also during this time that the group was asked by Roger Waters of Pink Floyd to participate in his multimedia extravaganza "The Wall" in Berlin, 1990, to celebrate a unified Germany after the Wall came down. (Roger had met the band after catching a performance at London’s Town & Country Club.) The Hooters joined music legends such as Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, The Band, Sinead O'Connor, Bryan Adams, and their friend Cyndi Lauper for an unforgettable musical experience at Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz, even traveling into former Communist East Berlin on the trip.
The early 90s brought more travels for Eric and Rob to collaborate with a variety of songwriters in LA, Tulsa, and Nashville, where they also jammed with local artists at the famed Bluebird Cafe. And the duo even visited the island of Antigua in the Caribbean, setting up a little mobile studio in a cabin near the beach to work on the new album...
Around this time The Hooters added a new member, the multi-instrumentalist Mindy Jostyn on violin, harmonica, mandolin and vocals. Mindy's exciting stage presence energized the fans and she added interesting textures to the band's sound. The group then traveled to Memphis in 1992 for a few months to work on their next album with producer Joe Hardy (ZZ Top) at the renowned Ardent Studios. Out Of Body was released on MCA Records (1993) and included the hits "Twenty-Five Hours A Day" and "Private Emotion", which was later covered by Ricky Martin on his debut record.
The album brought some Southern grit to the Hooters sound along with a cameo appearance on a few tracks by the legendary Memphis Horns who even invited the band to a home-style backyard Tennessee BBQ! The group also reconnected in Memphis with Cyndi Lauper collaborating on the vocal duet “Boys Will Be Boys”.
While back on the Autobahn that summer, the band recorded the Hooters live in Bonn and Osnabrück Germany (MCA 1994). In addition, Sony also released Greatest Hits in Germany, a long-awaited compilation which earned the group its first Gold album in Deutschland. In the States Sony released Hooterization (1996), another retrospective collection.
In 1995, after some 15 years of continuous writing, recording and touring, the group took another break. In addition to much-needed personal time with family and friends, the group set off on various solo projects as well. This included Eric and Rob’s reuniting with producer Rick Chertoff on Joan Osborne’s solo debut album Relish (Mercury), with Eric’s distinctive hit “One Of Us” striking gold. An all-star concept album called Largo (Blue Gorilla) followed, with many of the Hooters members participating along with a varied cast of other artists such as The Chieftains, Taj Mahal, David Forman, and Levon Helm and Garth Hudson of the Band. A theatrical production of Largo is being developed as well.
However, the band did miss the energy of the stage after a number of years away from live performance. They finally reunited in 2001 as part of a special tribute concert at the Spectrum in Philly for their friend and long-time supporter DJ Pierre Robert who was celebrating 20 years with rock radio at WMMR. A quick 30-minute set spurred the band back into touring and recording activity.
The band’s popularity (especially in Europe at this point) brought them back to steady travel and performing once again. They also played annual Thanksgiving concerts back home in Philadelphia as well as summer shows “down the Shore” at various Atlantic City venues.
With renewed energy, Eric and Rob started writing again for the rejuvenated group. In 2006 they recorded their first new studio album in 13 years, Time Stand Still, a more autobiographical collection for their own label, Hooters Music. It featured the hit “I’m Alive” and their unique acoustic arrangement of Don Henley’s “The Boys Of Summer”. The CD was released in September 2007 on MRI/Sony Red in the States and through Neo/Sony BMG Distribution in Europe.
In 2008, The Hooters released Both Sides Live, a double album set. This project featured the band’s greatest hits in both full-tilt electric versions from Thanksgiving shows at Philly’s Electric Factory as well as acoustic takes of the songs with a live in-studio audience. Special guest Ann Marie Calhoun joined in on violin.
And in 2010, their EP Five by Five was released, with the upbeat optimism of “Silver Lining” as well as Hooterized versions of the hits “Time After Time” and “One Of Us”. Those two songs had previously earned Rob and Eric Grammy nominations for “Song Of The Year” which they had written and recorded for Cyndi Lauper and Joan Osborne respectively.
This EP also featured “Pissing In the Rhine”, written and sung entirely in German, a first for the band. 2010 also brought some unexpected twists and turns to the group when Eric suffered a shoulder injury – he could sing but was unable to play and the band needed a guitarist quickly to fill-in on a busy upcoming German tour.
Fortunately, they found Tommy Williams, a friend of Eric’s from New York who was already well-versed in the Hooters’ songbook. Some temporary gigs on the road led to a full membership as Tommy was instantly Hooterized. Spring and Summer overseas tours continued every year. And starting in 2015, as part of their “35 Years Live” tour, the group also introduced a new tradition - an annual Fall Homecoming weekend of shows at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, PA.
2017 brought Give The Music Back, a new double-live album recorded at the celebrated Keswick, near their hometown base of Philadelphia. This compilation CD and subsequent international tours continue to reflect their strong collaborations in the studio, their passionate energy onstage, and their long-time friendship on the road and off. And outside of the Hooters all of its members continue to pursue solo musical directions as well. This includes David Uosikkinen’s “Songs In The Pocket”, where a rotating cast of singers and players (The Hooters included) reinterpret some of Philly’s classic tracks.
Of course every group has its share of dark days as well, and over the years the band sadly mourned the passing of their dedicated and talented fellow players John Kuzma, Bobby Woods, and Mindy Jostyn. Each one of them added their own exceptional personality and rare musical style to the group onstage as well as in the studio. They will always be missed.
And finally, The Hooters thank their incredibly loyal fan base for more than four decades now of amazing support. In the very beginning, the group committed itself to live performances above all else, and that will always remain their focus and goal. As Rob said in an interview about the release of Time Stand Still - “though time and miles have separated us over the years, whenever we all get in the same room, pick up our instruments and start to jam, something magical instantly happens – we ‘become’ the Hooters and I suppose that is our way of making time stand still. Being in a band with such great players and friends, over so many years now, has been quite a blessing and fortunate experience that we all cherish deeply.”
In October 2019, the group was inducted into Philly’s “Walk Of Fame” with their own sidewalk plaque on the Avenue of the Arts. The Hooters’ positive songs and energetic live shows have endured as a joyful musical celebration for both the band and their enthusiastic fans, old and new alike, especially now in these uncertain times.
The unforeseen arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic put their “20+20” 40th Anniversary Tour on hold but they finally celebrated the big event in 2022 (“Take 2!”) with sold-out shows and more energy than ever. For all of this and more, the band members and their hard-working road crews are very grateful.
In May 2023, the group released Rocking & Swing on their own Hooters Music label, a rollicking new album that returns the band to their early Ska and Reggae roots. The first single “Why Won’t You Call Me Back” has been featured on SXM’s “Underground Garage” accompanied by their first animated video. The album also supported a European Tour followed by the band’s first national US Tour since the 90’s with exuberant performances all the way.
The Hooters’ live shows endure as a joyful musical celebration for both the band and their loyal, enthusiastic fans alike. Playing onstage since 1980 - with 44 years together now - the band is excited to get back on the road with the “More Rocking, More Swing” Tour 2024…come get Hooterized!
Special thanks to everyone who believed in the music and helped along the way - the Hooterized beat goes on…
