b'After Four Decades of Indie Rock, theCucumbers Sound as Fresh as EverHow Deena Shoshkes and Jon Fried found new inspiration in an old desk drawer. BY DONNY LEVITR duoDeenalanta at the Metroplex. We sold it out.I oughly 40 years ago, wife-and-husbandThat was a fun show, adds Fried. musicremember at the end of that night.were ShoshkesandJonpackingupandtheresthisguylooking Friedwereplayfullyaround the floor. His glasses were broken. saunteringaroundAnd his girlfriend says to him, I told you JerseyCityastheynot to slam dance!filmedawhimsicalvideofortheirBythe1990s,thecouplehadstarted take on Elvis Presleys All Shook Up.their family. Deena was about eight and KnownastheCucumbers,thebandahalfmonthspregnantwithoursecond The Cucumbers lineup in 1985. L-R: Deena Shoshkes, Yuergen Renner, Brianwas getting noticed by MTV and musicHargrove. All are holding Jon Fried. Photo courtesy of Deena Shoshkes. child, says Fried. We were like a lot of critics alike. Theres a danger that suchpeople who lived in [Hoboken] and were bare-facedsongscouldturncuteormoving because you need an extra bedroom cynical, but the Cucumbers rarely suc- or you cant afford to live in the city. It was cumb, wrote music critic Jon Pareles.Call their music indie rock, jangle pop, or alter- cheaper to move to Millburn. The couple More often, theyre both direct and artfuland asnative rock, the Cucumbers demonstrate a diversehave spent their lives there ever since.sincere as a smart pop band gets. range of styles and songs that they fostered through- The couple raised two sons in Millburn: 32-year-By the mid-1980s, the Cucumbers were part of theout the 1980s and beyond. The band counts R.E.M.sold Jesse, who is a graduate student studying map-burgeoning indie rock scene of Hoboken, one of theMichael Stipe as one of its fans and developed oth- ping and urban geography, and Jamie, a 30-year-old most notable in New Jersey music history. The once- ers throughout the countryincluding the Athensneuroscientist. Theyre both musiciansfar more iconic music club Maxwells had set up shop in the(hometoR.E.M.)andAtlantascenesinGeorgiatalented than we are, says Shoshkes.late 1970s to feature both local bands as well as punkwhich shared a common thread with Hobokens in- Neither of them sought music as a career, says and indie bands touring the area. The Cucumbers,dependent music aesthetic. There was always a con- Fried. They certainly have the training and the mu-Yo La Tengo, and the Feelies were some of the localnection to the Athens sound, says Fried. In additionsicianship, but they just saw too much of the life-groups that regularly played there. Bands such as Nir- to R.E.M., Athens was the home town of the B-52s,style. Theres an irony: Parents traditionally tell their vana, R.E.M., and the Replacements passed throughPylon, Love Tractor, and countless others. kids, Dont go into music! Do something reason-during tours, while Bruce Springsteen shot the videoWefoundalotoffansdownthere,saysable! We said to them: Go into music! Dont do for Glory Days in the tiny but beloved venue. Shoshkes. I think our biggest show ever was in At- something reasonable! Maybe that was the wrong 22/ matters magazine / winter 2022'