Them Terribles is an American rock band based in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

History

In 2001, while juniors in high school, cousins Jonny Black (former lead guitarist) and Hunter Black (former rhythm guitarist) formed a band under the name "Standard Issue" along with current Them Terribles lead singer Matt Green. Jonny recruited Joey Benenati, a fellow student at Santa Barbara High School to play drums. The band was originally rounded out by Mikee Hudson on bass who was a high school friend of Hunter and Matt. Most of them had known each other since grade school,. In 2003 they moved to Los Angeles to attend college and continued playing gigs under the name "Mind Your Own". Geoff Franklin, a student at Loyola Marrymount University with Hunter and Jonny, replaced Mikee Hudson on bass. The band decided to change their name to Them Terribles in 2005. The name was a spoof of "The Tearaways", which is the name of the drummer, Joey Benenati's, father's band. Soon after, the band became a four-piece without rhythm guitarist Hunter Black. In 2007 the band gained national recognition after placing in the top three in an

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to sh ...

-sponsored band contest, leading to tours throughout the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

. In late 2008 the lead guitarist Jonny Black was replaced by Marcus Affeldt and bass player Geoff Franklin was replaced by Jimmy Marvitch. Since 2008 the newly formed Them Terribles, which retained singer Matt Green and drummer Joey Benenati, continue to play shows around the country and gain popularity.

Style and influences

The band plays punk and 1960s-inspired straight-ahead rock music, in an independent

garage band Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

style. They mention

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, International Noise Conspiracy, and

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as influences and have been compared with

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, and

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (sometimes abbreviated to BRMC) is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. The group originally consisted of Peter Hayes (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Robert Levon Been (vocals, bass, guitar), and Nick ...

Discography

*Rock, Paper, Terribles, self-published EP, 2007.

Film

Bustin' Down The Door ''Bustin' Down The Door'' is a 2008 documentary film chronicling the rise of professional surfing in the early 1970s. The film follows a group of young surfers from Australia and South Africa, including Shaun Tomson, Wayne 'Rabbit' Bartholomew, ...

, 2008, soundtrack.

Awards and recognition

*2005, Velvet Jones "Battle of the Bands". Despite being forced off stage by club management partway through their performance for throwing a beer bottle into the audience, the band won the contest, leading to a touring spot on the

Vans Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...

. *2005, "Rock the Plank", Los Angeles, winner. *In 2007 the band entered

's annual "Dew Circuit Breakout" contest on a lark, after watching a television commercial for the event. They were one of twelve finalists, out of a field of approximately 5,000 entries. As one of the final three the band played at MTV's studios at

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. As a result of its appearance in the contest, the band was featured in at least two MTV video features, and placed on rotation on MTV2.

References

{{reflist

External links

themterribles.com
- official website
to Know Them Terribles
- MTV short documentary about band Garage rock groups from California Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical groups established in 2003