Perry Clark - drums, percussion, guitar / Tom Dorrance - guitar, vocals, banjo, bass / Doug Miller - guitar, vocals, drums / Jenna Nigro - bass, vocals, guitar / Exa von Alt - vocals, piano, organ, bells and whistles, smoke and mirrors
Influences
Wilco, The Band, Springsteen, Sparklehorse, Neil Young, Richard Buckner, Dylan, Sun Kil Moon-Kozelek-Red House Painters, Jackson Browne, Idaho, Dinosaur Jr, Allman Brothers, Townes Van Zandt, Magnolia Electric Co., the Rolling Stones, the Black Crowes, Al Green, Willie Nelson, Sly and the Family Stone, Van Morrison, Vetiver, Graham Nash, Ron Wood...
The Night Owl Choir is a band of contradictions. Comprised of five history graduate students, the band’s lyrics are steeped in traditional themes of heartache, love, and loss, and not the history lessons one might expect. Although they are based in Chicago, none of them actually come from that bastion of Midwest music cool. Instead they hail from Minneapolis, Boston, Oakland, Pittsburgh, and Indianapolis. In 2007, former Winter Blanket founding songwriter and guitarist Doug Miller moved from Minneapolis to Chicago to begin graduate school and was thus forced to retire his band of eight years. After stumbling upon fellow musicians in his history department, Miller could not avoid the temptation to form a new group. Perry Clark and Tom Dorrance joined first, on drums and guitar respectively. The idea of finding a fellow history student to play bass quickly became a running joke among the three. To their surprise, fellow student Jenna Nigro was indeed willing to lend her talents. Finally, the band went to the history department well one last time and added Exa von Alt on keyboards to round out the current lineup. In the spring of 2008, a band that was initially formed to provide occasional respite from the rigors of graduate study emerged on the Chicago music scene armed with a cache of songs. The Night Owl Choir features four singers and three principle songwriters who frequently play musical chairs. Their sound evokes a dusty crossroads of Americana and classic 70s rock. Imagine Townes Van Zandt backed by Crazy Horse with female voices to sweeten the deal. With a few shows and countless songs under their belt, the band will hit the studio this June to record their debut record.
Sorry I wasn't able to make it down to RIBCO last night guys, I'm sure it was an awesome show! We'll have to try to get together another time Doug, keep up the good work!
thanks for checking my review of the new Verve album; I must say it is definitely one that will take time to grow on listeners, but a lot of great albums are like that. Hope to see you play a QC show sometime soon
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