Saturday, 6 February 2010
THE PARSON RED HEADS
To keep it simple – yes, The Parson Red Heads are originally from Oregon; yes, the band includes family members; yes, they do like The Byrds - and yes, only two of them are actual redheads. Moving on … when The Parson Red Heads debut full length King Giraffe was released last year, they had already earned themselves a solid reputation in their home of Los Angeles that was backed up by successful Monday night residencies at Silver Lake Lounge and The Echo - but since its release, their presence has extended past LA’s city limits. The 60’s loving quintet has been reviewed and featured in Under the Radar, Harp, Death and Taxes, Performer, LA Times, San Francisco Bay Guardian and has had steady play on college radio (KG stayed in the CMJ top 200 for 9 weeks). They further solidified their reign over LA with a Monday night residency at Spaceland this January, and a performance on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic. To keep the ball rolling, they will release a six song EP this May called Owl & Timber that highlights both their subtle and sweet acoustic tendencies as well as their consistent need for psyched out jams.
After a few rotating cast members and other line-up changes last year, the dust has settled and The Parson Red Heads at their core are Evan Way (vocals, guitar), Brette Marie Way (drums, vocals), Erin Way (keyboards, vocals), Samuel Fowles (guitar, vocals) and David Swensen (bass, vocals), with the occasional help of Raymond Richards (pedal steel, guitar), Jason Wrightsman (tambourine), and Aaron Ballard (guitar, storytelling).
Starting out with the 8 minute plus guitar heavy “County Line” and then into the poppy “Out to Sea”, Owl & Timber finds the Red Heads exploring new territory, and expanding their song-writing. Mixing it up a bit, “Don’t Hold Back” was penned by Fowles, while all songs previously were those of Evan Way, and “Owl Me Timbers” is an instrumental that came to be after an impromptu jam during practice. Stand out track and first single “Got It All” has been a live favorite over the past year and mixes some of the group’s heaviest guitar work along with their catchiest hook to date, as well as the very appropriate Parsons chorus/theme of “We got it all”. Owl & Timber closes with “Crowds”, a song from their days in Eugene that has been re-worked and re-recorded, and features their signature vocal harmonies in their most appealing form yet.
Produced by Swensen and the band, and recorded at The Boat and Swensen’s apartment, Owl & Timber will be their first self-released title under the moniker Parson Farm Records. Due out in May 2008, Owl & Timber will be the stepping stone to a full length planned for release later in the year. Oh and yes – they all wear white on stage.
MINTO
http://www.myspace.com/mintominto
...is a five piece rock band with shout out harmonies at a toe tapping pace. The story so far is not a simple one so lets start from the beginning. Kalvin, Evret, and Ryan began jamming while they were attending Vancouver Film School in 2002. Their first live performance was a Belle and Sebastian cover song, which they totally ruined. The boys decided to start writing their own material and late one night wrote Her Eyes, a song they still play today. They also called themselves "the Smokes". After a full year of jamming, the Smokes finally nailed down a semi-solid line up of friends and began gigging around Vancouver to some success.
In 2006, the Smokes released “Fields and Factory Floors”, which was voted one of the best local albums of the year by Nerve Magazine. In 2007, long time friend and Smokes bass player Graham Myrfield decided to leave the band to focus more on his own band, The Stumblers Inn. In 2008, wonder woman Suzy Easton joined the band on bass guitar and in 2009, long time friend and ex-bandmate Jimi Cuell jumped back behind the drums. The band soon decided to change their name to Minto Chipman, named after two small towns in New Brunswick. They changed their name due to many factors, one being that there are a million bands called the Smokes. Unfortunately, the new namE was a mouthful for some - gig posters had the wrong spelling and the name was mispronounced often. After a long debate, while recording at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, the band decided to drop Chipman, and go by the name MINTO.
So, out of the ashes of the Smokes, came MINTO, a band with the same song writing mentality of the Smokes, but more Rock and Roll then Alt. Country. Concentrating on writing songs from the heart, then performing them from the heart, MINTO just loves to play for you. Their new album, which was recorded with Albini this February, is titled “Lay it On Me”, and was released on July 9th, 2009 to a crowd of 196 people at the Biltmore Cabaret in Vancouver. Not bad for a thursday night. Look out for MINTO as they are touring this fall across Canada in support of Lay It On Me.