April 13th, 1995
The Insteps, Edna’s Goldfish, The
DeFactos; gig at Dublin Up, Bay Shore, NY:
Spider Nick Martielli, restless as the tenor
sax player for The Insteps, gets the idea to start his own band
and begins to recruit members for a new project.
January 14th, 1996
Nick’s birthday:
Photographer and long time friend Janel Lombardi throws a surprise party
for Spider Nick at his parents’ home in East Quogue, New York. It is
there that the nucleus of the group is formed. Spider Nick & The Maddogs is born!
Rehearsals for four or more days a week at Split Decision Sound Studios
begin in late January.
March 17th, 1996
St. Patrick’s Day:
Spider Nick & The Maddogs play their very first live show at
The Nostradamus Club at Carrington’s, Melville, NY
July 4th, 1996
Fourth of July:
Spider Nick & The Maddogs record their first tape. The newly purchased
P.A equipment is set up in his parents’ East Quogue living room.
These tapes would come to be known as "The Independence Day Sessions".
November 11th, 1996
Veteran’s Day:
Spider Nick & The Maddogs play their 50th
show at Parrotheads of Bay Shore.
February 17th, 1997
President’s Day:
Less than a year from their first performance, Spider Nick & The Maddogs
record what will become their first CD at Cove City Sound Studios
in Glen Cove. The band has worked for nearly a year with no pay and this monumental
project is financed by their band fund.
Richie Cannata, studio president, and sax
player, of Billy Joel and Beach Boys fame, joins them on a few tunes.
The CD, produced by the band and Dug, and engineered by Dug, is finished
on George Washington’s birthday, February 22nd, 1997.
May 16th, 1997
Newsday Article:
Newsday calls Spider Nick & The Maddogs a "Hot Band "
and "the toast of Long Island".
May 31st, 1997
Memorial Day:
The Band plays their 100th show at a private party hosted
by longtime friends and supporters, Sharon & Mike Quinn,
two attorneys from Huntington, NY.
July 4th, 1997
Fourth of July (Again!):
Voyage to The Palace of Kali, by Spider Nick & The Maddogs
is officially released!
September 1st, 1997
Labor Day:
Spider Nick & The Maddogs are incorporated and hit over 1000 in CD sales.
For a band who sold only at their shows and at about ten stores on Long Island,
this is not too bad.
September 21st, 1997
Newsday Article:
Newsday documents 50 Spider Nick & The Maddogs CD sales
in one day at Sam Goody store in Roosevelt Field Mall.
January 10th, 1998
The 200th Show!:
Almost two years to the day since the formation of the band,
Spider Nick & The Maddogs play their 200th show at
The Downtown of Farmingdale, NY.
April 1st, 1998
April Fool’s Day (or thereabouts…):
Spider Nick & The Maddogs are nominated for three awards from
The Long Island Music Awards; Best Ska Recording,
Best Ska Band, and Best Male Vocalist.
May 1st, 1998
May Day:
Spider Nick & The Maddogs CD, "Voyage to The Palace of Kali"
is now distributed nationally through
Electric Kingdom Distribution.
May 15th, 1998
Mother’s Day:
Voyage to The Palace of Kali sales: 3000 sold and 1000 promo
Spider Nick & The Maddogs CD’s
are spinning out there somewhere as of this date.
June 1st, 1998
Notorious Magazine:
New York based Notorious Magazine calls
Spider Nick & The Maddogs’ CD "Voyage to The Palace of Kali "
"a must hear".
June 11th, 1998
Long Island Music Awards:
Spider Nick & The Maddogs win the award for the Best Ska Recording!
August 8th, 1998
The Skatalites Show:
Spider Nick & The Maddogs open for the legendary Skatalites
at the prestigious Knitting Factory in Manhattan.
August 23rd – August 31st
September 5th – September 10th
September 13th – September 20th, 1998
THE SECOND CD!:
Spider Nick & The Maddogs spare no expense in recording their second CD.
The project is done at Cove City Sound Studios, Glen Cove,
with Richie Cannata doing some fantastic sax solos and Dug on engineering
and co-production.
