Jimmie's Chicken Shack

Infobox musical artist
Name = Jimmie's Chicken Shack


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Origin = Annapolis, Maryland, United States
Genre = Alternative rock
Funk rock
Years_active = 1994–present
Label = Koch Records
Def Jam Records
Rocket Records
Fowl Records
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Current_members = Jimi Haha
Matt Jones
Christian Valiente
Jerome Maffeo
Past_members = Casey Hean
Derrick Dorsey
Kevin Murphy
Mike Sipple
Dave "Double D" Dowling
Che Colavita Lemon
Jim Chaney
Jim McD
Notable_instruments =

Jimmie's Chicken Shack is an American alternative rock band from Annapolis, Maryland. They emerged through MTV as one of the first Post-Grunge bands of the era. Jimmie's Chicken Shack was discovered in 1994 and subsequently managed by their producer Richard James Burgess.

The Beginning

Jimmie's Chicken Shack began as an acoustic duo between singer/vocalist, Jimi Haha, and lead guitarist, Jim McD. They then added drummer Jim Chaney and bassist Che Lemon. The band's name is taken from the name of a restaurant where Malcolm X used to hang out and get high. The most low-profile and short-lived band member, Travis Rowe, is somewhat of a legend amongst early fans of Jimmie's Chicken Shack. Travis' endearing nature helped propel Jimmie's Chicken Shack's popularity, especially in live settings where the band played to large audiences. To this day, fans still ponder what has become of Travis, the beloved "boy wonder". Jim Chaney was a problem from the start. He became the "runner" for the band, renting cargo vans from Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Annapolis. This was their main mode of transportation for many of their fist performances. Unfortunately, James became involved heavily into a heroin habit that eventually led to the break up of the original band members.

"The bass player from Ten x's (Ten Time Big, Haha's previous band) decided we should call ourselves Jimmies Chicken Shack. He pulled it from the Malcolm X biography ...from a place where X used to hang out. At the time it was just the three Jimmies..."-Jimi Haha

Jimmie's Chicken Shack has released a total of seven albums and two EPs with the help of Travis. The first four early independent releases are: "Chicken Scratch", "Spitburger Lottery", "2for1 Special", and "Giving Something Back". "Chicken Scratch" and "Spitburger Lottery" were combined to make up the "2for1 Special" CD. These four were on the influential regional indie label Fowl Records.

"Pushing the Salmanilla Envelope"

Not long after Travis became interested in the band, he helped JCS to sign with Elton John's label Rocket Records and released "Pushing the Salmanilla Envelope" in June 1997. Singles from Pushing the Salmanilla Envelope were "High," "Dropping Anchor," "Blood," and "Another Day." "High" and "Dropping Anchor" both have music videos. The video for "High" was shown fairly often on MTV's "120 Minutes." If you look into the background of these videos, you can see Travis (aka big pimpin) surrounded by supermodels wearing lingerie and rubbing themselves all over him in erotic measures. To this end, MTV eventually pulled the video from the television and refused to allow such nudity to be allowed again. This was a monumental achievemet for Travis, and netted him the nickname "Big Pimpin".

Most of the songs that were included on "PTSE" were included on previous releases. Three other unknown songs were considered for this record, but never made it onto the release.

"Bring Your Own Stereo"

"Bring Your Own Stereo" was released by Island Defjam. The time between the two major releases was a troubled time for the band internally. There were several changes of members and also trouble with the major label as they were shunted from Rocket/Island to Rocket/A&M then back to Rocket/Island and after the sale of Polygram to Universal Music Group, they were moved onto Island Defjam. "Do Right" and "Trash" were both singles released from "B.Y.O.S". "Do Right" was the first single released and the only JCS music video to make it onto MTV's "Total Request Live" with Carson Daly. "Trash" never received much airplay, mainly due to lack of support by the record label.

With early releases of "B.Y.O.S", there was a card to mail to Fowl Records for a free copy of the "Slow Change EP". This EP is rare, but can still be occasionally found.

The tour for this album included dates playing with bands such as Creed, Fuel, Finger Eleven, and Joydrop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WR3gF9J0hQ

"re.present"

After fighting for nearly three years to get released from Island Defjam, they released "re.present" on Koch Records in April 2004. "Falling Out" (featuring Aaron Lewis of Staind) was the only single released from "re.present". A music video was made for the single and received limited airplay through various outlets.

The title is believed to mean that this effort by Jimmie's Chicken Shack is meant to re-present the band to the public. The themes in the lyrics and music on this disc varies from comedically clever ("Gettoveritt") to serious and dark ("Happiness").

"Fail on Cue"

Fail On Cue was released in January 2008 on Fowl Records. The working title was "Making Babies". Some of the new songs that are being performed live that will appear on the upcoming album are "Mutha Luvas," "The Quiet Ones," "Another Great Idea," and what was suppose to be the title track, "Making Babies." The album will also include the bands second cover a song, Fugazi's "Waiting Room". There were also rumors that the new disc will include "Confident," a JCS song that has been demoed before for other releases, but has never made it onto a CD.

In 2006, the band sold its old tour van through its message board. Unknowingly, they left a CD labeled "Demos for 6" in the van. These demos are unlikely to circulate due to the request of the band to the van's new owner.

Trivia

*Casey Hean has a new project called News Travels Fast
*Matt Jones played in Aphile before joining JCS.
*Jerome and Christian both played in Fidel.
*There is misinformation on a few reputable sites claiming that JCS released a CD called "The Original Recipe." There was talk around 2002 of an official live CD to come out, but it never happened.

how Antics

JCS shows often include comedic antics by the band. Some of these include:
*Jimi Haha licking his guitar to show the crowd his "guitar licks."
*The entire band taking shots on stage and getting drunk - tequila being their drink of choice.
*Making fun of each other.
*Jimi doing backflips off of his guitar amp into the crowd and setting his hair on fire.
*Jimi telling the entire crowd to chant a fan's name "Erik Casano"
*Jimi smoking weed on stage became a regular occurrence.
*Jimi finally succumbed to industry pressure to drop all the members of the original band, and was forced to play with the label appointed members.

Members

Current

*Jimi Haha – vocals, guitar
*Matt Jones – guitar, vocals
*Christian Valiente – bass, vocals
*Jerome Maffeo – drums

Past

*Casey Hean – guitar
*Derrick Dorsey – bass
*Kevin "Thunderball" Murphy – drums
*Mike Sipple – drums
*Dave "Double D" Dowling – guitar
*Che Colavita Lemon – bass
*Jim Chaney – drums
*Jim McDonough – guitar
*Travis Rowe: Girlie Girl Chaser

Discography

Albums

*"Chicken Scratch (1993)
*"Spitburger Lottery (1994)
*"2for1 Special (1995)
*"giving something back (1995)
*"Pushing the Salmanilla Envelope (1997)
*"Bring Your Own Stereo (1999)
*"Re.present (2004)
*"Fail on Cue (2008)

EPs

*"The Bongjam EP (1998)
*"Slow Change EP (1999)

ingles

*"High (1996) - Mainstream Rock Tracks (#20)
*"Dropping Anchor (1998) - Mainstream Rock Tracks (#33)
*"Do Right (1999) - Modern Rock Tracks (#12)

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/jimmieschickenshack Jimmie's Chicken Shack Myspace page]
* [http://www.jimmieschickenshack.net/ Jimmie's Chicken Shack Official Website]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/JimmiesChickenShack Jimmie's Chicken Shack collection] at the Internet Archive's live music archive
* [http://www.bmoretunes.com/?page_id=64 Interview with Jimi Haha] by Greg Szeto of Bmore Live