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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Facebook interest brings Black Happy back for reunion

Members of Black Happy  join appreciative fans during a show in 1993.  (File)
Correspondent

After 15 years of dormancy, Black Happy owes its run of mostly sold-out reunion shows to Facebook.

“The catalyst that got us back together was this Facebook page, ‘Black Happy Needs to Reunite,’ ” guitarist Greg Hjort said in a telephone interview from his home in California.

“We were hearing echoes from friends but we didn’t know if anyone would want to come out for a show. But when it started with the social media stuff we thought, ‘Maybe there’s some interest is this.’ ”

Formed in 1990 in Coeur d’Alene, Black Happy topped regional rock best-seller lists during its heyday, nestled alongside the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Sir Mix-A-Lot. The band sold more than 37,000 copies of its debut album and garnered major-label attention.

Black Happy’s sound, highlighted by a three-piece horn section, was as hard to pin down as it was infectious, and the live show was equally intense.

The band – consisting of Hjort, singer/guitarist Paul Hemenway, bassist Mark Hemenway, drummer Scott Jessick, percussionist Jim Bruce, saxophonist Daryl Elmore and trombonists Mike Hasseries and Jay Carkhuff – carved out a unique niche in the landscape of Northwest rock that smashed together a brand mix of metal, funk, roots rock, jazz and power pop that was outside of the trend, if not slightly ahead of it.

“We were always in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Hjort said. “We had a record attendance at Rock Candy (in Seattle). I mean lines were wrapped around the block. Every label on the planet was taking us out to dinner and they didn’t know what do with us.

“We were the antithesis of grunge. We weren’t wearing flannels or Doc Martens … our heroes were early ’80s Police. We dressed like that. In short shorts and tube socks. We were a bunch of guys from Idaho and we didn’t care.

“And then the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones blew up a year after we broke up.”

At the time described by The Spokesman-Review as “the next big thing,” Black Happy sold out venues all over the Northwest during the mid-’90s. But eventually the band’s strength – the eight unique personalities and musical tastes – became too much to contain.

“When you have eight people on the road and eight temperaments it gets tough,” Hjort said. “When we went in to record the third record it was apparent that some of us were going in different musical directions and it wasn’t jelling like the other two records.”

When the members of Black Happy split, their lives shot off in different directions as well, in geography and type. They work all over the country in such diverse industries as coffee, pharmaceuticals and high-tech security.

There is an ordained minister in their ranks as well as one working musician: Bruce can be seen playing in Cristopher Lucas’ band on Thursday nights at Zola.

They all keep up with music in some capacity, but don’t expect much in the way of new material from Black Happy this weekend.

The reason the band has sold out three of its five reunion shows in Spokane and Seattle this month is because the fans want to hear their favorites, Hjort said.

“When you play somewhere live and the crowd is singing back to you your own song louder than you can play it on the P.A., that’s the moment that it crystallizes,” he said.

“We’ve heard from people on Facebook with moving stories. Someone said they played our music at their brother’s funeral. Someone else said, ‘I met my wife at your show.’

“Somehow we are the luckiest group of guys on the planet and we are humbled and awed to be included in that magic.”