Verve Pipe

The Verve Pipe formed in East Lansing, Michigan in 1992 when members of two popular area groups decided to work together. The sum was indeed greater than its parts, and the group quickly garnered a regional following for its textured rock sound, marked by inventive arrangements, frontman Brian Vander Ark’s soul-searching lyrics and layered vocals.…

Phish

When Jerry Garcia passed away in 1995, the smart money in the New Dead lottery was on Phish — but then it had already been so for those aware of the band. Formed in 1983 at the University of Vermont, the quartet was among the first-born children of the Dead, heavy on improvisation and eclecticism…

L7

Like Lunachicks and Babes in Toyland, L7 emerged from rock’s pre-riot grrrl wing, seeking not to steamroller or dismantle the male mosh society but rather to join it. Girls just wanna bang heads, as it were. That’s a feminist stance in its own right, but in time L7’s four members would show they had plenty…

Cast

Bassist John Power left the La’s at the end of 1991, picked up a guitar and spent the next three years assembling Cast, a four-piece that lit up London beginning in 1995 and even had Oasis’ truculent Noel Gallagher singing its praises. All Change, which followed a couple of singles, shows what all the fuss…

Sponge

Talk about a change-up… Anybody who bought into the muscular popcraft of Sponge would probably blanch at an earful of its predecessor. Loudhouse was a short-lived Detroit band that tried to patch together the city’s vibrant techno scene and the hard-rock heritage established in nearby Ann Arbor by the MC5 and the Stooges. The quartet’s…

Speedball

The Motor City Speedball makes motor music — it’s as simple as that. The quartet’s debut is filled with auto imagery, from the gearshift map printed on the CD itself to lyrics like “Live fast/Die young/Live fast/Get on your hog and ri-yi-yid” (“Hog”). Frontman and chief songwriter Chuck Burns, who began his musical life in…

Toni Childs

Lumping Toni Childs in with other confessional singer-songwriters is too simple — and an injustice. Childs brings an international tableau of sounds and experiences to her three albums. The Southern California native has lived all over the western United States and in England; her early musical experiences including playing with future members of the Red…

Living Colour

Led by guitarist and chief composer Vernon Reid (also a music critic and co-founder of the Black Rock Coalition, a New York organization of African-American bands), Living Colour promises more than it delivers on Vivid. Because the quartet doesn’t match stupid preconceptions about the kind of music people of color should and shouldn’t play, the…

For Squirrels

Jerry Garcia’s death may have been rock’s most discussed passing of 1995, but the tale of For Squirrels was surely the most tragic. On September 8, the group was headed home from New York City to Gainesville, Florida, after playing a triumphant showcase. In Georgia, a van tire blew out, singer Jack Vigliatura, who was…

La’s

Unlike other Britpop groups emerging around the same time, The La’s took cues from ’60s beat, rather than psychedelia, new wave or punk. On its lone album, the distinctive Liverpool quartet — which favored acoustic guitars and folky harmonies but delivered taut electric rock as well — echoes groups like the Hollies, Searchers and Beatles.…

Contributors

These folks either wrote reviews that appear on the site or wrote for Trouser Press magazine. If anyone listed below cares to E-mail us with a link you’d like added, just let us know. And ditto if anyone is AWOL from this list. Grant AldenDavid AntrobusJem AswadTroy J. AugustoMichael AzerradCary BakerMichael BakerEmily BeckerJohn BergstromArt BlackJohn…