User:Nakedsunshine/The Happy Problem

the happy problem the happy problem are an American rock band out of New York City. They call their sound "indiepunk" which refers to a hybrid of modern punk, like Green Day, and the grunge/indie sound of bands like Nirvana and the White Stripes. the happy problem was started in March, 2008 by former folk singer Sam Shaber, who released six albums independently on her own label, Brown Chair Records, and toured America and the UK on her own before settling in Los Angeles and deciding to play rock music instead. She wrote 5 rock songs that became the first happy problem EP, including the upbeat "Cryin' Shame" and the midtempo "Happy Happy Happy" which were then featured on several TV shows including "Engaged and Underage," "16 and Pregnant," "Teen Mom," "Privileged," "Greek," "Stoked!" and more, and then recruited guitarist James Kloeppel, drummer Nick Adams and bassist Pedro Porto (formerly of Brazil's Ultramen) as the live band. The group played shows in Los Angeles and recorded three songs together, covers of Madonna's "Material Girl" and The Kinks' "Lola" as well as a new happy problem original called "Wizard," but they went through many changes - 4 drummers and 2 bass players in 6 months - until Shaber decided to put the band on hold and move back to New York City in September, 2009.

Once in New York, Sam played with a new dance rock band called The Bashful for 18 months, releasing one EP titled Venture, which featured the song "Harder Deeper Faster" from the soundtrack for the Weinstein film BUTTER, starring Hugh Jackman and Olivia Wilde. But The Bashful stopped being a functional band in May of 2010, at which time Shaber reformed the happy problem just to fullfill concert committments still pending. This time she found drummer Tony Cortes and bassist Sean Gibson, and the trio played shows in New York City throughout the summer and fall of 2010, entering the studio in November to begin recording the second happy problem album, Head Case. During recording for Head Case, Gibson left the band and was replaced by bass player Joe Nerve, formerly of New York band The Nerve! and Guns n Roses offshoot, Bumblefoot.

Head Case was released on Shaber's own label, Brown Chair Records, in May of 2011, the first single being "Matador" - a driving, cynical song about hipsters drunk on the streets of the Lower East Side. The video for the song was recorded at local bar Idle Hands on Avenue B (owned by music industry vets Marc Schapiro and Rob Morton) and featured many family and friends of the band in its cast, including Shaber's husband, screenwriter George Strayton, as a lovesick bartender yearning for the bar's harried waitress, played by the band's photographer and friend, Rita Kabalan.

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