wussyblog

Free online translators aren't all that

We're staying up late, watching Sanford and Son and putting off packing. Some cute girls with feather boas just showed up and they're mad cause the guys are all asleep now that Demond Wilson's worn them out. Here are a few new reviews of Left for Dead.

MSN/Christgau's Consumer Guide
http://music.msn.com/music/consumerguide
I love this Cincinnati quartet for singers Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker, for songwriters Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker, and sometimes for guitarists Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker most of all. Where the pained Cleaver dominated their debut, here most tracks are fronted by the more rounded Walker. Not that she's at peace -- in songs that feel realistic even though their details seldom kiss and tell, she struggles for love given and received in a state of spiritual hyperawareness suffused with a Christianity that won't let her memory loose. Lovely melodies soften her perpetual uncertainty. But those guitars, gorgeous droning things boosted by keyboards everybody but the drummer takes a hand to, saw away at her unsatisfied mind.

Grade: A

NPR
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19054877
"a meaty collection of songs with the feel of a garage band always on the verge of spinning out of control....set against a stormy mix of noisy, thrashing guitars. It's chaotic at times but still manages to sound melodic."

and one from norway
http://www.furoreiharare.com/page1/page429/page429.html
that got lost in translation...

SXSW Wrap Up & East Coast Tour

The first leg is complete! SXSW was tremendous. Here are some photos from the trip. Now we're gearing up for the next string of shows that start this Friday. I'll post the schedule below. Note that the Baltimore show has been moved to Mum's.  Here are a few more reviews of our SXSW showcase: 

• Harp
  ...Wussy plays pop—with power, bouncy and jangly, but with a meaty undercurrent. They’re damned entertaining to watch, too, never letting “earnest” get in the way of making sure the audience knows they’re up there to have fun along with the rest of us....
• Spin
  ...Though this Cincinnati quartet debuted a couple years ago, best known as the new band from the beloved Ass Ponys' Chuck Cleaver, it's now Walker's show, leavening the songs' darkly romantic dysfunction with a little good old-fashioned sex appeal...
• Philadelphia Inquirer
  ...And the way Cleaver and his fellow guitarist and songwriter Lisa Walker twined their keening voices together, X-style, over a two-guitar churn at Bourbon Rocks on Thursday made all the band's self-deprecating remarks and their not-so-inviting name seem immaterial. "Thanks for choosing us over Yo La Tengo," bass player Mark Messerly said. "I'm not sure we would have made the same choice."....
• CharttAttack (Canada)
  Cleaver — much hairier, but still with his distinctive, slightly high-pitched voice — has a female foil in guitarist Lisa Walker to share vocals with. The songs weren't as off-the-wall as The Ass Ponys, but they were still great and the set was one of the night's highlights.
• KERA Public Radio (Texas)
  Chuck Cleaver of the Ass Ponys traded lead vocals with Cincinnati guitarist-singer Lisa Walker on a ferocious set of soul-ravaged, Southern-tinged diatribes that didn’t lash out at ex-lovers and broken promises so much as lacerate them. Don’t believe the name - Wussy rocks. Hard.
• Austin Chronicle
  Wussy is Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker, who share songwriting and vocal duties. Their second disc, Left for Dead, finds them moving further away from the despair of their initial outing into a place that's almost sunny.

Upcoming Shows

• Fri 3/21 - Pittsburgh (Bloomfield Bridge Tavern)
• Sat 3/22 - Washington DC (The Red and the Black)
• Mon 3/24 - Baltimore (Mum's)
• Tue 3/25 - Asbury Park, NJ (The Saint)
• Wed 3/26 - New York (Cake Shop)
• Thu 3/27 - Hoboken (Maxwell's)
• Fri 3/28 - Boston (PA's Lounge)
• Sat 3/29 - New Haven (Cafe Nine)

Wussy at SXSW - Friday

Friday was pretty awesome. We got to see the original lineup of X, eat something called "a parade of sweets", and hang out in a filthy alley with norwegian death metal bands and the guys from Chunklet.  Here's a little review of our Thursday set from Spin.com. We're off to play at Jovita's for the Twangfest party. More news soon. 

...Though this Cincinnati quartet debuted a couple years ago, best known as the new band from the beloved Ass Ponys' Chuck Cleaver, it's now Walker's show, leavening the songs' darkly romantic dysfunction with a little good old-fashioned sex appeal...

Wussy at SXSW - Thursday

Hey everyone!! Our first SXSW night went off without a hitch. We were able to play to a room of lovely people. We'll have a full report soon.

The only bird in central Texas seems to be the extremely noisy Boat-tailed Grackle. The Cottonwoods are beautiful though. It's warm, but not warm enough to swim in an icy cold outdoor pool. It's a good way to wake up though.

Here is a link to the TWANGFEST PARTY Invite for this Saturday at Jovita's. It's a great lineup - Blue Mountain, Chuck Prophet, Waco Brothers, and more. We go on at 5pm. It's free but they ask you to bring the invitation. Or maybe you can describe it to them in great detail and say you're trying to be more green?

