19 Wheels was an American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band from

East Lansing, Michigan East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County with a smaller portion extending north into Clinton County, Michigan, Clinton County. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...

. It was founded by Chris Johnston (

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

), Scott Owens (guitar), Tim Marzorati (

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

); drummer Rob Dickey joined in 2000.

History

The group was initially known as Hannibals before changing their name to Nineteen Wheels. The group first attracted attention with their 1996 EP, ''The Tempermill Recordings'', which led to a spot touring on the

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Extreme Games Tour in 1996. They later signed to

Aware Records Aware Records is an American record label. The label has worked with a range of artists, including John Mayer, Train, Five for Fighting, Mat Kearney, and Guster. History Aware Records was founded in 1993 by Gregg Latterman with the simple i ...

for their 1997 release, ''Six Ways from Sunday''. After Aware entered into a joint venture with Columbia, ''Six Ways from Sunday'' was reissued in an "amended version" in October 1997. This amended version featured an additional album track and was identified by the predominantly red cover, as opposed to the blue cover on the original release. In a review of the album, Allmusic noted, "The band maintains a muscular, tight sound throughout, thanks in large part to superb bass and drum work."Six Ways from Sunday review
AllMusic 19 Wheels'

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, ''Sugareen'', was self-released, and was produced by another Michigan local, Donny Brown of the band Verve Pipe. It sold over 14,000 copies.19 Wheels Break Up
Alternative Addiction, December 3, 2005. (

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

archive) They followed this up with the EP ''Jawbreaker'' in 2004, produced by Bob Ezrin. While working with Ezrin, the group members questioned whether they would continue working together. By this time, several had wives and families, had taken steady jobs, and had moved to different parts of the state of Michigan; Owens and Marzorati were still living near Lansing, while Johnston had moved to Ferndale and Dickey to

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

. Late in 2005, they decided to break up, releasing one final EP and playing their final show on November 25, 2005 at The Intersection in Grand Rapids. 19 Wheels' track "Reactor" was featured on Ford's website for the new 2010 Ford Fusion.

Members

*Chris Johnston - vocals, guitar *Scott Owens - guitar *Tim Marzorati - bass *Rob Dickey - drums

Discography

* ''The Tempermill Recordings'' (1996, EP, CD) * ''Six Ways from Sunday'' -

(1997 LP, CD) * ''Sugareen'' - Self released / Standard (2000 LP, CD) * ''Jawbreaker'' - Self released / Standard (2004 LP, CD) * ''This is the Life'' - Self released / Standard (2005 EP, CD)

References

{{Authority control Musicians from Lansing, Michigan Musical groups from Michigan American alternative rock groups 1990 establishments in Michigan