Papa Vegas is a rock band from the 1990s. They released two studio albums and were signed to

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

. Papa Vegas was founded in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

, where vocalist Joel Ferguson and guitarist Pete Dunning first began playing together.

Papa Vegas Papa Vegas is a rock band from the 1990s. They released two studio albums and were signed to RCA Records. Papa Vegas was founded in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where vocalist Joel Ferguson and guitarist Pete Dunning first began playing together. Pa ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Dunning and Ferguson collaborated for three years before parting ways for individual projects, and Ferguson played under the name "Papa Vegas" with a variety of other musicians. After playing with Papa Vegas at a battle of the bands competition, they were heard by

Brian Vander Ark Brian Vander Ark is an American singer-songwriter best known as lead singer for the band The Verve Pipe. Music Ark joined the band His Boy Elroy as a guitarist. He eventually quit and started the band Johnny with an Eye with his brother, Bra ...

, then lead singer of

The Verve Pipe The Verve Pipe is an American rock band from Michigan. It was formed in 1992 in East Lansing by Brian Vander Ark, Brian Stout and Donny Brown. History In November 1992, Brian Vander Ark of the band "Johnny with an Eye" signed a production dea ...

, who signed them to his Sid Flips label and produced their debut EP, ''Grounded'', with Pete Dunning back on lead guitar, Scott Stefanski on drums, and original bassist Mick Force. Sid Flips was folded into RCA, and the group was set up with Don Gilmore to produce their debut full-length album.

Tom Lord-Alge Tom Lord-Alge (born January 17, 1963) is an American music engineer and mixer. He began his career at The Hit Factory in New York. Subsequently, he was the resident mixer at what used to be known as "South Beach Studios", located on the ground f ...

mixed; the result was released as ''

Hello Vertigo Papa Vegas is a rock band from the 1990s. They released two studio albums and were signed to RCA Records. Papa Vegas was founded in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where vocalist Joel Ferguson and guitarist Pete Dunning first began playing together.Pap ...

'' in April 1999. All songs on the album were written by Joel Ferguson with the exception of "Sermon Underground", which was co-written by Joel Ferguson and Pete Dunning. Their biggest hit single was "Bombshell", which peaked at #20 on the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1999.

Billboard Singles A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large out-of-home advertising, outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboard ...

Allmusic.com Following the album's release, they toured with the Verve Pipe and also

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, a critically acclaimed band from Stockholm then touring the US under RCA's European label, and had a lesser hit with the release of "Something Wrong" but the full-length did not sell as well as hoped, and no further hit singles followed. The group was dropped from the RCA label in March 2000 and split up shortly afterward. In December 2004, the band reunited to play a large venue show with

. The show was a success, and they repeated it in December 2005. Ferguson, Stefanski and Dunning re-grouped for various projects on and off in the years that followed, most notably

Miles to Mars The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...

. Pete Dunning went on to play in the Grand Rapids groups Molly, White Rabbit And Barrel Bones while Scott Stefanski and Joel Ferguson played in The Verve Pipe. In January 2009 Papa Vegas re-grouped as a five piece with John Connors replacing Force on bass, and adding Randy Tate on keyboards. The band is currently playing shows in their home state of Michigan and is working on a forthcoming album to be released in early 2010 on their own

Shiver Music Shivering (also called shuddering) is a bodily function in response to cold and extreme fear in warm-blooded animals. When the core body temperature drops, the shivering reflex is triggered to maintain homeostasis. Skeletal muscles begin to s ...

label.

Personnel

*Joel Ferguson – vocals, guitars *Pete Dunning – backup vocals, guitars *Mick Force – bass guitar *Scott Stefanski – drums, backing vocals *Randy Tate¹ – keyboards, vocals *John Conners¹ – bass guitar, vocals ¹ New members since band reformed in 2009.

Discography

*''Grounded (EP)'' - 1997, Sid Flips *#Bombshell - 3:48 *#Never - 3:26 *#Long Days - 3:34 *#Little Kisses (early version of "Something Wrong") - 2:52 *#Mesmerized - 3:35 *''Hello Vertigo'' - 1999,

*#Something Wrong - 3:00 *#Bombshell - 3:59 *#Super Telepathy - 3:37 *#Mesmerized - 3:46 *#Long Days - 4:17 *#Reason Without Meaning - 4:37 *#No Destination - 3:51 *#Beautiful Animal - 2:58 *#Through To You - 3:07 *#Sermon Underground - 3:53 *#On Your Own - 3:53 *#Resolve - 4:13 *''Gravity Wars'' - 2011 *#Comfort - 3:49 *#Find Another Way - 3:16 *#She's Made of Stone - 3:54 *#Before Our Eyes - 3:28 *#Battle Hymn of the Fearless Yard Gnome - 2:27 *#Drained - 3:33 *#One I Left Behind - 3:38 *#Shoes - 3:42

References

{{Authority control Alternative rock groups from Michigan American post-grunge musical groups Musical groups disestablished in 2000 Musical groups reestablished in 2009