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Joe S - guitar, vocals
Skizz - drums
John - vocals, guitar
Joe T - bass, vocals
Photo by Sam Holden.
Joe Stone
Joe started freaking out in the band "Beef Umbrella Aviation Theory" back in the 80's. Through the 90's, Joe was mostly a solo player. In the summer of 2002, he joined up with the Jennifers. He was already a fan. Joe teaches in public school and also teaches guitar.
Skizz Cyzyk
It's hard to say if Skizz is better known for being the drummer from a thousand bands, or being the brains (and sweat) behind Baltimore's own underground film festival, Microcinefest. Either way, he hopes to change that by becoming best known for his ukelele virtuosity. Skizz has made many animated short films, including Four Films in Five Minutes and Manager's Corner, and has made videos for bands including Young Fresh Fellows, One Ring Zero, The Beltways and Meatjack. He currently also plays drums in The Bowlermen and Garage Sale, ukulele in The Awkward Sounds of Scott & Skizz (aka A.S.S.S.), and has previously been a member of Blister Freak Circus, Gill, Jag, Berserk, Dirty Sanchez, Burried Droog, Slug Log 3 and innumerable other fine musical outfits. Skizz is so famous he has his own web page: Skizz.net.
John Irvine
When not writing and singing for the Jennifers, John plays the role of Hank Verlaine in the Balto-surf outfit Garage Sale, and worships at the Stratosphearean alter in the Bowlermen, with Skizz and Joe T. He began his loud musical career playing bass with legendary Annapolis punks the Hated, who, unfortunately, may have accidentally invented emo. Sorry. He played guitar in various lame college bands and started what would become the Jennifers in 1989 with Jen Maser and Chuck Rainville. John also plays trumpet in the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra and the Homewood Brass Consort.
Joe Tropea
Joe grew up watching entirely too much television. He is haunted by memories of Chachi Arcola and dancing Fred 'Rerun' Berry. Joe has played the bass and occasionally sang with the likes of Gill, Jag, Dirty Sanchez and many others. He joined the Jennifers c. 1996. When he's not learning Jennifers' songs, then forgetting them and relearning them before performances, he attends the University of Maryland where he learns, forgets then relearns history while working towards his MA in public history. He's developing his thesis on history and memory. Joe's favorite films are directed by Stanley Kubrick, Luis Bunel and Robert Downey. Joe is so famous he has his own myspace page.
 Jen Maser, Drums |
 Chuck Rainville, Bass |
 Will Wall, Guitar |
History
1989 - Love Planet plays Battle of the Bands and various open mike gigs at St. Mary's College of Maryland. John Irvine, Jen Maser and Chuck Rainville never won the battle of the bands, but were committed to writing and playing original music.
1992 - John comes back from a stint in Slovakia to find Jen and Chuck playing with Will Wall, and using John's amp. (Chuck had written - "it's fine, holds a lot of water.") The band name themselves the Bigsby's and write a bunch of songs, and play them around Baltimore at clubs like the Rev, Chambers, and Max's on Broadway. The name changed to the Jennifers (no real reason) and the songs were recorded on a cassette by the odd but talented Chris Plummer in his parents Landsdown basement.
1994 - The Jennifers go into the studio with local impresario Tony French to make a CD. The CD - Nine Days Wonder - came out on local label You Say When, with 13 original and diverse tracks. It was mailed out to zines and clubs to garner reviews and gigs. Most folks thought it was swell -"every track a winner", "bouncy original pop". A song from the demo tape was also released as a single on You Say When along with a song by the Mommyheads, an obscure but fantastic Brooklyn/San Francisco band you should Google right now. Really.
1995 - Eric Dyer, a band friend and filmmaker, shoots a video for "You're My Star" from the CD (total cost $89) and the band on a lark sends it to an MTV contest. Either they loved it or picked it out of a hat, because the Jennifers won "Best All Male Band" (neat trick for a band with a girl drummer). The band won new instruments worth lots of money, but MTV never actually aired the video as far as is known.
1996 - The Jennifers play some tours of the east coast and midwest. Chuck bows out of touring and the band, and Joe Tropea takes over on bass, adding his tour-booking and singin' skills into the mix. The tours are a hoot but the Jennifers, lacking MTV support, don't capture the hearts and wallets of America.
1997 - The band return to the studio, this time in Richmond VA, to record new songs. There weren't quite enough for a whole CD, and nobody was too happy with the final mix, but it was all the band could afford at the time. A group tour ensued along with other bands from all over the US lumped in to the "power pop" bag by Paul Collins of the (non-English) Beat. The Jennifers were included on the "Pop Matters" compilation CD of the tour. After returning home to general malaise and writers block, the band split up, with Will moving to Chicago, Joe spending time in Florida, and Jen starting her own band Lackluster and John dropping out of guitar-based music for a while, getting his musical jollies playing trumpet in the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra.
2001 - John joins Skizz in Baltimore surf-pop legends Garage Sale on guitar, and subsequently forms the Bowlermen with Skizz, Joe Tropea and Scott Brown, bringing the music of the Dukes of Stratosphear to life. John also takes the master tapes from the last Richmond Sessions to Invisible Sound Studios where they are cleaned up, remastered and sound great. These tracks are compiled for the Book of Bad Advice CD.
2002 - The Jennifers Mark III are formed from 3/4ths of the Bowlermen and Joe Stone, John's old roommate from college who is back in town teaching guitar. The new band start gigging in the fall and begin writing new songs.
2004 - The band begin working in the studio with Dave Nachodsky at Invisible Sound Studios on new tracks. They also begin a series of self-recorded cover songs for "The Covers Project", consisting of Jennifers versions of some of the Bands favorite songs, which are posted one per month on the web as mp3's.
2007 - The Jennifers release their third CD "Colors From the Future" January 16 on Beef Platter Records.
