ArtistInfo

Backdoor Men

Band, GB

The Backdoor Men were first envisioned in the mid-1960s by the childhood friends Dan & Chris Cook and Terry Hartman, all of Fairview Park and all in the throes of an obsession kicked off first by the British Invasion and later fueled by the Byrds, Bob Dylan, and both urban and country blues. By the time the boys launched themselves onto Cleveland's original music scene in 1977, they had twisted these influences into a repertoire of a couple dozen originals in the "nuggets" psycho-garage mode to go along with their selection of British Invasion, American Psychedelic, and New York/Detroit "underground" covers. Dan Cook and Hartman, occasionally aided by Chris Cook, generated more than 100 fully realized originals, a number of which were covered by other area bands in need of material. As 1980 drew to a close, Terry Hartman was chafing to take full control, and parted amicably with the Cooks to form Terry & The Tornadoes. The Tornadoes were short-lived but critically acclaimed, and were indeed the Cadillac Fleetwood that finally realized fully the extent of Hartman's songwriting abilities. During this period, Hartman teamed with Jimmy Zero and Johnny Blitz of the Dead Boys to record two of his originals for a single on Bomp Records, “Man with the X-Ray Eyes” b/w “Down with the Lonely Boys,” but Bomp foundered and the single was never released. The Backdoor Men soldiered on, working under a variety of names, self-releasing a 45 under the moniker of “Bomber’s Moon,” and generating even more material. Hartman eventually did return, and with the Cook Brothers and BDM drummer Paul Nickels, formed the band that was to be their swan song, Napoleon in Rags. Cook and Hartman put together a fresh batch of material, honed it to perfection, played out for a year, and then, like so many others of the era, appeared to disappear into the mists of time.... Until 2004, when they released the acclaimed "Mohawk Combover," heralded as one of the great comebacks in Cleveland punk history.

Members

	Terry Hartman voc, h
	Dan Cook

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