Rasputina
|
|
Rasputina is a varying collection of cellists playing alternative rock. The band officially began in Brooklyn, New York in 1992, when Melora Creager put out an advertisement requesting members to form an all-cello band. Julia Kent responded, and the two formed what was dubbed the Travelling Ladies' Cello Society.
Creager writes all of the lyrics for Rasputina, performs all of the vocals, and does all of the cover art for the albums.
While Rasputina was locally well-known and popular with audiences, the music didn't seem to fit into any category. For this reason, the band was largely untouched until an A&R man named Jimmy Boyle saw them at a festival concert and signed them to Columbia Records. In 1996, Thanks for the Ether was released, and afterwards Rasputina toured with such bands as Bob Mould, Porno for Pyros and Marilyn Manson. In 1997 Transylvanian Regurgitations, a followup ep remixed by Manson, was released.
On their second full-length album, How We Quit the Forest, Rasputina signed on Chris Vrenna (from Nine Inch Nails) as their drummer and producer, resulting in songs with more distortion, drums, and strange sound effects.
As Rasputina toured and recorded, Creager and Kent took on other members for short periods of time. A cellist named Lisa Haney toured with the band for a while. Carpella Parvo was the third cellist on Thanks for the Ether, but left the country afterwards. Agnieszka Rybska performed on How We Quit the Forest and is listed in the "special thanks" section for Thanks for the Ether. In 1998, Rybska got pregnant and temporarily left the band. Julia Kent has since left as well, and Creager's current assemblage includes Zoë Keating and Jonathon TeBeest.
All of the members seem to share an interest in the Victorian era, and express it most obviously through their clothing, appearing in costume at concerts and in photographs. However, despite all of their love for antiquities, and their sometimes rather dark, ethereal sound, they don't like being thought of as a gothic band.
| Contents |
Biographies
- Melora Creager is a former jewelry designer. She has been playing the cello since she was 9 and maintains that her teacher, an old man from Boston, would call her a pickled herring if she made a mistake. Creager grew up in Kansas but moved to New York in 1984, where she attended Parsons, an art college. Melora has performed with many bands, including Ultra Vivid Scene, Nirvana, Screaming Trees, Pixies, and Babe The Blue Ox.
- Julia Kent is from Canada and began playing the cello when she was 6.
Discography
- Transylvanian Concubine/The Vaulted Eel, Lesson #6 - Oculus Records 1993
- Three (3) - (promo), 1994
- Thanks For the Ether - Columbia Records, 1996
- Three Lil' Nothin's - (promo), 1996
- Transylvanian Regurgitations - Columbia Records, 1997
- How We Quit the Forest - Columbia Records, 1997
- The Olde HeadBoard - Columbia Records, 1998
- Our Lies - 2001
- The Lost and Found, 1st Edition - RPM Records, 2001
- Cabin Fever - Instinct Records, 2002
- My Fever Broke - Instinct Records, 2003
- The Lost and Found, 2nd Edition - Instinct Records, 2003
- Frustration Plantation - Instinct Records, 2004
- A Radical Recital - Filthy Bonnet Co. 2005
Trivia
- Creager, Kent and Rybska realized soon after they met that they had all attended the same nanny school in Manhattan.
- Creager is a self-proclaimed history buff and often bases Rasputina’s lyrics on past events. For example, the song "My Little Shirtwaist Fire" is based on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911. The song "Rose K." is about Rose Kennedy. The band's name itself came from a song Creager had written called “Rasputina,” which in turn was conceived from her obsession with Rasputin at the time.
- The band's official website claims that the trio was formed in 1891.
External links
- Rasputina's Official Website (http://www.rasputina.com)
- Zoë Keating's Official Website (http://www.zoekeating.com)
- Jonathon Tebeest's Official Website (http://www.jonathontebeest.com)
- Ryan Obermeyer (http://www.ryanobermeyer.com)