The Movies - Live, Worship, Shop - 07. Letters to Myself

I did not create this music. I am a fan of The Movies, an alt-rock pop-punk band active in the mid-90s (Philadelphia). After 20 years of them being gone from the internet, I wanted to bring them back.

This Music and images are posted with permission from the copyright holder, Richard Turgeon. Please support Richard's current music by checking out https://www.richardturgeon.com


MOVIES BIO:

Singer/songwriter Richard Turgeon started the Movies in Pittsburgh in 1993, playing all the major clubs with top bands like Rusted Root, Nixon Clocks, Seventh House, Brownie Mary and many more.

A few years later, Turgeon came up from the basement practice space of his drummer’s house to see Green Day’s Tre Cool counting off “She” on the David Letterman Show. He decided it was time to change the direction of the band, recruited bassist Rick Smith, and they moved to a small apartment in Center City Philadelphia to start over. All they needed was a drummer. After a series of auditions, New Hope’s Jon Huss got the job after his tryout at RPM Studios—while soul legend Patti LaBelle was practicing with her band in the room next door.

Turgeon considers 1996 the genesis of the “classic” Movies lineup. The band practiced hard and became a lean, mean pop-punk machine, sharing the stage with Pretty Poison (Then Xs&Os), The Keepsakes, and other local luminaries. They recorded “Live, Worship Shop” in a few days at Sweet Creek Studios outside New Hope, PA and an East Coast tour was booked. The record was well reviewed in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Citypaper, and a bunch of zines. Music video director Bob Cesca (Motley Crue, Iron Maiden, Everclear) used one of the tracks, “Beware of God,” in the end credits of his debut feature film, The War Effort, and created an animated video for “Tying Me Up.” Despite the growing buzz, bassist Smith would need to bow out of the band due to personal issues. Turgeon would solider on with sub bassists for several more months before taking a long hiatus from running a band to focus on a demo of solo 4-track recordings that have never been released.

In 2002, Turgeon got back in touch with Smith and Huss, and proposed recording a new album—“Whipped.” For the first time, the band would record digitally, recording the majority of tracks at a co-worker's home studio—tracks that Turgeon took home to mix in Cubase on his clamshell Apple iBook. The record was released on the band’s website only with no live shows, relegating these songs to the dustbin of forgotten indie rock history.

Post-script: Turgeon moved to San Francisco in 2002, and started a new band called Johnstown—also a vehicle for his songwriting. Before and after producing an EP with that band, he played drums with the Tender Few and the Family Arsenal. Around 2008, Turgeon took another six-year break from music to focus on writing a novel. Since 2016, he’s steadily released an album a year (sometimes two) of originals and covers, building a following and garnering airplay all over the world (including Rodney Bingenheimer’s show on SiriusXM). His entire catalog is available on Bandcamp, iTunes, Spotify, and all major streaming outlets. CDs are available through Kool Kat Records. Visit his website www.richardturgeon.com for reviews, videos, blog posts, and more.