SEVEN YEARS TOGETHER... AND STILL HAPPILY ITCHLESS
NADINE'S "OPEN MARRIAGE" HAS BROUGHT FORTH A ROCKING NEW OFFSPRING, "STRANGE SEASONS."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 31, 2003
“So far, we’re like a good marriage,” guitarist/vocalist Adam Reichmann says of his band, Nadine. The St. Louis group has been around almost seven years now – about the amount of time it takes for most marriages to be determined eminently sound or to turn sour.
“But the new people in the band infuse some energy into the relationship,” adds bassist Anne Tkach, seated with Reichmann and keyboardist/guitarist Steve Rauner on an old sofa in their studio/practice space in the downtown warehouse district.
“Okay, so it’s an open marriage,” Reichmann admits, and everybody cracks up.
Nadine has indeed undergone some changes over the years, and those changes have accelerated of late. But they’ve only served to put the band on more solid ground. Last year, guitarist Jimmy Griffin was added to the lineup, allowing Rauner to concentrate more on playing keyboards. Several months ago, drummer Brian Zielie became Nadine’s newest member.
“The band is better now,” Rauner says. “The band as it is now does the record better than the record.”
“The record” is “Strange Seasons” Nadine’s fourth album, which they recorded a year and a half ago, but are just now releasing on Trampoline Records, the fledgling label owned by singer/songwriter Pete Yorn along with Wallflowers keyboardist Rami Jaffee and Jukebox Junkies guitarist Marc Dauer. The disc finds Nadine moving away from the alternative country sound that gave them a reputation as band on the rise in certain quarters of the U.S., and even Europe. Instead, it’s a luminous mix of straight-ahead rock and masterful, radio-ready pop.
As you’d imagine, the group is hesitant to label their sound one way or the other, though Rauner does offer this: “Someone told me recently that if the early Tom Petty records were put out now, they’d be considered Americana records. I don’t know if I buy that, but it shows how labels can limit you.”
So why sign with a label at all? Nadine’s last two efforts, “Downtown, Saturday” and “Lit up from the Inside” were released on Undertow, a label that the group helped found in the late ‘90s under the auspices of a musical and commercial arts collective that went by the same name. Many bands these days are shying away from label deals and heading toward self-sufficiency. Having handled everything themselves for so long, Nadine would seem like a band particularly unsuited for a conventional deal at this point.
Rauner, though, sums up the band’s feelings succinctly: “It’s hard to be a record label,” he says.
“We’ve been involved in all of it from the get-go, and it began more or less out of this space right here,” Reichmann adds, gesturing toward the instruments and recording and editing equipment that fill the loft’s various rooms. “I think the two big reasons we signed a deal was that we wanted to focus more on the music instead of the administration of it all; and then, the label itself moved to Chicago. A lot of the bands that are still on the label still use this space. But we just figured it was a good time for us to try something new.”
Just because Nadine sought out a more standard artist/record company relationship doesn’t mean they went about it in the usual way, however. For one thing, most bands focus on getting signed, and only then proceed to make a record. In that regard, Nadine took the road less traveled.
They recorded “Strange Seasons” using their own money and didn’t shop it around to labels until it was completely finished. Nor did they follow their precedent of recording in their own studio and producing the sessions themselves. Instead, they packed up their gear (and a lot of their friends’ gear, too) and headed off to Texas, recording the album with Matt Pence, a noted producer, engineer and drummer for the band Centro-matic.
“We just wanted this record to come out in a cool environment, without a lot of strings attached,” Rauner says. “That’s sort of how we made it, with no real plan. We wanted to make the record we wanted to make and not get tied up in a convoluted two- or three-record deal.”
“What we really needed was someone who could give us some help without it becoming, ‘Hey, buy me a van, give me tour support, find me a producer, take our photos for us,’” Reichmann adds. “We’re able to handle those kinds of things ourselves.”
Once the album was finished, Nadine began sending it to labels in hopes of catching the attention of someone who could give them the higher profile and promotional push needed to take the band to the next level. Yet some labels were frankly flummoxed by their shopping an album that was already finished. “Some of them didn’t understand,” Reichmann says with a laugh. “They were like, ‘You already have a record. Put it out!’”
