Once you have tasted success, failure is not something that you take lightly because you already know of your great potential. Hootie and The Blowfish were the band to look out for in the mid-1990s, but later that changed prompting them to go on a break. Now the group is back on tour despite having said that they will not be touring again. The good news is that the band never split up, so there is no bad blood among them. The 2019 tour is almost over so, let’s delve deeper into Hootie and The Band and how they have arrived at this moment.
The forming of the band
In the mid-1980s, two freshmen found themselves at the University of South Carolina little did they know they were about to make history in the world of music. Mark Bryan was a guitarist, and while in the showers of a dorm he shared with Darius Rucker, Bryan could not help but overhear the impressive voice of Darius as he sang “Billy Joel” in the showers. It has to remind you of Mr. Schuester and Finn in “Glee;” just when Schuester had given up on finding a lead singer for the club, he heard Finn singing in the showers.
Well, the two men paired up to become the Wolf Brothers, and they kick-started their rise to fame by playing covers. The Wolf Brothers later incorporated Dean Felber, a bassist and Brantley Smith who played the drums. The group became a hit, playing in fraternity houses and bars, so they decided to change their name. In their drunkenness, they remember two classmates; one with puffy cheeks and the other with bug eyes; hence, the four band members became Hootie and The Blowfish in 1986.
Unfortunately, when Brantley Smith finished college, he left the band to pursue a career in music ministry though he occasionally joins the group. As a result, the group held auditions for a drummer and the last person Darius wanted in the band was Jim Sonefeld. Darius already hated Jim for stealing his girlfriend while he was still a freshman. Jim, however, did not only prove he is good with the drums but went ahead to wow the bandmates with his songwriting skills. Therefore when he played “Hold My Hand,” he earned his place in the group.
Taking a hiatus
When the band released “Cracked Rear View” in 1994, it became among the fastest-selling album debuts of all time. Matter of fact is in 1995 it was the bestselling album of the year leading to its certification as platinum. The sales kept increasing; in January 1996, it was 12x platinum while in March 1999, it was 16x platinum. However, when they released “Fairweather Johnson” it did not do well, selling only 4 million copies. Hootie and The Blowfish began a downward spiral, and as Esquire explains, the band became a big joke. They were bullied out of the game leading Darius to announce that they were taking a hiatus for him to launch his solo career. He added that although they would continue with their charity events, there would be no more tours nor records for at least five years.
Back to touring
As Darius promised that the band would resurface after he had at least three or four solo country albums, they are back with a bang. In December 2018, the band announced that they would be doing a Group Therapy Tour, visiting 44 cities in North America. The tour started on 30th May 2019 and will end on 13th September 2019 in Columbia, South Carolina, perhaps reminiscent of where the band came to life. The tour is a commemoration of “Cracked Rear View” 25th anniversary, and special guest stars are Barenaked Ladies. Tickets began selling last year, 7th December. Going by the sales recorded, the band still has loads of fans who were waiting for them to make a comeback. According to Billboard, each show is averaging $840,000, and some shows have already recorded at least a million dollars.
As explained, the ticket prices have ballooned due to inflation and a bloated ticketing market. Prices now range from $29.50 to $139.50. The successful tour can also be attributed to the increasing demand, paying homage to the adage that you do not miss the water until the well runs dry. The band was once struggling to fill arenas, with a 12,000 seat arena having only 8,000 fans. Now they have sold over 175,000 tickets proving that they still have what it takes to excite their fans. So far the tour has earned the band more than $10 million.
What’s next after the tour?
Hootie and The Blowfish already have signed a new record album with UMG Nashville. They had tried starting their record label in 1996 named Breaking Records. They even signed on a few bands like little Children, Jump and The Meat Puppets. Unfortunately, the label shut down in 2000 and now the group will be under the same company that signed Darius Rucker. On 1st November 2019, the group will release “Imperfect Circle,” their sixth studio album. However, you should not expect more from them any time soon. The deal with UMG Nashville is for one album which goes to show that they will be back to whatever they were doing before breaking their silence. Darius even said that doing a tour every year ever again is not something in his plans. He already has his day job as a country singer. Therefore, Felber will go back to being a full-time dad to his two youngest daughters since his wife died. He also has a wine business to run. Jim Sonefeld will resume his prayer breakfast talks now that he is a born again Christian. Bryan, on the other hand, will go to College of Charleston where he teaches a music industry class.
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