Aubs (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} aubreystar) wrote,@ 2005-09-27 10:48:00 |
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Okay, here's next month's article...
or whatever.
Jale will be my first in a possible future series of…
Jale was an all-girl quartet to come out of the depths of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Although they were together a scant five or six years, the heavy girl rock pop that they created is still a should-have for anyone interested in something that I supposed I could dub as “slightly grrl music”. Not as grrl rioty as the likes of Sleater Kinney, yet not quite as soft as The Bangles, either.
Formed in April, 1992, the girls: guitarists Jennifer Pierce and Eve Hartling, bassist Laura Stein, and drummer Alyson MacLeod, met at art school and jokingly decided to start a band. Out of the four, the only one with previous musical background was Jennifer, having sung on a few of fellow Halifaxian Sloan’s early works. They got together, divvied up the instruments, and concocted a band name by using an acronym of their names. They decided to have a “true democracy” in the band, meaning they would each write and sing their own songs, the other members filling in with melodies and their own musical parts.
A scant five weeks later, they were already performing live, and shortly thereafter released their first single, “Aunt Betty” on a local record label, Cinnamon Toast.
By 1994, they had received a substantial local following playing the local circuit and writing and recording songs for local compilations. They eventually attracted the notice of the executives at Sub Pop
Records, landing a deal and recording their first full-length release, Dreamcake. Recorded in a rented house in the country outside of Halifax, the grungy girl rock effort was conquered in only six
days. Dreamcake is both harmony and hard-rock laden, filled with fantastic daydreams and energies, even in the slower numbers. The album has an overall dark feel to it, to me, although there are some happier sounding songs, such as “Mend” and “The Unseen Guest”.
1995 found the quartet releasing the Closed E.P., on Sloan’s Murderecords label. Three of the five songs were released as singles in Canada, although Jale remained mostly unheard of here in
The States.
Shortly after Closed was released, Alyson made the tough decision to leave her drumming duties behind and left Jale to play bass for Hardship Post. In searching for someone that would fill the gap best, the remaining members decided to break their all-girl-band label and turn to Mike Belitzky to fill in the gap.
1996 brings us to their next, and final, Sub Pop full release, So Wound. After years of playing and touring together, So Wound is much more polished in songwriting and performance. I’ve won many a person over to Jale-dom by playing their first single “Ali” for them. The three girls created a perfect piece of art, leaving their dark Dreamcake style behind and taking on a shinier, more optimistic sound. Mike didn’t grace us with any of his own songs, although he sang a duet with Jennifer in “Despite”.
After the release of So Wound, Eve Hartling decided to leave Jale in order to raise a new family. The remaining members formed The Vees, releasing a five-song demo in October of 1997, but sadly dropping out of the scene shortly afterwards.
SO WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
In the year 2000, Jennifer, Mike, and Laura re-emerged onto the scene as part of Chappaquiddick Skyline, a side project of the Pernice Brothers. After releasing a self-titled album, they disappeared again for a time, until again appearing (sans Jennifer) on two Pernice Brothers albums. Mike Belitzky is currently playing with The Sadies. I hear reports of Alyson MacLeod, after leaving Hardship Post, forming a band called Speedos.
Certainly not my best work, but sheesh, it was so difficult to find any information on a Canadian band that broke up YEARS ago.
or whatever.
Jale will be my first in a possible future series of…
Jale was an all-girl quartet to come out of the depths of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Although they were together a scant five or six years, the heavy girl rock pop that they created is still a should-have for anyone interested in something that I supposed I could dub as “slightly grrl music”. Not as grrl rioty as the likes of Sleater Kinney, yet not quite as soft as The Bangles, either.
Formed in April, 1992, the girls: guitarists Jennifer Pierce and Eve Hartling, bassist Laura Stein, and drummer Alyson MacLeod, met at art school and jokingly decided to start a band. Out of the four, the only one with previous musical background was Jennifer, having sung on a few of fellow Halifaxian Sloan’s early works. They got together, divvied up the instruments, and concocted a band name by using an acronym of their names. They decided to have a “true democracy” in the band, meaning they would each write and sing their own songs, the other members filling in with melodies and their own musical parts.
A scant five weeks later, they were already performing live, and shortly thereafter released their first single, “Aunt Betty” on a local record label, Cinnamon Toast.
By 1994, they had received a substantial local following playing the local circuit and writing and recording songs for local compilations. They eventually attracted the notice of the executives at Sub Pop
Records, landing a deal and recording their first full-length release, Dreamcake. Recorded in a rented house in the country outside of Halifax, the grungy girl rock effort was conquered in only six
days. Dreamcake is both harmony and hard-rock laden, filled with fantastic daydreams and energies, even in the slower numbers. The album has an overall dark feel to it, to me, although there are some happier sounding songs, such as “Mend” and “The Unseen Guest”.
1995 found the quartet releasing the Closed E.P., on Sloan’s Murderecords label. Three of the five songs were released as singles in Canada, although Jale remained mostly unheard of here in
The States.
Shortly after Closed was released, Alyson made the tough decision to leave her drumming duties behind and left Jale to play bass for Hardship Post. In searching for someone that would fill the gap best, the remaining members decided to break their all-girl-band label and turn to Mike Belitzky to fill in the gap.
1996 brings us to their next, and final, Sub Pop full release, So Wound. After years of playing and touring together, So Wound is much more polished in songwriting and performance. I’ve won many a person over to Jale-dom by playing their first single “Ali” for them. The three girls created a perfect piece of art, leaving their dark Dreamcake style behind and taking on a shinier, more optimistic sound. Mike didn’t grace us with any of his own songs, although he sang a duet with Jennifer in “Despite”.
After the release of So Wound, Eve Hartling decided to leave Jale in order to raise a new family. The remaining members formed The Vees, releasing a five-song demo in October of 1997, but sadly dropping out of the scene shortly afterwards.
SO WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
In the year 2000, Jennifer, Mike, and Laura re-emerged onto the scene as part of Chappaquiddick Skyline, a side project of the Pernice Brothers. After releasing a self-titled album, they disappeared again for a time, until again appearing (sans Jennifer) on two Pernice Brothers albums. Mike Belitzky is currently playing with The Sadies. I hear reports of Alyson MacLeod, after leaving Hardship Post, forming a band called Speedos.
Certainly not my best work, but sheesh, it was so difficult to find any information on a Canadian band that broke up YEARS ago.
