FAQ1

1. Nobody But You

1.1 Who started The Hooters and when?
The Hooters were founded in 1980 by Eric Bazilian, Rob Hyman and David Uosikkinen. They played their first gig July 4, 1980.

1.2 How did the Hooters get their name? What is a melodica?
The band was named for a nickname of the melodica, which is a keyboard harmonica, a somewhat popular instrument, German in origin, made by Hohner.

The story is that the first time Eric and Rob were in the studio doing a demo tape, they had borrowed a melodica from their friends who helped them write "Hanging on a Heartbeat" (the Rangos - Glenn Goss and Jeff Ziv). The engineer at the session, John Senior, kept yelling 'Give me more Hooter' and the name stuck. At first they thought it was a lousy name, a joke- "right, we'll call ourselves the Hooters!"- but everybody liked it (except Dave, who got out voted)

1.3 What band members were/are in the Hooters?
Eric, Rob, and David have been Hooters every year since 1980.
1980-1983: Bobby Woods (bass) & John Kuzma (guitar)
1983-1984: Rob Miller (bass)
1984-1987: Andy King (bass, vocals)
1992-1993: Mindy Jostyn (violin, harmonica, guitar, vocals etc)
1983-present: John Lilley (guitar)
1988-present: Fran Smith, Jr. (bass, vocals)

1.4 Where are the ex-members now?
After the Hooters breakup in 83, David briefly formed Youth Camp with Kuzma & Woods. In the late 80s, Woods & Kuzma had a band called the Heartbeats; "Love and Indecision" was their big song locally. Kuzma also had some solo stuff, and played guitar on Robert Scott Thayer's CD Sacrifice (1993).

Rob Miller has worked with several artists since leaving, including Tommy Conwell & The Young Rumblers (also managed by Steve Mountain, see 2.1.6). See also: AMG.

Andy King released a CD in 1992 entitled SPIRITUAL PRE-SCHOOL which can still be found around Philly; he plays some local gigs still, both solo & with bands, and he did programming on Patrick O'Hearn's Black Delilah (1990), and he cowrote several songs on Gang of Four's Brief History of the Twentieth Century (1990). I�ve also heard (very unofficially) that he is involved in television production. See also: AMG

Mindy Jostyn picked up where her solo career had left off and released an independent album in 1995 (Five Miles From Hope) and another in 1997 (Cedar Lane). She also appears on several other albums. Mindy passed away in 2005, but there is info at http://www.mindyjostyn.com about her music and also Mindy�s favorite charities.

1.5 What bands did the members play in before Hooters?
Rob Miller came to the Hooters from Robert Hazard's popular band, the Heros.

Andy King played in Jack of Diamonds and played Sitar on The Soft Boys' Underwater Moonlight (1980).

John started rock seriously in the mid-70s as manager and guitarist of the Get Right Band; he spent 2 years with Robert Hazard's Heros before Hooters.

David played in many bands.

Fran Smith Jr's very first band was called The Road Runners, formed with a friend at age 14. According to him, they didn't even play instruments until a year later! Other bands: Glad (at 16), Dancing Bear (at 19), The Shakes. He later had much success as a member of Johnny's Dance Band, Cats on a Smooth Surface, and worked with Glen Burtnick & Bruce Springsteen.

Mindy Jostyn had her own band Mindy and the Cyclone Rangers for many years, but was best known for her tours with Billy Joel, Joe Jackson, and the New York Rock and Soul Review, with Donald Fagan.

Rob's first band was the Trolls; later there was The Back Door Blues and Buckwheat. Rob & Rick Chertoff had a band called Wax in college, which was 2 drummers and 2 keyboardists; they had signed a record contract and cut tracks, but the label went bankrupt and the tracks were never released. In 1977, with Eric, they formed a progressive group called Baby Grand, which released 2 albums on Arista: Baby Grand (1977) & Ancient Medicine (1978); Rick produced but didn't play.

In high school one of Eric's bands was the psychedelic power trio Evil Seed; he played local coffeehouses on the folk scene through college.

1.6 Who are Rick Chertoff & Steve Mountain?
Rick Chertoff is Eric and Rob's college buddy from the University of Pennsylvania. He met Rob in Biology Lab, who later introduced him to Eric. Rick produced the 3 Columbia Hooters albums, co-wrote many Hooters songs, and has basically helped them get business throughout their career. He was also involved in Largo (see section 2.9).

Steve Mountain is the Hooters' "manager, therapist & CEO". He was hired in 1983 to take over the business portion of the band, which was taking up too much time and interfering with the creative process. Rob first met Steve while co-managing one of the Cabarets with Betsy Berlin and had built a good working relationship with him.