Too Much Joy

Too Much Joy
Too Much Joy, 1991.
Background information
Origin	Scarsdale, New York, United States
Genres	alternative rock
Years active	1987–1997
Labels	Stonegarden Records, Alias Records, Warner Bros. Records, Giant Records, Discovery Records, Sugar Fix Recordings
Associated acts	The ITS, Surface Wound, Wonderlick, Fields Laughing, Beauty Constant
Website	Too Much Joy
Members	Tim Quirk, Jay Blumenfield, William Wittman, Tommy Vinton
Past members	Tommy LaRusa, Sandy Smallens

Too Much Joy is an American alternative rock music group. The band formed in the early 1980s in Scarsdale, New York.

The original members were Tim Quirk (vocals), Jay Blumenfield (guitar, vocals), Sandy Smallens (bass, vocals) and Tommy Vinton (drums). During 1982-1983 Tommy LaRussa temporarily replaced Vinton as drummer. Smallens departed on amicable terms in 1994; producer William Wittman joined on bass guitar and vocals after Smallens's departure. Blumenfield was also in Fields Laughing (who released an EP in 1985 on Stonegarden Records) and Smallens was also in Beauty Constant (whose Like The Enemy LP was issued in 1987), Wittman continues to play with Cyndi Lauper.

The band, originally called The Rave, took the name Too Much Joy after a phrase Quirk found written down after his first mushroom trip.[1]

After the success of their third album Cereal Killers, TMJ released several other studio albums, but none achieved the same popular success. In 1997, TMJ announced a hiatus, saying that the commercialism of the music business had taken the "joy" out of performing. Too Much Joy emptied its vaults in 1999 and 2001 to produce the album Gods and Sods, composed of studio outtakes and demos from the period between Mutiny and ...Finally and the live album, Live at Least. The later incarnation of the band briefly reunited in the early 2000s to record the one-off holiday single, "Ruby Left a Present Underneath the Christmas Tree." Although TMJ remains inactive, if not technically defunct, its members have since formed the sometimes overlapping subprojects The ITS, Surface Wound, and Wonderlick.

TMJ found themselves with celebrity fans Penn and Teller, to the point where Teller directed the video for Donna Everywhere,. Penn liked the guys in the band so much that he took the opportunity to jam with them in the studio when the opportunity presented itself.

While never officially broken up, the entire band performed for the first time in 10 years on May 4, 2007 at the Knitting Factory in New York City. The opening band, The Final Stand, included Tommy Vinton's son Tommy on drums and Sandy Smallens' son Ziya on bass, followed by New Jersey's The Impulse. Both TMJ bassists, Sandy Smallens and William Wittman, took part in the performance, trading between second guitar and bass. The concert was a celebration of drummer Tommy Vinton's retirement from the NYPD.