History

In 2001, while juniors in high school, cousins Jonny Black (former lead guitarist) and Hunter Black (former rhythm guitarist) formed a band under the name "Standard Issue" along with current Them Terribles lead singer Matt Green. Jonny recruited Joey Benenati, a fellow student at Santa Barbara High School to play drums. The band was originally rounded out by Mikee Hudson on bass who was a high school friend of Hunter and Matt. Most of them had known each other since grade school,. In 2003 they moved to Los Angeles to attend college and continued playing gigs under the name "Mind Your Own". Geoff Franklin, a student at Loyola Marrymount University with Hunter and Jonny, replaced Mikee Hudson on bass. The band decided to change their name to Them Terribles in 2005. The name was a spoof of "The Tearaways", which is the name of the drummer, Joey Benenati's, father's band. Soon after, the band became a four piece without rhythm guitarist Hunter Black. In 2007 the band gained national recognition after placing in the top three in an MTV2

MTV2

MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...

-sponsored band contest, leading to tours throughout the West Coast. In late 2008 the lead guitarist Jonny Black was replaced by Marcus Affeldt and bass player Geoff Franklin was replaced by Jimmy Marvitch. Since 2008 the newly formed Them Terribles, which retained singer Matt Green and drummer Joey Benenati, continue to play shows around the country and gain popularity.

Style and influences

The band plays punk and 1960s-inspired straight-ahead rock music, in an independent garage band

Garage band

The term garage band can refer to:* A band that performs garage rock* GarageBand, audio production software published by Apple Inc.* GarageBand.com, a website that helps publicize emerging bands...

 style. They mention Misfits, International Noise Conspiracy, and The Zombies

The Zombies

The Zombies are an English rock band, formed in 1961 in St Albans and led by Rod Argent, on piano and keyboards, and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group scored a UK and US hit in 1964 with "She's Not There"...

 as influences and have been compared with The Hives

The Hives

The Hives are a Swedish garage rock band that first garnered attention in the early 2000s as a prominent group of the garage rock revival. Their mainstream success came with the release of the "greatest hits" album Your New Favourite Band, featuring their most well-known song "Hate to Say I Told...

, The Strokes

The Strokes

The Strokes are an American indie rock band formed in 1999 in New York City. Consisting of Julian Casablancas , Nick Valensi , Albert Hammond, Jr. , Nikolai Fraiture and Fabrizio Moretti ....

, Richard Hell

Richard Hell

Richard Hell is a singer, songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer.Richard Hell was an innovator of punk music and fashion. He was one of the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins...

, Dion & the Belmonts, The Animals

The Animals

The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...

, The Von Bondies

The Von Bondies

The Von Bondies were an American alternative rock band. The group disbanded in July 2011. Its most recent members were Jason Stollsteimer on vocals and lead guitar, Christy Hunt on rhythm guitar and Leann Banks on bass guitar...

, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, now based in Los Angeles. BRMC is known for their garage rock, blues, folk revival, neo-psychedelia sound. They are influenced by bands such as: The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Verve, The Rolling Stones, Oasis, T...

.

Awards and recognition

• 2005, Velvet Jones "Battle of the Bands". Despite being forced off stage by club management partway through their performance for throwing a beer bottle into the audience, the band won the contest, leading to a touring spot on the Vans Warped Tour.
• 2005, "Rock the Plank", Los Angeles, winner.
• In 2007 the band entered MTV2
  MTV2
  MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...
  
  's annual "Dew Circuit Breakout" contest on a lark, after watching a television commercial for the event. They were one of twelve finalists, out of a field of approximately 5,000 entries. As one of the final three the band played at MTV's studios at Times Square
  Times Square
  Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
  
   in New York City
  New York City
  New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
  
  . As a result of its appearance in the contest, the band was featured in at least two MTV video features, and placed on rotation on MTV2.

External links

• themterribles.com - official website
• to Know Them Terribles - MTV short documentary about band