St. Johnny

Alternative rockers St. Johnny formed in Hartford, CT, in 1991. The quartet -- Bill Whitten (guitar, vocals), Jim Elliott (bass), Wayne Letitia (drums), Tom Leonard (guitar) -- released a 7" record on their own label, Asthma Records, which gained enough attention to have Chicago's Ajax Records put out another single. The two singles of noisily melodic dirty punk rock led to a minor bidding war in late 1992, with DGC Records emerging as the winner. Caroline Records put out a compilation of the two independent singles (plus four unreleased tracks) in 1993 before the 1994 release of the band's full-length debut, 1994's Speed Is Dreaming.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo