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Hello…here’s a picture of us (it appears inside our most recent CD “All Things to You”) on the beach in Asbury Park, NJ.

We’re a Jersey band….(yes… we’ve heard lots and lots of jokes about the garden state variety vegetables….jersey fresh..etc..all the things to do with a cucumber…)…Right now we’ve got the state covered from North to South….5 or 6 or 7 counties amongst us…

The band currently is…

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Deena Shoshkes – guitar & vocals

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Jon Fried – guitar & vocals

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Yes, the Cucumbers are playing these days as an acoustic duo, and are rocking as ever...plus you can hear the words.

We were born in Hoboken in the mid-80s, when founders Jon Fried and Deena Shoshkes found a home in the independent pop scene there. (Our friend, Jason Friend, compiled a detailed history) But in brief….

Our very first song, “My Boyfriend” became a hit on the college radio charts, leading to national tours, a couple of videos on MTV, reviews in Rolling Stone, People Magazine. By the late 80s the band was starting to break into commercial radio.

“Babies here, babies there, babies coming everywhere….” We took a break to raise children, and re-formed in the 90s, at the urging of Zero Hour Records President Ray McKenzie, released two CD's, and toured nationally.

Producer/engineer Roger Moutenot (Sleater-Kinney, Yo La Tengo, Lou Reed), mixed our 6th album. We are thrilled to be on his label, Fictitious Records. And we love the name too!

1999’s release “Total Vegetility” (Home Office Records) was praised in The NY Times, the Village Voice, and received airplay on over 150 college radio stations. At the height of its popularity, Napster selected our song “Charlie” as top “discover new music” song of the week in November of 2000, and highlighted our fun version of “Auld Lang Syne” a few weeks later to ring in the New Year. (We didn’t mind…we love sharing music on the internet..and buying and selling it here too.)

Recently, we’ve been included on some wonderful compilations and had several songs in films and on tv. Click here if you're curious...

“All Things To You” was several years in the making and also features the drumming of EdNo. It was recorded by Tom Lucas, at Just in Dreams Studios, and also at our home studio the J-Club. Old friend Dave “Love God” Ross joined in for some background vocals, along with new mama Maria Seigenthaler. The album also features a new kind of collaboration for us, two songs were written with Tennessee-based lyricist David Graham.

Here's the latest Cucumbers rock quartet incarnation, with Kurt Wrobel (bass, left) and Steve Villano (drums, right):

And here's another pic from Deena's computer, where she's a Protools master at work on her solo project...