Several labels responded positively, but only one seemed to truly understand: Trampoline. The L.A.-based label had put out only one CD, the compilation “Trampoline Records Greatest Hits Vol. 1,” which featured Yorn, Jaffee’s bandmate Jakob Dylan, Minibar, Gingersol, and others. Nadine became the first act signed to the label for a stand-alone project.
“The three of them are all really accomplished people,” Tkach says. “And they just have a really good idea going. I feel honored that they’re interested in this project and willing to take it on. It seems to me safer to go with a label that is a higher-level independent than to sign with a major and shoot for the gold at this point. This has always been a do-it-yourself band, and this deal follows our sensibility. I think it’s a really good match.”
“Pete, Marc, and I started the label to find some good music and get it out into the world,” Jaffee says by phone from Los Angeles. He and his partners released their compilation album, and once they felt confident enough that the label could stand on its own, they began soliciting CDs for possible future projects.
“We had thousands of CDs to sift through, and one of them was Nadine,” Jaffee says. “We were just totally blown away by them. They have a really cool thing going. They’re like a modern-day version of the Band. I see them as somewhere between the Flaming Lips, Neil Young and the Band.”
Dauer, in a separate interview, says the fact that Nadine had a finished CD to offer made them a natural to work with Trampoline.
“We actually preferred that, because we’re dealing with very limited resources right now,” he says. “The money we’re using to fund the company is our own, so we’re on a tight budget. A finished record was just what we were looking for. We’re all producers and down the line, sure, we would love to have a hand in making the records we put out. But it was actually a big plus that they had this record that was done and we could just put it out as opposed to spending thousands of dollars to make it.”
For their part, Nadine felt most comfortable with Trampoline because the label felt somewhat akin to what they had been doing with Undertow, but with better resources.
“Those guys are musicians running a record label, and we were that same thing, but we don’t have anywhere near the experience that they have in the industry,” Rauner says. “They know the field a lot better than we do and have people they can talk to. It’s already been a benefit to us to be able to say we’re part of that group of people.”
One slightly strange feature of “Strange Seasons” is that the band that made the record isn’t exactly the band that will hit the road soon to promote it. Longtime members Reichmann, Rauner and Tkach are on it, of course, but so is drummer Merv Schrock, who has since left the group. And though personnel changes don’t necessarily matter all that much, anyone who has seen Nadine recently can attest that the addition of drummer Zielie and guitarist Griffin amount to a seismic shift in the band’s look, sound and direction.
Griffin is best known for his work in hard rock bands like King of the Hill, Full on Venus and Neptune Crush. His dyed black hair, flashy guitar style and rock and roll swagger has given the band some much needed charisma and stage presence.
“There are a lot more pretty girls in our audience now,” Reichmann says with a laugh.
Griffin admits that playing with Nadine has been a learning experience for him. “It’s a new bag of licks,” he says. “There’s a twang to it. I never had any twang. But what it comes down to is how much rock do you want in your country and how much country do you want in your rock? It’s like chocolate in your peanut butter – it takes the right blend to produce that perfect Reece’s cup.”
Zielie, who joined the band this past spring, has played rock, jazz, and R&B in bands like Technicolor Yawn, Zito and Flynova. “Jimmy added a lot to the band when he joined, some flair, but I don’t think it was quite right at that point,” Zielie says. “I think what I’ve managed to do, or what I’ve been hired to do is to bridge the gap and make it a little more cohesive. That’s a drummer’s job anyway, and I think it’s worked out.”
Reichmann is excited enough about the band’s present and future to already be talking about writing and recording a new album. But for now they’ve got “Strange Seasons” to promote and a new label deal to nurture.
“The bottom line is that we really have a good feeling about all this and we trust the guys at Trampoline,” he says. “That’s part of the whole deal – not worrying so much about things on our end. We have a lot of faith that they love the record and they’re gonna do right by us. At this point, we’re playing music, getting our live stuff together and starting to look at the next step. I don’t know how it’s going to go from here on out, but I feel pretty good about it.”
