THE MOD FUN (HANGIN AROUND SINGLE)

This is my favorite record from the Mod Fun, It's a solid 60's influenced garage/psych/pop single. The Mod Fun started playing music together as childhood friends in early 1979, and initially called their band Rage. They counted a lot of FM radio rock and early punk among their influences, before their approach to music was revitalized when they discovered The Jam in 1982. Mod Fun wrote and recorded their first original songs in 1982-83 and released them on cassette only. Initially, there was a 4-track recording of four songs entitled "If You Are New" and later, a collection called Release For The Mates. The first collection "If You Are New" was produced by Steve Peer of the New York/New Jersey act TV Toy. During this time, Mod Fun also started performing frequently in the New York/New Jersey area. In fact they played their first club date on January 12, 1983 at the infamous "DIRT" club in Bloomfield, New Jersey. During the band's introduction that night, the club's owner, Johnny Dirt, made it a point to tell the crowd that the band members were only 15 years old.
In 1984 they released their first single, "I Am With You" b/w "Happy Feeling" on their own label, New Records. Playing frequently at such New York City clubs as CBGB, The Dive and R.T. Firefly, Mod Fun signed a record deal with NYC's Midnight Records. They released their first album, 90 Wardour Street in 1985. Their live shows were high energy (sometimes reckless) spectacles, which have been said to have influenced many people who saw them to start bands of their own.
On the strength of their first releases, Mod Fun set out on their first United States tour in spring 1985, playing concerts from New York City to Los Angeles to San Francisco. With the bulk of their performances taking place in California, the band carved a niche in the Paisley Underground scene popularized by bands such as The Bangles and The Three O'Clock. After returning from the tour, the band had a falling out with Midnight Records and released a three-song EP on their own Makin' Tyme label entitled "Hangin' Round". Shortly after the release of "Hangin' Round" they signed with New York City's Cryptovision Records. They recorded material for a single (Mary Goes 'Round b/w Grounded) and a second album, Dorothy's Dream.
In spring 1986, Mod Fun (who had taken to referring to themselves as The Mod Fun) set out for their second US tour, which brought them to many more cities than their previous tour. It was during that second tour that Dorothy's Dream was released. After returning from the second tour, Mod Fun played in the local area, including at a sold-out show at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey. They were featured in many local, national and international articles, and were in talks with local musicians/producers such as Richard Barone of The Bongos and Peter Zaremba of The Fleshtones about producing their next recordings. It has been said that Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedys were fans, and were interested in working with them.
In spring 1987, Mod Fun set out on a European tour that brought them to such places as Bern, Switzerland; Vienna, Austria; Rimini, Florence and San Marino, Italy and Hamburg and Berlin, Germany. Tensions caused the band to break up after their final show in Berlin. Soon thereafter, Mick and Bobby formed Crocodile Shop.
In 1995, Get Hip Records released a retrospective of most of the band's recorded output (omitting the Midnight Records recordings because of legal issues), called Past Forward. In 2004, Get Hip reissued the CD, and Mod Fun played a reunion show at The Saint in Asbury Park, New Jersey. This inspired Mod Fun to continue on where they left off. Since then, Mod Fun has played extensively in the New York/New Jersey area, as well as Philadelphia, Nashville, Baltimore and Chicago.
In 2007 the band released a new CD on their Makin' Tyme label called Now...and Again. A double-length CD with ten new original songs and ten re-recorded classics from their 1980s catalog, it also includes a live version of "I Believe" recorded at their July 2006 show at CBGB. As of 2009, Mod Fun was writing new material and playing extensively in the New York City area.
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REFERENCES - WIKIPEDIA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mod_Fun
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MAKING TYME RECORDS 1986
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1. I BELIEVE
2. YOU'VE BEEN HANGIN ROUND
3. ACTION TYME
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***DOWNLOAD***