Biography
While Minneapolis underground rock gained worldwide notice through the Replacements, Hüsker Dü, and Soul Asylum, the Suburbs stood as the Twin Cities’ dominant homegrown attraction throughout the 1980s, routinely filling the largest local venues with an incisive, provocative, and mordantly humorous blend of punk drive, new-wave sheen, sturdy guitar work, and infectious dance grooves.
Chan Poling (vocals, keyboards) and Blaine John “Beej” Chaney (vocals, lead guitar) founded the Suburbs in 1977 after a friendship that dated to high school and a 1974 move to California for art school. Exposure to the early Los Angeles punk scene preceded their return to Minneapolis, where Poling learned that his acquaintance Chris Osgood had launched the Suicide Commandos, widely regarded as the city’s first authentic punk band. Intrigued by the emerging local circuit, Poling and Chaney expressed their own ambitions to Osgood, who then connected them with guitarist Bruce Allen, bassist Michael Halliday, and drummer Hugo Klaers, completing the original lineup.
Because few venues booked original rock, the Suburbs initially performed at parties alongside other regional acts until Jay’s Longhorn Bar, then a jazz club, began presenting them. The Longhorn quickly became Minneapolis’s primary showcase for punk and new wave, drawing Twin/Tone Records’ interest. In spring 1978 the label issued the band’s debut, a nine-song 7-inch EP whose punk attack was tempered by an arty melodic sensibility. The single “World War III” backed with “Change Agent” appeared in June 1979, followed by the first full-length album, In Combo, in January 1980.
The group’s sound had already grown more refined, and they emerged as a leading Midwest club attraction. In Combo surpassed 13,000 copies sold—an impressive total for an independent release—while the 1981 double album Credit in Heaven proved still more ambitious, ranging across pulsing dance-rock, unconventional ballads, and noisy, jazz-tinged art rock. That set moved 15,000 units and yielded the 12-inch “Music for Boys,” which reached the national dance charts. Producer Steve Greenberg, previously of Lipps Inc. and its smash “Funkytown,” helmed the late-1982 EP Dream Hog, which included another dance success, “Waiting.” Frequent sell-outs at Minneapolis’s First Avenue and strong crowds elsewhere secured a Mercury Records contract; the label acquired the Suburbs’ catalog and reissued Dream Hog.
The 1983 Mercury debut Love Is the Law, again produced by Greenberg, brought a major local hit with the title track and scattered national airplay, yet the label struggled to market the band effectively. Despite favorable reviews and sustained touring, the album failed to achieve the hoped-for breakthrough. After departing Mercury, the Suburbs signed with A&M and delivered the 1986 self-titled album, produced by Robert Brent (Bobby Z.), drummer of Prince & the Revolution. Though the most commercial effort to date, it failed to connect with buyers. Frustrated by major-label dealings, the band issued an independent single, “Little Man’s Gonna Fall” backed with “Don’t Do Me Any Favors,” in 1987 and closed its initial run with farewell shows at First Avenue.
Twin/Tone compiled the retrospective Ladies and Gentlemen, The Suburbs Have Left the Building in 1992, prompting a handful of 1993 reunion concerts at First Avenue. Sporadic performances followed over subsequent years. Chaney launched Beejtar Records, which reissued In Combo, Credit in Heaven, and Love Is the Law in 2002 and the anthology Chemistry Set: Songs of the Suburbs 1977–1987 in 2003. Guitarist Bruce Allen, who also designed the band’s logo, died in late 2009; bassist Michael Halliday soon retired owing to arthritis.
The remaining members continued with new additions Steve Brantseg (guitar) and Steve Price (bass), marking the first personnel changes since formation. Chan Poling balanced occasional Suburbs dates with performances by his jazz-inflected group the New Standards. Following the 2011 death of his wife, broadcaster and political scion Eleanor Mondale, he sought to record rock material again. Bypassing labels, the band financed and released its next album independently; a Kickstarter campaign raised over $70,000, enabling the fall 2013 arrival of Si Sauvage. The album coincided with renewed visibility after marriage-equality activists, with the band’s approval, adopted “Love Is the Law” as the anthem for their successful campaign to legalize same-sex marriage in Minnesota.
Post-release shows took the Suburbs through the Midwest and East Coast. Having crowdfunded Si Sauvage, the group again turned to fans to fund its follow-up, 2017’s Hey Muse! The record introduced an expanded lineup featuring founding members Chan Poling and Hugo Klaers alongside bassist Steve Price, guitarists Stevie Brantseg and Jeremy Ylvisaker, Stephen Kung (keyboards, horns), Rochelle Becker (baritone sax), and Janey Winterbauer (backing vocals). Issued in mid-2017, the album marked the band’s fortieth anniversary.
