GARDEN SESSIONS: Love Jones - Bacchus Girl October 19th, 2024 Underwater Sunshine Festival, NYC

Love Jones sit down for a One On One/Garden Session during The Underwater Sunshine Festival in New York City on December 19th, 2024. For more info visit: https://underwatersunshinefest.com & https://www.love-jones.com Audio & Video by: Ehud Lazin Audio Mixing by:
Chris Hawpe

Formed in 1990 by two former punk rockers, Love Jones fit into the so-called "cocktail nation" of the early '90s. In some ways a reaction to the grunge/alternative wave that swept through America in 1992, the members of the cocktail nation celebrated the aesthetics and music of the '50s and early '60s -- the lounge jazz, crooning pop, and martinis.

Former Squirrel Bait and Lemonheads drummer Ben Daughtrey and bassist Barry Thomas formed the group in the spring of 1990; soon afterward, the duo added singer/guitarist Chris Hawpe, drummer Stuart Johnson, and singer Jonathan Palmer, with Daughtrey playing various percussion instruments and singing.

After playing for a year in Louisville, KY, the group moved out to Hollywood where they eventually received a contract with Zoo Entertainment. Love Jones released its first record, Here's to the Losers, in late 1993.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Love Jones was a leader of the "Cocktail Nation" groups of the early 1990s. The genre — which included Combustible Edison, Squirrel Nut Zippers and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy — was a reaction to the grunge/alternative music of the early 1990s. Cocktail Nation bands celebrated the aesthetics and music of the 1950s and early 1960s — lounge jazz, crooning pop, and martinis. Love Jones played any sort of pop music that fit within that label: pop, blues, R&B, bossa nova, doo wop.