NADINE'S "OPEN MARRIAGE" HAS BROUGHT FORTH A ROCKING NEW OFFSPRING, "STRANGE SEASONS."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 31, 2003
“So far, we’re like a good marriage,” guitarist/vocalist Adam Reichmann says of his band, Nadine. The St. Louis group has been around almost seven years now – about the amount of time it takes for most marriages to be determined eminently sound or to turn sour.
“But the new people in the band infuse some energy into the relationship,” adds bassist Anne Tkach, seated with Reichmann and keyboardist/guitarist Steve Rauner on an old sofa in their studio/practice space in the downtown warehouse district.
“Okay, so it’s an open marriage,” Reichmann admits, and everybody cracks up.
Nadine has indeed undergone some changes over the years, and those changes have accelerated of late. But they’ve only served to put the band on more solid ground. Last year, guitarist Jimmy Griffin was added to the lineup, allowing Rauner to concentrate more on playing keyboards. Several months ago, drummer Brian Zielie became Nadine’s newest member.
“The band is better now,” Rauner says. “The band as it is now does the record better than the record.”
“The record” is “Strange Seasons” Nadine’s fourth album, which they recorded a year and a half ago, but are just now releasing on Trampoline Records, the fledgling label owned by singer/songwriter Pete Yorn along with Wallflowers keyboardist Rami Jaffee and Jukebox Junkies guitarist Marc Dauer. The disc finds Nadine moving away from the alternative country sound that gave them a reputation as band on the rise in certain quarters of the U.S., and even Europe. Instead, it’s a luminous mix of straight-ahead rock and masterful, radio-ready pop.
As you’d imagine, the group is hesitant to label their sound one way or the other, though Rauner does offer this: “Someone told me recently that if the early Tom Petty records were put out now, they’d be considered Americana records. I don’t know if I buy that, but it shows how labels can limit you.”
So why sign with a label at all? Nadine’s last two efforts, “Downtown, Saturday” and “Lit up from the Inside” were released on Undertow, a label that the group helped found in the late ‘90s under the auspices of a musical and commercial arts collective that went by the same name. Many bands these days are shying away from label deals and heading toward self-sufficiency. Having handled everything themselves for so long, Nadine would seem like a band particularly unsuited for a conventional deal at this point.
Rauner, though, sums up the band’s feelings succinctly: “It’s hard to be a record label,” he says.
“We’ve been involved in all of it from the get-go, and it began more or less out of this space right here,” Reichmann adds, gesturing toward the instruments and recording and editing equipment that fill the loft’s various rooms. “I think the two big reasons we signed a deal was that we wanted to focus more on the music instead of the administration of it all; and then, the label itself moved to Chicago. A lot of the bands that are still on the label still use this space. But we just figured it was a good time for us to try something new.”
Just because Nadine sought out a more standard artist/record company relationship doesn’t mean they went about it in the usual way, however. For one thing, most bands focus on getting signed, and only then proceed to make a record. In that regard, Nadine took the road less traveled.
They recorded “Strange Seasons” using their own money and didn’t shop it around to labels until it was completely finished. Nor did they follow their precedent of recording in their own studio and producing the sessions themselves. Instead, they packed up their gear (and a lot of their friends’ gear, too) and headed off to Texas, recording the album with Matt Pence, a noted producer, engineer and drummer for the band Centro-matic.
“We just wanted this record to come out in a cool environment, without a lot of strings attached,” Rauner says. “That’s sort of how we made it, with no real plan. We wanted to make the record we wanted to make and not get tied up in a convoluted two- or three-record deal.”
“What we really needed was someone who could give us some help without it becoming, ‘Hey, buy me a van, give me tour support, find me a producer, take our photos for us,’” Reichmann adds. “We’re able to handle those kinds of things ourselves.”
Once the album was finished, Nadine began sending it to labels in hopes of catching the attention of someone who could give them the higher profile and promotional push needed to take the band to the next level. Yet some labels were frankly flummoxed by their shopping an album that was already finished. “Some of them didn’t understand,” Reichmann says with a laugh. “They were like, ‘You already have a record. Put it out!’”
