++ Bob Massey - voice, guitar, piano - has played with the Out_Circuit, Telegraph Melts, Tsunami and others. .................................................................................................................
++ Jean Cook - violin and viola - has played with Beauty Pill, Ida, Jon Langford, Jenny Toomey and others. ..................................................................................................................
++ David Durst - organ, keys - has played with Maritime, Troubled Hubble, Likeness to Lily, Fast Eddie and others. .................................................................................................................
++ Eric Axelson - bass - has played with The Dismemberment Plan, Maritime, and Statehood. .................................................................................................................
++ Jason Caddell - lead guitar - has played with The Dismemberment Plan, Cex, Rose and others. .................................................................................................................
++ Amy Domingues - cello - has played with Fugazi, Mary Timony, Jenny Toomey, Garland of Hours and others. ..................................................................................................................
++ Luther Gray - drums - has played with Ida, Tsunami and others. ..................................................................................................................
++ Johanna Claasen - double bass - has played with the Most Secret Method, Lincoln, and others. .................................................................................................................
++ Eric Bruns - clarinet - has played with EBSK, American Workplace and others. .................................................................................................................. ++ Lary Hoffman - vibes - has played with Aerialist, Mr. Lary and the Kids and others. .....................................................................................................................
++ Danielle Seiss - flute - has played with Paradigm9 and others. .....................................................................................................................
++ Brian Fending - udu - is a mysterious man. ...............................................
Influences
The wind, streetlights, the sound of car wheels on rainy pavement, the dim glow from the apartment across the way, her, some place I've never seen.
Sounds Like
THE GENA ROWLANDS BAND...
...plays songs about b-movie starlets, x-movie starlets, ex-movie starlets, Academy Award Winning Actresses, people born in the wrong skin, blonde strangers, convenience stores, bad parties, the Eisenhower Interstate system, and Kong’s words with Jesus in the aftermath of a rough first date. It’s late-night music. Have a smooth beverage.
But what does it sound like? The Gena Rowlands Band makes the sounds you put on, alone in your apartment as you look out over the strange city at night, wondering who all those people are, and how they managed to find each other, and is it last call yet?
THE GENA ROWLANDS BAND...
plays songs about b-movie starlets, x-movie starlets, ex-movie starlets, Academy Award Winning Actresses, people born in the wrong skin, blonde strangers, barstool wisdom, bad parties, the Eisenhower Interstate system, and Kong's words with Jesus in the aftermath of a rough first date. ..........................................................................................................................
“It's tragic, hilarious, brilliant writing,” according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Flesh and Spirits is The Gena Rowlands Band’s third full-length recording for Lujo Records - their most focused, cohesive, and catchy work yet. ..........................................................................................................................
For this album, GRB ringleader Bob Massey assembled a virtuosic band of Washington, DC’s most acclaimed musicians. GRB regulars Jean Cook (who also plays with Beauty Pill, Ida, and Jon Langford) and David Durst were joined by Vin Novara (formerly of CrownHateRuin, Oswego and Canyon) as well as Jason Caddell and Eric Axelson (formerly of The Dismemberment Plan). ...........................................................................................................................
The result is eleven instantly memorable songs built on Massey’s trademark lyrical formula that combines dry wit, a grappling with darkness, and glimmers of love and light. If the band’s debut (La Merde et Les Etoiles) was the soundtrack for a night of heartache, Flesh and Spirits is the jolt to get you out of bed in the morning. ...........................................................................................................................
Flesh and Spirits was recorded and produced by Chad Clark of Beauty Pill (Dischord) and TJ Lipple of Aloha (Polyvinyl) of Silver Sonya, in Washington DC’s legendary Inner Ear studios. ...........................................................................................................................
The GRB has toured with Andrew Bird, Enon, The Dismemberment Plan and others. In March 2007 the band will make their third appearance at SXSW in Austin, TX, as part of a tour of the southwestern U.S. A tour of the entire U.S. will follow in May 2007. ...........................................................................................................................
The Gena Rowlands Band are graduates of the Washington D.C post-punk community. But what you hear is utterly unexpected. Strings stolen from a b&w movie score or New York's experimental scene. The skitter of jazz brushes. A voice that draws more power from a whisper, a wry lyric, or a soulful falsetto than a scream.
Anna asks, "Did you follow up and get your songs licensed yet?!" We're listening to your stuff right now and sighing a lot. Beautiful, meaningful, swellingly glorious. Wow, man, you got to get your stuff out there and share it with the world. TV might sound bourgie, but think of it as bettering the world.