Chan Poling (vocals, keyboards) and Blaine John “Beej” Chaney (vocals, lead guitar) founded the Suburbs in 1977 after a friendship that dated to high school and a 1974 move to California for art school. Exposure to the early Los Angeles punk scene preceded their return to Minneapolis, where Poling learned that his acquaintance Chris Osgood had launched the Suicide Commandos, widely regarded as the city’s first authentic punk band. Intrigued by the emerging local circuit, Poling and Chaney expressed their own ambitions to Osgood, who then connected them with guitarist Bruce Allen, bassist Michael Halliday, and drummer Hugo Klaers, completing the original lineup.
Because few venues booked original rock, the Suburbs initially performed at parties alongside other regional acts until Jay’s Longhorn Bar, then a jazz club, began presenting them. The Longhorn quickly became Minneapolis’s primary showcase for punk and new wave, drawing Twin/Tone Records’ interest. In spring 1978 the label issued the band’s debut, a nine-song 7-inch EP whose punk attack was tempered by an arty melodic sensibility. The single “World War III” backed with “Change Agent” appeared in June 1979, followed by the first full-length album, In Combo, in January 1980.
The group’s sound had already grown more refined, and they emerged as a leading Midwest club attraction. In Combo surpassed 13,000 copies sold—an impressive total for an independent release—while the 1981 double album Credit in Heaven proved still more ambitious, ranging across pulsing dance-rock, unconventional ballads, and noisy, jazz-tinged art rock. That set moved 15,000 units and yielded the 12-inch “Music for Boys,” which reached the national dance charts. Producer Steve Greenberg, previously of Lipps Inc. and its smash “Funkytown,” helmed the late-1982 EP Dream Hog, which included another dance success, “Waiting.” Frequent sell-outs at Minneapolis’s First Avenue and strong crowds elsewhere secured a Mercury Records contract; the label acquired the Suburbs’ catalog and reissued Dream Hog.
The 1983 Mercury debut Love Is the Law, again produced by Greenberg, brought a major local hit with the title track and scattered national airplay, yet the label struggled to market the band effectively. Despite favorable reviews and sustained touring, the album failed to achieve the hoped-for breakthrough. After departing Mercury, the Suburbs signed with A&M and delivered the 1986 self-titled album, produced by Robert Brent (Bobby Z.), drummer of Prince & the Revolution. Though the most commercial effort to date, it failed to connect with buyers. Frustrated by major-label dealings, the band issued an independent single, “Little Man’s Gonna Fall” backed with “Don’t Do Me Any Favors,” in 1987 and closed its initial run with farewell shows at First Avenue.
Twin/Tone compiled the retrospective Ladies and Gentlemen, The Suburbs Have Left the Building in 1992, prompting a handful of 1993 reunion concerts at First Avenue. Sporadic performances followed over subsequent years. Chaney launched Beejtar Records, which reissued In Combo, Credit in Heaven, and Love Is the Law in 2002 and the anthology Chemistry Set: Songs of the Suburbs 1977–1987 in 2003. Guitarist Bruce Allen, who also designed the band’s logo, died in late 2009; bassist Michael Halliday soon retired owing to arthritis.
The remaining members continued with new additions Steve Brantseg (guitar) and Steve Price (bass), marking the first personnel changes since formation. Chan Poling balanced occasional Suburbs dates with performances by his jazz-inflected group the New Standards. Following the 2011 death of his wife, broadcaster and political scion Eleanor Mondale, he sought to record rock material again. Bypassing labels, the band financed and released its next album independently; a Kickstarter campaign raised over $70,000, enabling the fall 2013 arrival of Si Sauvage. The album coincided with renewed visibility after marriage-equality activists, with the band’s approval, adopted “Love Is the Law” as the anthem for their successful campaign to legalize same-sex marriage in Minnesota.
Post-release shows took the Suburbs through the Midwest and East Coast. Having crowdfunded Si Sauvage, the group again turned to fans to fund its follow-up, 2017’s Hey Muse! The record introduced an expanded lineup featuring founding members Chan Poling and Hugo Klaers alongside bassist Steve Price, guitarists Stevie Brantseg and Jeremy Ylvisaker, Stephen Kung (keyboards, horns), Rochelle Becker (baritone sax), and Janey Winterbauer (backing vocals). Issued in mid-2017, the album marked the band’s fortieth anniversary.
Albums
Poets Party
2021
Hey Muse!
2017
The Good Times Are Gone
2015
Si Sauvage
2013
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Suburbs Have Left The Building
1992
Love Is the Law
1984
Credit in Heaven
1981
World War III
1979
The Suburbs
1978
Singles
Live
