In the four years Tania Bowers lived in Chicago she played out exactly five times. You’d never know from her unassuming demeanor and fragile onstage delivery that you were watching a woman who spent her late teens and early 20s rocking out in clubs all over Australia.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Spdfgh eventually expanded their repertoire to include songs by the Cure, the Ramones, and the Breeders, and in time began writing originals in a noisy indie-pop vein. Their bratty persistence paid off, and soon they were opening for the bands they loved. While Bowers was in her final year of high school some members of the Hummingbirds recommended Spdfgh to Nic Dalton, who ran an indie label called Half a Cow. He signed the band and released an EP in early 1995. “We were totally game and we were very excited about things,” says Bowers. “We thought we’d do all of this crazy stuff and travel all over the world.”
The foursome began touring around Australia, frequently performing with Noise Addict, a band led by the even younger Ben Lee. By the time they started work on a full-length album, Half a Cow had affiliated itself with Mercury Records. Suddenly they were on a major label, and Bowers says they felt pressure to make their music more commercial. “We were kind of serious, but we definitely weren’t ready to deal with the major-label crap. There were lots of disagreements, and some of us were more serious than others.”
The album was recorded on computer, allowing each arrangement to evolve through countless permutations. For several songs producer Scott Herren (aka Prefuse 73) processed the basic tracks in his home in Barcelona, E-mailing back the results, but most of the material was reworked by Bowers and Rice in their Wicker Park apartment. “I think it’s always how I’m going to make records,” Bowers says. “I need so much time to think about things as they’re happening. It would be a much different record if I had to do it in a month straight.”
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Jim Newberry.
