Three days after I moved to Boston in the fall of 1991, Lynne Shaughnessy, the girl that would one day become my sister-in-law, took me to Avalon, a rock club on Lansdowne Street behind Fenway Park’s Green Monster, to see a local band called Tribe. I’d never put much stock into local bands, though that had more to do with where I grew up (central Ohio) than anything else. But these guys, they were unlike any “local” band I had ever seen. A quintet with the standard Bon Jovi/Duran Duran setup of gtr/bass/keys/vox/drums, their songs were hard edged and insanely catchy, boasting lyrics that were far deeper and darker than their hook filled melodies would suggest. They weren’t flashy musicians, but they were solid, with guitarist Eric Brosius’s laid back guitar playing complementing the boisterous rhythm section of Greg LoPiccolo and drummer David Penzo perfectly.
And then there was Janet.
Lead singer Janet LaValley was simply mesmerizing to watch onstage. She didn’t just move around, she prowled the stage like a big cat. Dressed mainly in black, to match her jet black hair, she had a voice like Siouxsie Sioux’s but with better pitch, exotic but also extremely powerful. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about her was that she wasn’t even the prettiest girl in the band (that honor belonged to keyboardist Terri Barous). Still, just try and take your eyes off of her when she had a mic in her hands. She was a truly blessed front woman.
Read more about my quest to find Tribe here.
Posted in: Artists, Lost Bands, Pop, Radio
Hi there-
Great piece on Tribe! But I think their first record was “Here At The Home,” which came out in 1990 on Rutabaga Records and consisted of material recorded between 1986 and 1989. It featured production by Danny Bennett (one of Tony’s sons; the other, Dae, is an engineer on this record) and Greg Hawkes of The Cars, among others. It is simply astonishing, but hopelessly out of print, alas. Desert island material, to be sure!
Cheers,
Adam
Thanks for the piece on Tribe. The band is truly
my personal favorite. I couldn’t agree more with your thoughts on Sleeper – the production and
marketing support on Sleeper really hurt the band.
The sound was very un Tribe like and they toured too often and in the wrong venues to support
Sleeper. There were alot of rumors when Dave
Penzo left that everything was not all right with Tribe – obviously they had some truth.
Do you know if Janet still desires to make music.
I miss her tremendously and I will stack her talent against anyone’s.
Also, I was was very surprised that Eric, Greg, Terri never really got involved with other projects after Tribe – I always was very
disappointed by that. Anyway, I really enjoyed
your piece.
I only got to see Tribe once. It was shortly before they called it a day. I did get to see Janet LaValley solo many times. Her band was made up of 3 guys (Mike Levesque, Norm DeMoura & Scott Levesque) who I went to high school with and one who was a few years younger than the rest of us (Bob Melanson).
Tribe’s music was way ahead of its time. They quit too early. If they had kept going a little longer I think something big would have happened. They where working on some songs that would have made a great third album. Many bands have hit it big on their third album (Aerosmith, Def Leppard & Bon Jovi to name a few). You can download some of the demos they where working on just before they broke up on my Tribe website. The members of Tribe where kind enough to let me share what they where working on back in 1993 with everyone. You can also download their first full-length release “Here At The Home” on the site. There is a message board and lots of pictures and a pretty extensive discography on the site – http://www.tribeonline.info/.
I hope this helps anyone who is interested in finding out more information on Tribe.
Tribe is one of the best band i’ve ever heard. More than 15 years after, I still listening to them.
I’m french and I was living in Paris when I first heard their music on an alternative FM radio. We were almost two fans there, a friend of mine and myself.
I’ve bought the first and the second album. They were my favourite music when I took my car and drive in the mountain of the Alpes and go skiing!
Long life to their music. Now, it’s playing in space…
saw tribe play many times including what i believe was their last concert in the orpheum theatre…one of their songs just came on my ipod and i wondered if they were still around…google search brought me here…nice to read that the various members seem to be doing well…they were my favorite band by far in the 90’s and their music still stands the test of time…too bad they did not stay together but what they left will be with me forever…thanks to a great band!
I never had the privilege of seeing Tribe play but I have felt the powerful feeling their music conveys.
I believe Rescue Me is one of the most beautiful songs ever written; Eric Brosius’s guitar vibe mixed with his wife’s gorgeous vocals is a perfect match.