The Shimmers
Biography
In the beginning there was
Baby Flamehead
The
amazing Philly-based acoustic folk-rock band that featured the gorgeous vocals
of Eden Daniels, Chris Unrath on guitar, Dean (Clean) Sabatino of the Dead
Milkmen on drums, and the incomparable Andy Bresnan on the Ukranian Burda - a
three string bass instrument that looked like a cross between a cello and a
Noguchi coffee table. Baby Flamehead released one great album in 1990 on Texas
Hotel Records called Life Sandwich and squeezed out one tour before Bresnan's
departure (Burda slung over his shoulder) and Dean's Milkmen obligations put the
band into several years of low gear. During the Flamehead tour Eden and Chris
forged a friendship with Jonathan Segel of Camper Van Beethoven that survives
to this day.
After Flamehead, there was
Gimme
With
Chris, Eden, Dean and Andrew Chalfen, who is the guitar player and song-writer in The
Trolleyvox, on bass. More rocking than Flamehead, Gimme flirted with the music
industry beast via a development deal with Ruffhouse/Sony-Columbia but Eden refused
to lie about her age and wear the leather pants to the meetings so it all came
to naught.
Finally, came The Shimmers
Eden had started to see Dave Bielanko, whose band Marah
was rapidly building a fan base in Philadelphia. Together they formed The Shimmers to play songs that
they co-wrote. Andrew Chalfen was recruited on bass and Ronnie Vance from Marah on
Drums. They played a number of gigs and recorded a bunch of songs with producer/guest
guitarist Chris Unrath and Marah producer Paul Smith. Eden and asked long-time
friend Jonathan Segel to play violin on most of the tracks and a whole host of
guest-players and part-time Shimmers sat in as well.
But
as happens in so many bands where romantic and musical affairs are intertwined,
Eden and Daves relationship came to an end and the decision was made to
discontinue The Shimmers. Only the Christmas song Coal was ever released on
the Seasons Greetings Philadelphia Compilation (Record Cellar Productions).
In
2004 Chris Unrath moved his Eadrumland Studio and came across The Shimmers master tapes. He
circulated rough mixes of most of the songs that make up The Way You Shine
and Jonathan Segel posted them on his private website for friends to hear. The
positive reactions to these beautiful songs led to the decision to finish and
release the album. New songs were recorded and extra instrumentation was added
to many others before final mixing. The result is the engaging Americana-tinged
folk-rock record that is The Way You Shine.
The
Shimmers will be reforming to play selected east-coast and festival/convention
dates in the fall of 2006 and spring of 2007.
Media Contact: Howard Wuelfing
Howlin
Wuelf Media
HowlingWuelf@aol.com
(215) 428-9119
