rachele eve guastella- songwriter/vocals/acoustic guitar nikolai giefer- drums/production kate drown- clarinet nick miller- bass
currently looking for a lead guitarist
contact: rachele@racheleeve.com
Influences
The Beatles, Fiona Apple, Bob Dylan, Feist, Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton, St. Vincent, Cake, Talking Heads, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Field Music
One could say that Rachele Eve's songwriting began with a broken leg. After an unfortunate sports injury had her bedridden for two weeks, Rachele picked up the guitar for the first time and has since not put it down. At age 17, Eve joined local Detroit rock band Avenue gaining exposure on numerous stages as well as a feature on the nationally syndicated Mitch Albom Show and Fox 2 News. Soon after the band released their Answer My Call EP in 2004, Eve decided to pursue a solo career, in which she independently released her first EP, Wishful Thinking, in 2005. She gained a following at Birmingham Michigan's The Blue Martini, as well as performed in Washington D.C. at the Angels in Adoption Gala hosted by the Congressional Coalition of Adoption Institute, with other performers such as DMC from the influential Hip Hop group Run DMC.
Attracted to Chicago's diverse music scene she set out for the windy city a year later with a hope-filled bag. On the search for a much more intimate yet driving sound, it was not even a month until she met her partner, Nikolai Giefer, a drummer and producer that relocated to Chicago after Hurricane Katrina. The two released Winchester Sessions, a collection of six new compositions, later to be revised under the name Joys and Toys. Unlike other duos, the balance of Rachele Eve's organic lyrical and vocal expression and Nikolai's adept syncopation made for a symbiotic relationship, both innate and unprecedented.
In October of 2007, Giefer introduced Eve to his former professor and record producer John Snyder, a veteran in jazz recording (Miles Davis, Etta James) and founder of Artists House Music Foundation. A couple months after Snyder's visit to Chicago, he invited Eve down to Louisiana to record. After months of seeking out local musicians and fundraising for the album, Rachele Eve, Nikolai Giefer, and multi-instrumentalist Packy Lundholm ventured down to Dockside Studios in Maurice, Louisiana in July 2008. The three of them cranked out an astonishing fourteen songs in four days, making up Rachele Eve's first full-length album.
Entitled Mouth of Feathers, the distinct and unabridged instrumentation incorporates a modern yet vintage feel, colored with distorted guitars, toy piano, an accordion cameo, Wurlitzer, and Hammond B-3 organ. All behind her seamless whisper-to-wail vocal inflections the album is brave in parts and meek in others bringing about the entire spectrum of human emotion. The lyrical component of Mouth of Feathers illustrates more abstractly Eve's personal journey through being her own worst critic, finding a new love, and trying to make sense of society's strange antics. Rachele Eve's influences that are especially prominent on Mouth of Feathers include: Fiona Apple, Feist, Jon Brion, Regina Spektor, and Bob Dylan.
Eve, Lundholm, and Giefer returned to the windy city for the next steps towards completing the album and another addition was made-- a clarinet player by the name of Kate Drown--adding the finishing touches to Rachele Eve's long awaited record, now available on iTunes, CDBaby, and in print.
Rachele! I saw you at the Lasalle Power Co show- I didnt know you would be opening. I haven't seen you perform since Tsuki... You were amazing then, but I was blown away by this show. All my friends were raving. Let me know when your next show is please!
Hey, Im having a graduation party on Sunday May 17 at Tini Martini! House Music DJ Kristin and I on drums are performing! There is going to be a live painter, film work, photography, a dance group and House Music DJ Mark Grant is headlining the whole event!!! =) All Columbia Grads performing together with a variety of arts! Right up your ally! FREE MARTINI'S FOR THE LADIES TILL 11pm & $5 BOMBS!!! Call me, I hope you can make it!!!
hey rachele, thanks for checking out the tunes! Make sure to download the EP for free on the left side of the page... also, check out the new online merch store and Facebook page, which includes all sorts of cool media! see ya, thanks! (ps, we're at cubby bear this saturday, hope to see ya!)<br /><br />-Mike / The Innocent<br />
Thanks for the add sister! You know, you sound a lot like annie clark or like St. vincent! thats a hard sound to come by. props, and keep up the awesome work!
you may or may not be surprised to know that MANY people have claimed that Pete is their drunk class mate. And not surprisingly, I don't doubt a single one of them! ha<br /><br />Hope you enjoy the tunes, see you soon!<br /><br />-Mike