The Austin Chronicle recommended our showcase as one of its Sleepers Picks:

Wussy, 9pm, Bourbon Rocks
Cincinnati, Ohio's Wussy is Chuck Cleaver (ex-Ass Ponys) and Lisa Walker, who share songwriting and vocal duties. Their second disc, Left for Dead (Shake It), finds them moving further away from the despair of their initial outing into a place that's almost sunny. – Jim Caligiuri

Happy February from Wussy

We are happy to announce that plenty of Wussy news is coming down the pike. But for now... Photos from One More Girl on a Stage now up (by Jason Bechtel). Also there's a new review in Harp Magazine. We'll be adding a couple of spring shows to the roster this week, so stay tuned... The new EP is nearly done - we'll keep you updated on that front, too! CityBeat did a wonderful article on Dawn's battle with breast cancer and involvement in the Pink Ribbon Girls organization. Check it out!

Wussy Photos 2007

Here are some photos of 2007 we thought we'd share...

2007 CEA's Nov 2007	Misc Summer 2007	Left for Dead Release August 2007
Misc Fall 2007	Misc Spring 2007	Misc Winter 2007

Wussy on the Prowl

Hello, all... Here's the winter itinerary, so far. With more to be announced soon...

January 19 - Southgate House (Newport, KY)
January 26 - New French Bar (Asheville, NC)
February 16 - Beachland Tavern (Cleveland, OH)
February 22 - Northside Tavern (Cincinnati, OH)
March 21 - Bloomfield Bridge Tavern (Pittsburgh, PA)
March 22 - The Red and Black (Washington, DC)
March 24 - The Talking Head (Baltimore, MD)
March 25 - Grape Street (Philadelphia, PA)
March 26 - Cakeshop (New York, NY)
March 28 - P.A.'s Lounge (Boston, MA)
March 29 - Cafe Nine (New Haven, CT)

Chuck and Lisa will also be making an appearance on Northern Kentucky's 89.7 WNKU on January 18 around 2 pm.

"Left for Dead" Ranks Among Best of 2007 Lists

Happy New Year! We are happy to announce that "Left for Dead" has made a number of year-end Best Of lists. Here's a sampling:

Rolling Stone
Personal Favorites of '07 - Robert Christgau. #5 - Left for Dead
"Former Ass Pony Chuck Cleaver and his lissome young inamorata Lisa Walker show indieland how to write songs, think about God and get together in the back of a van."

WOXY.com
Top 97 of 2007

MTV.com
Gil Kaufman's Top 10

Philadelphia Inquirer
Overlooked pop highlights that are worth remembering
"Will Chuck Cleaver ever get his just due? Here's hoping so. The Cincinnati songwriter with the piercing Neil Youngish voice may not name his bands in the hopes of mass appeal, but he sure can write darkly funny, rough-around-the-edges, slightly droney indie rock songs. Better still, he's found a partner in Lisa Walker, who writes and sings them just as well as he does, and who steps up as the star of this sterling sophomore follow-up to 2005's Funeral Dress."

Cincinnati CityBeat (OH)
Brian Baker's Top 10
"It's the best kind of scary to think where they'll go next."

Durango Telegraph (CO)
Go Pogo Top 10 for 2007
So catchy, so distressing. Every song a single … the best sophomore release ever.

Cleveland Free Times (OH)
Brian Baker's Top 10 
Most bands couldn't manage an album this chaotically focused and brilliantly unnerving by their fifth or sixth try.

Cincinnati CityBeat (OH)
Mike Breen's Best of 2007
"Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker´s voices couldn´t be more different, but because they´re both singular instruments in their own right, together they create an engrossing duality. That holds true for Wussy as a whole - it seems to be a collection of misfit players and sounds that, when brought together, create something grittily gorgeous and magnetic. Sophomore slump? Not by any standards." 

Cleveland Free Times (OH)
Kurt Hernon's Top 10
On which Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker stake their claim to being the new alt George Jones and Tammy Wynette. The songs are as sharp as can be, the vocal performances flawless and positively (David) Lynch-ian.

Berkshire Eagle (NH)
Honorable Mention

KEXP Song of the Day: Wussy - "Rigor Mortis"

Wussy - Rigor Mortis (MP3)

From KEXP:
Wussy is a Cincinnati quartet that began as a partnership between Chuck Cleaver and songwriter Lisa Walker that began when Walker first joined the former Ass Ponys guitarist and vocalist onstage for a post-Ponys solo gig. Their splendid debut, Funeral Dress, was mostly Cleaver’s baby, spotlighting his songwriting and vocals. The sophomore album, Left For Dead, strikes a different tone; the distorted, twangy garage-rock is still there, but it’s heavily fronted by Walker. Her added input in the songwriting process creates mystery where direct simplicity reigned previously. Left For Dead also features tighter production courtesy of John Curley (Afghan Whigs, Staggering Statistics). With the album now in records stores, Wussy plan to tour in the new year, including a stop at SXSW in March. Check their MySpace page for updates and for other gigs and for new about an upcoming EP in the spring.
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Wussy December Update

Here's a little bit of news and stuff:

Wussy will be showcasing at SXSW '08 and then heading to the east coast shortly after. We were thrilled to get to perform at the 2007 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards, where we were able to sneak in a Donovan cover and a small choir. To top it off, Left for Dead took Album of the Year honors, among some very stiff competition. Our only show this month is Sat December 8th at the Northside Tavern with The Fervor (free/21+).

New Press:

CMJ
"Mournful beauty...gorgeously rumpled."

Crawdaddy
"An extraordinarily literate bar band."

Goldmine
"Velvet Underground-inspired distortion and drone, with the ragged melodic sensibilities of The Replacements and country charm of The Flying Burrito Brothers"

Cleveland Free Times
"It has mastered the art of chaos."