began writing more poppy songs

Prior to creating the group, John Hampson and Brian Desveaux played in a heavy metal band, and were also members of a cover band with drummer Vincent Tattanelli called Wonderama. In 1993, the duo took time off from those bands and began writing more poppy songs, with a focus on strong songwriting: “If the song didn’t work on acoustic guitar, then it wasn’t a good song,” said Desveaux. The band’s influences were Bob Dylan , Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young . They joined with bassist Nick Dimichino and recorded eight songs with a studio drummer. Tattanelli joined the new project and the band gained Jeremy Dean as keyboardist. They recorded their debut album, Something to Listen To (1995) in nine days, which they used as their band name. The group, from St. James , began playing weekly at the Village Pub, which was regularly frequented by Midshipman from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, in Port Jefferson, New York . They released their second album Monday Songs in 1996, and won several local radio contests.