Fighting Gravity, Cracker & Everything

The Richmond, VA-based ska outfit Fighting Gravity comprised vocalist Schiavone McGee, guitarist David “Tree” Triano, bassist Dave Peterson, keyboardist Eric Lawson, trombonist Chris Leitch, saxophonist Karl von Klein and drummer Mike Boyd. Formed while its members were attending Virginia Polytechnic Institute during the mid-’80s, the group — originally dubbed “Boy O Boy” — spent the next decade touring relentlessly, playing between 150 to 200 dates a year up and down the Eastern seaboard. 

During Cracker‘s heyday in the 1990s, the Virginia-based band molded elements of alternative pop/rock and country into several irreverent, buzzworthy anthems. Singer/guitarist  made no attempt to mask his affinity for traditional roots music, but his own background was far from traditional, as he spent the ’80s fronting the quirky alternative outfit . Shortly after  embarked on a long hiatus in 1990,  began demoing new material with guitarist  and bassist Davey Faragher. The three musicians named the project Cracker (although several of those early demos would later surface under the title David Lowery Demo Mixes) and set up their headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. By 1991, the band had signed a recording contract with  and enlisted the help of several drummers (, Rick Jaeger, and Phil Jones), all of whom helped shape the sound of Cracker’s debut album.

The six members of Everything met at Virginia’s James Madison University. They formed the band in 1989 and started touring full-time in 1992. Richard Bradley (tenor sax, guitar, percussion, vocals), Nathan Brown (drums, percussion, lead vocals), Craig Honeycutt (guitar, lead vocals), Mark Reinhardt (keyboards, trumpet, trombone, vocals), David Slankard (bass) and Stephen Van Dam (guitar, alto sax, clarinet, vocals) mix elements of funk, rock, ska, jazz, and Latin music on their debut for Capricorn, Labrador (1995), an album previously released on the band’s label in mid-1994. Super Natural followed in 1998 and included the single “Hooch,” which became a hit when it was featured on the soundtrack of The Waterboy. After some time off and two years in the studio, the group returned with People Are Moving in 2001.