The Spin Doctors were formed out of the New School Jazz Program in New York City in 1987. They were originally very closely connected with John Popper's band, Trucking Company. In fact, the two bands existed simultaneously with almost identical lineups for some time. Eventually, Popper decided that maintaining two bands was too much work. So, he split off to devote all his time to the newly re-created Blues Traveler. The rest stayed with the Trucking Company. Popper would later reappear as a guest on some of the Spin Doctors' albums.
Two of the remaining members, Eric Schenkman and Chris Barron recruited drummer Aaron Comess and bassist Mark White out of the Mannes School of Music in New York City into the new band. Mark thought up the new name "Spin Doctors" and soon the new bands was off to a good start. Their first gigs were played in 1988-1989 at Columbia University. Specifically, their first gig ever was played at the Delta Phi house (a place they'd play several more times over the next year).
Everything was going along all right until 1991 when their breakthrough album Pocket Full of Kryptonite hit. This album was practically issued out to everyone. Among other things, this album featured the most played song of the entire year (Two Princes) and after 10 years, it's still listenable.
Three years later, they would release Turn It Upside Down to commercial disappointment. In 1994, they also ended almost five solid years of touring and recording with a world tour. Finally, Eric Schenkman - one of the band's founding members - decided to leave after some tension within the group.
Following the loss of their guitarist, the Doctors went back to touring and recording. Their next release was You've Got To Believe In Something in 1996. They also began sessions on a fourth album, Here Comes The Bride in 1999. However, after this album, two problems surfaced: bassist Mark White became unhappy with the direction of the band and left, and Chris Barron lost his voice and was unable to speak for six months. When Chris finally recovered, the two remaining members decided to give it up.
That was in 2000. In September 2001, the Wetlands Preserve, an NYC club, came calling to all the former members. See, the Wetlands was closing down and wanted to have a series of final shows with all the bands that had played there a lot. This included the Spin Doctors. Even though the original four hadn't played together in about seven years, they decided to give it a try. The show went great and they embarked on a short eight city tour to see what would happen. As of this writing, word is they are working on another album.
Discography
Can't Say No - November 25, 1989 (demo tape, out of print)
Piece of Glass - March 4, 1990 (demo tape, out of print)
Up For Grabs - January, 1991 (EP, out of print, rereleased as Homebelly Groove)
Pocket Full of Kryptonite - August, 1991
Homebelly Groove... Live - November 24, 1992
Turn It Upside Down - May 14, 1994
You've Got To Believe In Something - May 14, 1996
Here Comes The Bride - June 1, 1999
Just Go Ahead Now: A Retrospective - 2001
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