The Chambermaids - The Chambermaids
ARTIST.....: The Chambermaids
TITLE......: The Chambermaids
LABEL......: Modern Radio
URL........: www.thechambermaids.com
RIP DATE...: Jan-29-2006
STORE DATE.: Jan-28-2006
GENRE......: Indie
QUALITY....: VBR / 44.1Hz / Joint-Stereo
SIZE.......: 47,4 MB
Track Listing:
01 - City Predators 01:41
02 - Dog Army 02:31
03 - 21st 03:04
04 - Pressure 02:01
05 - Park 04:05
06 - The Holy Terrors 02:48
07 - Sleeper 06:48
08 - Nailed To The Floor 01:57
09 - Mystery 01:30
10 - Ms. Stork 03:14
─────
29:39 min
Release Notes:
www.myspace.com/thechambermaids
The Chambermaids are:
Guitars/vocals: Neil Weir
Bass/vocals: Martha Weir
Drums: Colin Johnson
"We've always had certain ideas concerning what the band should be
(or not be.) There seems to be a lot of bands, including
underground bands, who try to come across as trendy or stylish in
superficial ways and imply that they are leading more interesting
lives than the people who listen to their music. I think it goes
without saying that we aren't interested in the music-as-a-
backdrop-to-someone's-social-calendar ideal that tends to go along
with so much contemporary music. We aren't interested in scenes,
we're interested in music," explains Neil Weir, The Chambermaids'
co-vocalist and guitarist.
The Chambermaids are siblings Neil (vocals, guitars) and Martha
Weir (vocals, bass), and Colin Johnson (drums). The Weirs formed
the band nearly two years ago in Minneapolis, MN with a drum
machine. They cut five demos, put them on their website
(www.thechambermaids.com) and began playing out in the indie rock
friendly dive bars of the Twin Cities. Soon the song "City
Predators" was picked up by local college radio station, Radio K
(where the band also did an on air performance) and the Twin
Town's music scene was formally introduced to The Chambermaids.
The Weirs honed their craft and their performance as they
continued to play live shows - sharing bills with locals (such as
Tora! Tora! Torrance!, Huge Rat Attacks, The Deaths) and national
acts (such as Mark Shippy of US Maple, K Records/indie legend
Calvin Johnson). Still they were always writing, moving ideas from
head-and-heart to the practice space. The poor drum machine
couldnÆt cut it, as it lacked the capacity for the structures and
nuisances of these new songs ("At times, with the drum machine, it
felt like we were driving through mud," says Neil). The drum
machine was replaced after Thanksgiving 2004 when Johnson joined.
That brings us to the all-important and ever remarkable now.
The Chambermaids' debut full-length record is a slab of weird
noise and ugly beauty. The Weirs both sing, alternating lead and
backing vocals that run the gamut from lovely to awful (in that
good, Mark E. Smith kind of awful). Punchy clean bass lines,
slicing noisy guitars, and minimalist drumming (Johnson's subtle
homage to that icy minimalism of the fired drum machine - it
should be noted that his technique is similar, yet made organic by
jarring idiosyncratic fills and runs) punctuate the oddly catchy
melodies and murky lyrics. Johnson says, "[We are] creating that
hypnotic mood - a good rhythm that will grab you and throw you."
Tension and opulence permeate the songs; it's close to unsettling,
even unpredictable.
The songs aren't really pop, but they do have a sensibility. This
stuff isn't thrown together, but it definitely isn't tidy. The
Weirs state, "One of the reasons we have settled on a three piece
lineup is because often the more instruments that are playing at
any one time in a rock context, the less presence and perceived
volume each instrument has in the overall mix. We want clutter but
not too much clutter."
"The sounds that emanate from the recordings present an
unconscious and weirdly foreboding sense of serendipity that makes
The Chambermaids' sound difficult to peg. Naturally, there are
points of reference: certainly Wire and Sonic Youth; probably The
Jesus & Mary Chain and The Velvet Underground with bits of the
far-reaching shoegazer genre and old-fashioned 60s pop, but they
do it in their own way.
From the two-minute 60s R&B-through-art-punk-racket of "City
Predators" and "Nailed To The Floor" to the foreboding-slow-burn
of "Sleeper", The Chambermaids pillage pop and rock history,
tweaking and bending their influences enough, decreeing this isn't
theft. Believe me, this is more than homage. This is what makes
good music.
Recorded: Spring/Summer 2005
Mixed: Summer 2005
Engineers: Neil Weir with help from Andrew Hennlich and David
Safar
Mastered: Dave Gardner at Magneto Mastering
Studio: Neil's Studio
www.modern-radio.com