The Original Sins

The Original Sins
The Original Sins c. 1992
Background information
Origin	Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Genres	Punk rock, garage rock, power pop, psychedelic rock
Years active	1986 - 1998
Labels	Bar None, Psonik, Bedlam, Blood Red Vinyl & Discs
Past members	John Terlesky Ken Bussiere Dan McKinney Dave Ferrara Seth Baer

The Original Sins were a garage rock band that formed in 1987 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The group were known for combining the musical stylings of punk rock, psychedelic rock, and even pop music with their songs. The band released a total of nine full-length studio albums across their entire career before they band broke up in early 1998.

The band emerged in 1987 from the edgy punk scene of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The city was going through a major decline at the time due to the closing of the industrial powerhouse Bethlehem Steel. After numerous unsuccessful attempts at joining bands, guitarist John Terlesky decided to form his own band with Ken Bussiere, a bassist he met through Neil Hever, a WMUH college radio disc jockey who was friends with Terlesky. Later on, the duo would meet keyboardist Dan McKinney and drummer Dave Ferrara, and the quintet would name themselves The Original Sins.

Later that same year, the band released their debut studio album Big Soul, which received moderate success within the American underground music scene. Their independent success with Big Soul continued with The Hardest Way (1989) and Self Destruct (1990), the latter included a photo of Terlesky holding a BB gun next to his head as the cover. Their 1992 album, Move was expected to be a major success for the band, as Peter Buck from R.E.M. helped with the record, but unfortunately for the band, it was not.

After the release of Move, Ferrara left the group and would later perform in the band The Reach Around Radio Clowns. To replace him, the band hired Seth Baer on drum duties. Seth would stay with the band until he left for school before the production of Suburban Primitive, in which Ferrara came back to perform drums. The band would continue releasing records with Baer, such as Out There (1992) and Acidbubblepunk (1994). Their 1995 album Turn You On was released as a limited edition vinyl record through Terlesky's Bedlam record label.