Several labels responded positively, but only one seemed to truly understand: Trampoline. The L.A.-based label had put out only one CD, the compilation “Trampoline Records Greatest Hits Vol. 1,” which featured Yorn, Jaffee’s bandmate Jakob Dylan, Minibar, Gingersol, and others. Nadine became the first act signed to the label for a stand-alone project.
“The three of them are all really accomplished people,” Tkach says. “And they just have a really good idea going. I feel honored that they’re interested in this project and willing to take it on. It seems to me safer to go with a label that is a higher-level independent than to sign with a major and shoot for the gold at this point. This has always been a do-it-yourself band, and this deal follows our sensibility. I think it’s a really good match.”
“Pete, Marc, and I started the label to find some good music and get it out into the world,” Jaffee says by phone from Los Angeles. He and his partners released their compilation album, and once they felt confident enough that the label could stand on its own, they began soliciting CDs for possible future projects.
“We had thousands of CDs to sift through, and one of them was Nadine,” Jaffee says. “We were just totally blown away by them. They have a really cool thing going. They’re like a modern-day version of the Band. I see them as somewhere between the Flaming Lips, Neil Young and the Band.”
Dauer, in a separate interview, says the fact that Nadine had a finished CD to offer made them a natural to work with Trampoline.
“We actually preferred that, because we’re dealing with very limited resources right now,” he says. “The money we’re using to fund the company is our own, so we’re on a tight budget. A finished record was just what we were looking for. We’re all producers and down the line, sure, we would love to have a hand in making the records we put out. But it was actually a big plus that they had this record that was done and we could just put it out as opposed to spending thousands of dollars to make it.”
For their part, Nadine felt most comfortable with Trampoline because the label felt somewhat akin to what they had been doing with Undertow, but with better resources.
“Those guys are musicians running a record label, and we were that same thing, but we don’t have anywhere near the experience that they have in the industry,” Rauner says. “They know the field a lot better than we do and have people they can talk to. It’s already been a benefit to us to be able to say we’re part of that group of people.”
One slightly strange feature of “Strange Seasons” is that the band that made the record isn’t exactly the band that will hit the road soon to promote it. Longtime members Reichmann, Rauner and Tkach are on it, of course, but so is drummer Merv Schrock, who has since left the group. And though personnel changes don’t necessarily matter all that much, anyone who has seen Nadine recently can attest that the addition of drummer Zielie and guitarist Griffin amount to a seismic shift in the band’s look, sound and direction.
Griffin is best known for his work in hard rock bands like King of the Hill, Full on Venus and Neptune Crush. His dyed black hair, flashy guitar style and rock and roll swagger has given the band some much needed charisma and stage presence.
“There are a lot more pretty girls in our audience now,” Reichmann says with a laugh.
Griffin admits that playing with Nadine has been a learning experience for him. “It’s a new bag of licks,” he says. “There’s a twang to it. I never had any twang. But what it comes down to is how much rock do you want in your country and how much country do you want in your rock? It’s like chocolate in your peanut butter – it takes the right blend to produce that perfect Reece’s cup.”
Zielie, who joined the band this past spring, has played rock, jazz, and R&B in bands like Technicolor Yawn, Zito and Flynova. “Jimmy added a lot to the band when he joined, some flair, but I don’t think it was quite right at that point,” Zielie says. “I think what I’ve managed to do, or what I’ve been hired to do is to bridge the gap and make it a little more cohesive. That’s a drummer’s job anyway, and I think it’s worked out.”
Reichmann is excited enough about the band’s present and future to already be talking about writing and recording a new album. But for now they’ve got “Strange Seasons” to promote and a new label deal to nurture.
“The bottom line is that we really have a good feeling about all this and we trust the guys at Trampoline,” he says. “That’s part of the whole deal – not worrying so much about things on our end. We have a lot of faith that they love the record and they’re gonna do right by us. At this point, we’re playing music, getting our live stuff together and starting to look at the next step. I don’t know how it’s going to go from here on out, but I feel pretty good about it.”