Mannix

Joe Mannix, who handled vocals, songwriting, and guitar, teamed with drummer and singer Chris Peck to front Mannix, a New York State roots-rock band that surfaced in the final years of the 1990s from the remains of the New York City power-pop outfit Oral Groove. Their first album, Pretty Strange, appeared in 1998 and moved beyond the punk-tinged, melodic garage rock of the pair’s prior work toward a grounded pop-rock approach shaped by the panoramic Americana of Neil Young & Crazy Horse and Gram Parsons. Before issuing their second record, the group became a quartet by recruiting bassist Toby Graham and lead guitarist John Kasiewicz. The result, Come to California, earned praise as a concept album tracing a musician’s cross-country drive to win back his partner and carried a denser, more airplay-oriented sound. Following the band’s 2002 disbandment, Joe Mannix launched a solo career that yielded the favorably received White Flag in 2003 and Town by the Sea in 2005. Mannix reassembled in 2022 for multiple live shows and released a compilation of unreleased tracks and concert recordings.