Helium (band)

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Helium were an American indie rock group formed (as Chupa) in the summer of 1992 by Mary Lou Lord, Jason Hatfield (Juliana's brother), Shawn King Devlin (drums) and Brian Dunton (electric bass guitar). Devlin and Dunton were both also in the band Dumptruck at the time. Mary Timony (electric guitar and vocals, formerly of the band Autoclave) was recruited after Mary Lou was reluctant to go electric. After Hatfield left the band, they changed the name to Helium. Timony became known for her Lolita-esque image (e.g. short schoolgirl skirts and hairstyle) and naughty lyrics, much like Helium's then-labelmate Liz Phair. She was also known for her fairly husky, vibrato-less, monotone singing style.

Their first release was a 7" single entitled "The American Jean" (1993), which was followed by the 7" "Hole in the Ground." They released their first EP, Pirate Prude, in 1994. Shortly after the release of Pirate Prude, Dunton left the band and Polvo leader Ash Bowie (boyfriend of Timony at the time) joined on bass. In 1995, they released their first full-length release, The Dirt of Luck, and played the second stage of Lollapalooza. Two of the band's music videos ("Pat's Trick" and "XXX") were critiqued by MTV's animated teen pundits Beavis and Butt-head. Adam Lasus produced and engineered The Dirt of Luck, Pirate Prude, and all the singles up to 1995.

In 1997, the group released the EP No Guitars before releasing their second album, The Magic City. They toured the United States in early 1998. Not much longer after that (in 1998 or 1999), Helium disbanded, not long after Bowie had disbanded Polvo so as to become a full-time Helium member. Timony began a solo career and Bowie focused on his Libraness home-recording project.

Discography

Albums

Title	Year	Label
The Dirt of Luck	1995	Matador Records
The Magic City	1997	Matador Records

EP's

Title	Year	Label
Pirate Prude	1994	Matador Records
Superball+ E.P.	1995	Matador Records
No Guitars	1997	Matador Records

Singles

Title	Year	Label
"The American Jean"	1992	Warped Records
"Hole in the Ground" (b/w "Lucy")	1993	Pop Narcotic (on orange vinyl)
"Pat's Trick"	1995	Matador Records

Music Videos

Year	Title	Director	Album
1994	"XXX"	David Kleiler	Pirate Prude
1995	"Pat's Trick"	David Kleiler	The Dirt of Luck
1995	"Superball"	Tryan George	The Dirt of Luck
1995	"Honeycomb"	Brett Vapnek	The Dirt of Luck
1997	"Leon's Space Song"		The Magic City

References

External links

Trivia

They are a personal favorite of Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno.

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