The Neon Boys were a short lived New York City

proto-punk Proto-punk (or protopunk) is rock music played mostly by garage bands from the 1960s to mid-1970s that foreshadowed the punk rock movement. The phrase is a retrospective label; the musicians involved were generally not originally associated wit ...

band, composed of

Tom Verlaine Tom Verlaine (born Thomas Miller, December 13, 1949) is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter, best known as the frontman of the New York City rock band Television. Biography Verlaine was born Thomas Miller in Denville, New Jersey and ...

Richard Hell Richard Lester Meyers (born October 2, 1949), better known by his stage name Richard Hell, is an American singer, songwriter, bass guitarist and writer. Hell was in several important early punk rock bands, including Neon Boys, Television and T ...

and

Billy Ficca William Joseph Ficca (born February 15, 1950, in Delaware) is an American drummer who was a founding member of the rock groups Television and The Waitresses. Career Italian origins, Ficca was a childhood friend of Tom Verlaine (aka Tom Mill ...

. The trio later went on to form the influential rock band

Television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

in 1973; Richard Hell also went on to form the influential

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

bands

the Heartbreakers The Heartbreakers, sometimes referred to as Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers, were an American punk rock band formed in New York City in 1975. The band spearheaded the first wave of punk rock. History Johnny Thunders (vocals/guitar) and Jerry N ...

and

Richard Hell and the Voidoids Richard Hell and the Voidoids were an American punk rock band, formed in New York City in 1976 and fronted by Richard Hell, a former member of the Neon Boys, Television (band), Television and the Heartbreakers. History Kentucky-born Richard He ...

Background

Two Neon Boys' recordings, "That's All I Know (Right Now)" and "Love Comes In Spurts," were released by Shake Records on a 1980 EP, backed with two songs by

. The same songs were re-released in 1991 by Overground Records with the addition of one more Neon Boys song, "High Heeled Wheels."

History

Information about the Neon Boys includes oral histories, newspaper and magazine articles, and narratives written by the band members themselves. As such, there may be some discrepancies in issues like band formation dates and songs recorded. For example, according to ''The A to Z of Alternative Music,'' only two songs were recorded by the Neon Boys. This is contradicted by Genius that lists four songs. The fact that the band never performed a live show adds to the confusion.

and

were schoolmates and friends, according to

Legs McNeil Roderick Edward "Legs" McNeil (born January 27, 1956, in Cheshire, Connecticut, United States) is an American music journalist. He is one of the three original founders of the seminal ''Punk'' magazine that gave the movement its name; as well as b ...

's book ''

Please Kill Me Roderick Edward "Legs" McNeil (born January 27, 1956, in Cheshire, Connecticut, United States) is an American music journalist. He is one of the three original founders of the seminal ''Punk'' magazine that gave the movement its name; as well as b ...

''. The two met attending the

Sanford School The Sanford School is a private school for co-ed students in PreK through high school, located in Hockessin, Delaware. Originally known as "Sunny Hills School", it was founded on September 23, 1930, by Sanford and Ellen Sawin, in memory of their ...

, a private boarding institution in

Wilmington, DE Wilmington (Unami language, Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North ...

. Richard Hell left school and moved to New York City in 1966. When interviewed, Hell has described running away from home as "one of his favorite things to do." This may be emblematic of a desire for adventure and taking chances--a trait that eventually ran through the music of the Neon Boys. Tom Verlaine joined Hell in New York in the late sixties. Additional discrepancies in the band's timeline can be seen in a ''New York Times'' article that has Verlaine arriving in 1968. An oral history written by

Marky Ramone Marc Steven Bell (born July 15, 1952) is an American drummer. He began playing in hard rock bands in the New York City area, notably Dust and Estus. He was asked to drum for punk rock band Richard Hell and the Voidoids. He replaced drummer Tommy ...

does not have either Hell or Verlaine coming to New York until 1969.

, who had previously played in a band with Verlaine, also relocated to New York. Eventually, both Hell and Verlaine would come to work in the bookstore, Cinemabilia where they befriended

Terry Ork William Terry Ork (born William Terry Collins) was an American band manager and record producer for the new wave/ punk music scene in New York City in the mid 1970s. Ork is associated with the success of the club CBGB as manager for punk band Telev ...

. Ork the store's manager had extensive connections to

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

and other assorted members of the New York music scene. Ork encouraged Verlaine and Hell to start a band and offered them rehearsal space. Richard Lloyd joined the band on Ork's suggestion. It is at this point, with a change in band line up, that the Neon Boys reformed as

Discography

; EPs's * "Time"/"Don't Die"/"That's All I Know (Right Now)"/"Love Comes In Spurts" (1980; 7") * "Time"/"Don't Die"/"That's All I Know (Right Now)"/"Love Comes In Spurts"/"High Heeled Wheels" (1991)

References

External links

Neon Boys biography
at

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 ...

* Musical groups established in 1972 Musical groups disestablished in 1974 Musical groups from New York City Protopunk groups {{US-rock-band-stub