About Me
PROFESSIONAL BIO:
In the mid-to-late 90's, Ted Lukas served as the premier songwriter, lead guitar player, and heart and soul behind Big Deal Recording Artists, Barely Pink. He is featured on the group's Big Deal debut, Number One Fan ('97), and their follow-up release, Ellie's Suitcase ('99). Both Big Deal releases were also licensed to the major label, JVC/Victor in Japan. Ted Lukas and Barely Pink were also featured on Big Deal's 1997 Burt Bacharach tribute CD, "What the World Needs Now."
Since 1998, Ted Lukas has led Tampa Bay's breakthrough americana band Hangtown, releasing two full length CDs: Here For Now (1999) on the Florida based Blue Heart label, and Eleven Reasons (2001) on Mississippi based Black Dog Records, a label founded by members of the legendary alternative country band, Blue Mountain.
In 2003 singer/songwriter Ted Lukas released a solo CD, Distracted, to much critical acclaim. By late 2004, Hangtown began recording new songs for the 2006 EP release Gone Today, Here Tomorrow.
The 2008 solo release, Misled, finds Ted Lukas returning to his power-pop roots. The 10-songs recorded for this self-produced, self-released CD captures the dynamic guitars, catchy melodies, and heartfelt vocals that were once made popular by classic artists such as Big Star, Nick Lowe, and Badfinger.
Over the past fifteen years, Ted Lukas has appeared at some of the most reputable, well known original music venues and showcase events in the U.S. Be sure to keep checking www.myspace.com/tedlukas for a full list of upcoming live appearances.
PERSONAL HISTORY
I got my start in suburban Chicago in the mid-to-late eighties. My first band, oddly named Apocalypse Hoboken, was a melodic pop punk group made up of high school friends. Despite my aspirations of becoming a guitar player, I wound up being the singer/frontman, since I was the only one of us who could actually sing. We recorded a demo cassette titled "Yes, but..." in 1989, and the "Green Monster" 7" single in 1990. We also appeared on the Achtung Chicago! compilation LP, which helped us get noticed in the hardcore punk scene at the time.
After a couple of years singing Descendents style pop punk, I left to pursue other musical interests, while the band continued on in a much heavier, hardcore punk direction. Surprisingly, they lasted for more than ten years, but have since disbanded. Every once in a while, someone recognizes me from this early period, even though I was only in the band for a very short time.
While attending college, I eventually met up with my friend John San Juan, who had very similar musical influences as myself. We spent many afternoons ditching class in favor of strumming Beatles songs, and eventually John asked me to join his band, the Hushdrops. The group was in need of a bass player, and I took the gig. Not long afterwards, I introduced John to my drummer friend Joe Camarillo (formerly of the pop punk group Gear). Joe agreed to join the band, and in 1992 we became a very powerful, British influenced, power-pop 3-piece.
It wasn't long before the Hushdrops were starting to get noticed in Chicago. It was a time when the windy city music scene was really flourishing. The Smashing Pumpkins, Veruca Salt, and our friends, Material Issue had all recently been signed to major labels. We played shows regularly in the Chicago area and did a bit of recording. Before Joe joined the group, John and I recorded some demos with Mike Zelenko from Material Issue on drums. However, we didn't begin recording songs for a full length release until Joe became our official drummer.
Things were going well, but despite the Hushdrops' building momentum, I grew frustrated with my role as a bass player. After just a year in the band, I opted to leave and concentrate ..ing college. The band continued on, and in fact, John and Joe still play in the Hushdrops to this very day. To my knowledge, the early Hushdrops recordings were never released, but the band did put out its first full length CD, titled "Volume One" in 2003.
As a struggling college graduate who desperately needed to get out of the big city, I moved to Tampa, FL in the summer of '94. I answered a local ad from a musician who was "looking to put together a power pop band similar to Big Star, Teenage Fanclub, and Material Issue." That musician turned out to be Brian Merrill, and together we formed a group called Barely Pink. I finally landed a gig playing guitar.
BP's first release was a self-titled 7" vinyl EP, that we put out ourselves in '95. It featured a song called "She Gets Me High" (a Lukas penned Hushdrops tune), Merrill's "Jennifer Speed," and a cover of Big Star's "In The Street" (before Cheap Trick recorded their version for "That 70's Show"). Unfortunately, vinyl was on its way out, so we didn't get much attention from the record, but we did get voted best new band by FL based Jam magazine. This prompted us to go back into the studio and record a few more songs to combine with the songs on the vinyl EP. The result was the "Starduster" CD, which we released in '96. It was about this time when we really started to get noticed nationally.
Positive reviews in Goldmine and Billboard brought Big Deal records a knockin', and we signed with them. Our first Big Deal release, "Number One Fan," came out in 1997. It featured eight new songs and three tracks remixed from Starduster. Afterwards, we played two Poptopia events in LA, and opened for Cheap Trick 3 times. We also contributed a track to Big Deal's Burt Bacharach tribute CD, "What the World Needs Now." At this time, the Big Deal catalog was also licensed by JVC Victor in Japan, which put us on a major label overseas. In the spring of '98, we started sessions for our follow up CD, "Ellie's Suitcase."
Financial problems and mismanagement at Big Deal put a halt to "Ellie's Suitcase" being released in the US, and it looked as though the record would not come out at all. As the label disintegrated and all of the Big Deal acts were dropped, I decided to leave BP and try to put together my own group. "Ellie's Suitcase" was released in '99 (after I left BP) on JVC Victor/Japan, and was only available as an import in the US.
I formed Hangtown in August of '98, and have been playing my own brand of rootsy twang-pop ever since.
