Vivian Girls

The Vivian Girls started in Brooklyn, NY in March 2007 as the trio of Cassie Ramone (guitar/vocals), Kickball Katy (bass/drums/vocals) and Frankie Rose (drums/bass/vocals).While only a band for a short while, they recorded a demo CD-R which included five original songs and a Wipers cover, and began to play locally in Brooklyn and Katy and Cassie's home state of New Jersey.Within the first couple of months they had already developed a strong local following, supporting acts like Jay Reatard, Sonic Youth and the King Khan & BBQ Show as well as finding kindred spirits in other locals like Cause Co-Motion!, Crystal Stilts, and Woods, with whom they’ve shared many bills and helped develop a local scene. In March 2008 they released the "Wild Eyes" single on the Plays With Dolls label.With very little promotion and distribution the single became an underground indie hit as it charted on many college radio playlists and garnered positive reviews on the internet.Recorded in the same session, their debut self-titled LP was released by the Mauled by Tigers label, whose initial pressing of the LP sold out in ten days.During this time, the group signed with In The Red Records who released a new single in August 2008.In The Red re-released the Mauled by Tigers record on LP and CD formats in October 2008. In July 2008 the band underwent a lineup change with new drummer Ali Koehler replacing Frankie Rose.

The band's name comes from a mammoth written work by outsider artist Henry Darger, called The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion.

Meaghan Smith

Meaghan Smith, a young Canadian chanteuse looks like and sounds like she just walked out of one of those Debbie Reynolds movies such as, Tammy’s In Love. She exudes a wholesomeness which infuses her music, in a way that is far from being syrupy, but it is magical, because it recreates a sound that is often lost on many of today’s artists. Smith is attracted to vintage jazz, and she reaches back to the sounds of the 1920’s and ‘30’s to reinvent a vintage ambience in which to wrap her warm, heartfelt lyrics. In early November, Smith who is signed to the Sire Records, an imprint of Warner Music, will have completed an arduous, but rewarding cross continent tour, which saw her perform thirty-one concerts in numerous major cities, both in the United States and Canada. At many of those gigs, she opened for iconic singer / songwriter Ron Sexsmith. Operating on almost no sleep, as she and the other members of both her band and Sexsmith’s band, had driven many miles, from their gig the night before, Smith was generous with her time, and thoughtfully answered my questions concerning her EP The Cricket’s Quartet, which serves as an appetizer for her full length album The Cricket’s Orchestra, which will be released in 2009.