September 28th, 1998
CMJ Article:
The CMJ New Music Report (weekly) names Spider Nick & The Maddogs
as "A&R Pick of the Week". (9/28/98, issue 589, vol.56, No.2)
October 31st, 1998
Halloween:
St. Mark’s Bar, Manhattan. The band plays show number 300!
November 18th – 21st, 1998
The first mini-tour:
The boys start at The St. Marks Bar in NYC then play Siena College in Albany,
SUNY Plattsburgh, and Montreal, Canada, a rousing success.
Bon jour to all our new friends there.
December 2nd – 5th, 1998
The second mini-tour:
Once again the boys start in NYC, this time at The Elbow Room,
then off to SUNY Cortland, SUNY Brockport, and then The Idle Hour,
at SUNY Geneseo.
January 25th, 1999
4000 Kali CDs sold!:
Post holiday inventory reveals a total of 4000 copies of
Voyage To The Place Of Kali
April 17th, 1999
Opening for FISHBONE:
We open for legendary Angelo Moore and Fishbone
at the Galaxy of Westhampton, NY.
May 20th, 1999
Opening for THE ATOMIC FIREBALLS!:
We have a great turnout of our fans at Coco’s of Huntington, NY.
May 30th, 1999
WLIR Show (Commercial Radio! ooooh!):
We do a live, on-air interview with DJ Jason Dean on WLIR
92.7-FM. On "One Step Beyond". A show that
currently airs from 6 – 7PM on 92.7 WLIR on SUndays. It used to be
8 – 8PM but they changed it so their listeners wouldn't miss "The
Simpsons". Obviously we love these people now!
June 11th, 1999
Our first BOOZE CRUISE!:
Our first Booze Cruise ever with Marco Polo Cruises.
July 29th, 1999
NEWSDAY Article:
"Spider Nick Working Like A Dog For Music" by Kevin Amorim.
"...expect to have a good time with these guys!"
August 6th, 1999
Once again we OUTSELL MAJOR LABEL DUDES!!:
We play the South Street Seaport in Manhattan with
Jet Set 6. When told that Spider Nick & The Maddogs
sold more CDs than Jet Set 6, Their label reps are reported to ask,
"Who ARE these guys?!" Hey major labels: Get used to it!!
August 16th, 1999
5000 CDs sold!!:
One of many post-summer inventory counts reveals that on this date another 1000
CDs have found happy homes!.
August 20th, 1999
SKA WARS HALL OF JEDI KNIGHTS!:
We won the SKA WARS contest with our song Uncle Al so often
on WLIR’s One Step Beyond from May to August that they
had to invent a new rule... "The Spider Nick Rule".
Anybody who wins the contest too much gets kicked upstairs to the hall of
fame so other "less fortunate" bands can compete. HAHAHA!!
We love it! Congratulations to our Jedi Knight brethren!
August 27th, 1999
The 400 Show:
At The Crossroads in South Royalton, VT... at the behest
of the Vermont Law School in the middle of our third mini-tour! (Vermont,
Connecticut & Upstate New York!!)
September 4th, 1999
ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY!:
Spider Nick & The Maddogs play at one of his favorite Northeastern
schools. If I didn’t go to Geneseo I would have gone to R.I.T.!
October 5th, 1999
FIREPIT IS RELEASED!:
Our second CD finally hits the streets thanks to our own herculean efforts
as well as the efforts of our cover artist Jim Karanik,
and our distributors Electric Kingdom Distribution.
October 14th, 1999
NEWSDAY Article:
"Spider Nick Still Working Like A Dog", by Isaac Guzman. Following
our continues workaholic exploits. Documents that Voyage To The Palace
Of Kali CD sales are approaching 6000!
November 7th, 1999
FIREPIT (the 2nd CD) SELLS 1000 COPIES IN A MONTH!!:
Sales of Firepit hit 1000. Thanks to you, our loyal fans, and
to the fact that we did it right this time and we have the Soundscan
numbers to prove it!
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