Led by a young and confidently brilliant Himmelman on lead vocals and guitar, Sussman Lawrence also featured on keyboards and backup vocals his equally gifted cousin Jeff Victor. Both had previously performed as the only white members in Minneapolis soul singer Alexander O’Neal’s band. Saxophonist Eric Moen, bass guitarist Al Wolovitch, and drummer Andrew Kamman rounded out the group, which formed in the late ‘70s and took its name from a character on Steamroller, a local cable TV comedy show that Himmelman hosted. The members of Sussman Lawrence had all gone to junior high school together in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park. Heavily influenced by Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley, Himmelman brought a pronounced reggae/ska flavor to their debut album "Hail To The Modern Hero!" and then embellished it on the more polished and ambitiously pop-oriented follow up, the double-LP masterpiece "Pop City." Both albums fueled Sussman Lawrence’s incendiary live shows with such richly varied fan favorites as "House on Fire," "Baby Let Me Be Your Cigarette," "Closer, Closer," and "The Fifth of August"—a gorgeous love song that would resurface on Himmelman’s 1994 album "Skin."
Searching for greater glory, Sussman Lawrence left the Midwest in 1984 for the East Coast. Settling in Ridgewood, New Jersey, the band gained a foothold in the thriving Manhattan concert scene with their way-over-the-top live shows that were as raucous as they were revelatory. Himmelman’s writing, however, was beginning to take a turn inward, as evidenced on his first solo album "This Father’s Day," which was independently released in 1985 and then re-released by Island Records the following year. Recorded with the same band he’d been with since 1979, Sussman Lawrence then became The Peter Himmelman Band.
The ever intense yet uproariously funny Peter Himmelman would go on to continued critical acclaim as a solo recording artist. Now based in Los Angeles, he has branched out, composing popular children’s records and award-wining music for film and television—most notably the hit CBS drama "Judging Amy". Also in L.A. are Andy Kamman, who moved on to play drums for Vonda Shepard and the recording group Uma, and Al Wolovitch, who is a successful scorer of TV shows and commercials in his own right. Eric Moen is back in Minneapolis, as is the inimitable Jeff Victor, who has found new fame performing live at Timberwolves home games and touring with The Honeydogs, in addition to winning Emmy and Cleo awards while producing CDs for Target Corp's Lifescape label.
"Those seven years were so dense," Himmelman comments. "They were so full of life—so much joy, rage, and endless creative possibility. They loom so large now—more so than the chronological seven years. It’s an experience a lot of people never had. We were 17, with no adult supervision—very young people working together in a very intimate and volatile relationship, expressing our creativity."
Sussman Lawrence paved the way for more renowned, perhaps, but no more deserving Minneapolis post-punk bands as Hüsker Dü, The Replacements, and Soul Asylum. Now, thankfully, we can hear the band in all it’s youthful energy, creativity, and yes, glory.
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