Life After Huffamoose
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
I was the lead singer of a band you might remember. But wait, that's not all.
HEYDAY: Huffamoose scored a hit on Billboard’s Modern Rock charts with “Wait” in 1998. That’s me, Craig Elkins, second from the right.
Editor’s Note: Craig Elkins was the frontman of Philly-based alt-rock band Huffamoose from 1992 to 2001. Their song “Wait” was a hit on Billboard’s Modern Rock charts in 1998, and was a staple at Phillies games and on local rock radio for awhile. The 2003 film Here Comes Huffamoose famously documented the band’s explosive breakup in the middle of a cross-country tour. The band patched things up for some reunion shows in 2009, and is playing another one at Ardmore Music Hall on Sunday (all proceeds benefit Dan’s Voice Memorial Fund for the Treatment and Research of Head & Neck Cancer). We asked Elkins, who still performs as a solo artist in L.A., to reflect on his music career, his Philly years and where’s he’s at now.
Hello there.
I hope you are doing well.
My name is Craig Elkins and I have a few confessions to make.
I don’t love Prince and I don’t care much for the music of Wilco.
I don’t like A.D. Amorosi either, although he isn’t a musician, he’s just a dick. At least he plays one in my Huffamoose memories. He wrote the “Icepack” column for Philadelphia City Paper and he was not a fan of my band. He did write a lot of positive stuff about other bands, DJs and the like though, and I’ve heard that he’s fairly attractive — so he can’t be all bad. In my experience, attractive people are usually the smartest and most fun to be around.
In those same memories I play the often chubby lead singer (of Huffamoose) with a penchant for lateness and alcohol. Man, could I be obnoxious — or so I’m told. Thankfully, at that point in my life, I did not suffer from post-party anxiety, guilt and remorse.
These days, I drink a beer and wake up the next day in a loathsome fog. When I was busy getting my party on, I remember dreading turning 40 and still being on the road. The grizzled old dude playing music in crappy little clubs to five people, hanging out in band rooms, picking away at a veggie tray.
Thankfully, that never happened because Huffamoose disbanded before I turned 40. Now, at 52, I look back at pictures of 40-year-old me and revel in how young and thin I was (often chubby, not always). And, I still get to play in crappy clubs to almost no one, but the clubs are within a 10 mile radius of my home.
As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, I am 52. A 52-year-old website programmer who works from home. … And I love it. Not really, but I do get to live in Los Angeles. I moved out here from Philadelphia about 10 years ago with my then 2-year-old daughter, wife and three cats. We were lured by the warm weather and affordable housing. Now, with only one of the original three cats remaining, two newly adopted cats that piss all over everything and not a lot of cash, we are more or less stuck here. That said, we have carved out a pretty sweet life in L.A. We have a nice circle of friends, a lot of them from Philly. We like our daughter’s school and the grocery stores sell booze.
A few years back, while attempting to help teach the “rock band” elective at my daughter’s school, I had a profound musical experience. We were working on “Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield. I was filling in on bass. As the students and I were just pulverizing this amazing song, I was welling up with joy and gratitude. Just loving playing this song with these kids super badly.
I’d had that same experience once before, in the early days with Huffamoose, at a bar in Manayunk called Casa Mexicana. We were rocking out to the last three chords of our song “James,” over and over and over. These endings could last 20 minutes or more. And, as I was strumming away, I was filled with those same joyous and transcendent feelings.
There’s a connection here. I feel like I’m orbiting depth. But, I’m too tired to land this behemoth.
It’s 2 a.m. on a Saturday night. I have to wake up in a few hours, crank out a website and get paid so I’ll have a little spending money while I’m in Philly next weekend for the big reunion. I’m looking forward to it, truly I am. Just not quite as much as I’ll be looking forward to seeing my wife, kid and piss-happy cats upon my return.
Huffamoose plays Sun., Nov. 23, 6 p.m., $20-$25, with Jim Boggia, Ben Arnold and The Fractals, Ardmore Music Hall, 23 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore, 610-649-8389, ardmoremusic.com.
