Guy Hoffman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Guy Hoffman (born May 20, 1954 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is a drummer and vocalist, formerly of such bands as Oil Tasters, BoDeans, Violent Femmes and Absinthe. He is a composer for such films as Field Day and a founding member of Radio Romeo.
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[edit] Life
Guy Hoffman began playing drums from the age of nine. He developed sklls in music and art under the direction of Eddie Allen, Silvia Spicuzza, LeRoy Augustine and Joe Ferrara within the Shorewood Public School system. From 1972 to 1976 he concentrated on watercolor painting and drawing under Professor Laurence Rathsack in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) Fine Arts programs. Nonacademically, he played popular music with local bands at live music venues throughout Wisconsin. From 1977 to 1978 he studied graphic art with Leon Travanti and graduated from UWM with a BA in both Fine Art and Visual Communications.
[edit] Music career
In the years immediately following, Guy gravitated back to playing music with a band called The Haskels on Milwaukee's thriving punk scene. He first found acclaim as a founding member of a well known Milwaukee band, the BoDeans, perhaps best known for their theme song for the TV show Party of Five. He can be seen drumming in BoDean videos for the songs "She's A Runaway" and "Fadeaway." He reunited with BoDeans singer/songwriter Sam Llanas to form the band Absinthe.
Guy was a member of the Violent Femmes from 1993 through 2001. Two versions of "Blister In The Sun," the Femmes' signature song, were recorded with Guy for the Grosse Pointe Blank soundtrack CD in 1997. He can also be seen with the Femmes in motion picture concerts and television productions such as "Woodstock '94," "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," and "VH-1 Hard Rock Live." He has performed on numerous music videos and late night talk shows in the U.S., UK, Canada, Europe and Australia. In 2005, he was included on two Violent Femmes reissued CD/DVD compilations.
In a recent re-issued work from the early 1980s by the Oil Tasters, Guy can be heard in a bass-sax-drums Post-punk trio.
In 2005, Guy formed Radio Romeo, a Los Angeles-based rock band.
In 2006, he returned to performing shows with the Violent Femmes in Southern California. Their latest CD, Archive Series No. 2 Live In Chicago Q101, showcases the trio's unique, unplugged as it were, acoustic approach with Guy on snare drum and backing vocals.
[edit] Discography
- Oil Tasters (1980)
- Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams (1986)
- New Times (1994)
- Woodstock '94 (1994) CD and VHS
- Rock!!!!! (1995)
- Grosse Pointe Blank: Music from the Film (1997)
- The Great Lost Brew Wave Album (1997)
- A Good Day To Die (1998)
- Viva Wisconsin (1999)
- Freak Magnet (2000)
- History in 3 Chords (2001)
- Something's Wrong (2001)
- Permanent Record: The Very Best Of Violent Femmes (2005)
- Permanent Record - Live & Otherwise (2005) DVD
- Archive Series No. 2: Live In Chicago Q101 (2006)
- Radio Romeo (2007)
