10,000 MANIACS

alternative rock · folk rock · pop rock

10,000 Maniacs is an American alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Jamestown, New York, playing jangle pop and folk rock. The group first worked as Still Life before taking a name drawn from a 1964 horror film. Its founding lineup was Dennis Drew on keyboards, Steven Gustafson on bass, Robert Buck on guitar and Teri Newhouse on vocals, with John Lombardo soon joining on guitar and vocals; Natalie Merchant became lead singer after Newhouse departed, and Jerry Augustyniak joined as permanent drummer in 1983. Merchant fronted the band through its commercial peak on In My Tribe (1987), Blind Man's Zoo (1989) and Our Time in Eden (1992), a run that produced These Are Days and Trouble Me, and closed with the live MTV Unplugged (1993). She announced her departure in 1993, playing her last concert with the group on 28 July that year. Mary Ramsey, a violinist and violist who had recorded with Lombardo as the duo John & Mary, took over lead vocals. Lombardo, who had left in 1986, rejoined in 1994; Buck died in 2000. Later records include the film soundtrack Music from the Motion Picture (2013) and Twice Told Tales (2015), a set of traditional British Isles material. The current lineup pairs Ramsey on lead vocals, violin and viola with founding members Drew, Gustafson and Lombardo, longtime drummer Augustyniak, and Ben Medina on lead guitar. The band marks its forty-fifth anniversary with a weekend festival in Jamestown from 3 to 5 September 2026, headlining the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts, with proceeds going to scholarship funds administered by the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, among them the Robert Buck Memorial Scholarship. It appears at The Celestia Theater in Wadsworth, Ohio.

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