JOSE AYERVE, ALISHA GOLDBLATT, NAOMI HAMBY, KEN MAIURI, DON MCAULAY, MICHAEL MERENDA, JJ O'CONNELL, KEVIN O'ROURKE, DAN POLLARD, MARK SCHWABER
Influences
[These are some of my main influences, as I can't begin to list those of my innumerable band mates - J.A.] Flesh For Lulu (btw - they're back!), Pixies, Swervedriver, Pavement, Fobia (from Mexico), The Cure, New Radiant Storm King, The Cult, The Clash, Adorable, Duran Duran, U2 (but please stop with the Bono voice comparisons), Chavela Vargas, Slept, and a ton of other bands you may and may not have heard of.
Sounds Like
Click on the album cover to purchase. (Disclaimer: Some titles might be out of print, but each is available as a digital download.)
New Spouse Video: Spouse has just released a video for their single, "Hangover Cure For Humanity". The video was produced by MetroSpace Media, a Chicago-based video production company, featuring the talents of Genevieve Wolff and Jerry Donahue.
Spouse is José Ayerve, Naomi Hamby, Ken Maiuri, Don McAulay, Michael Merenda, JJ O’Connell, Kevin O’Rourke, Dan Pollard, and Mark Schwaber, with the occasional appearance by founding member Alisha Goldblatt. We’ve been around in some incarnation or other, since 1995.
We aim to create songs and recordings that sound distinct from one to another. Our 80’s and 90’s college radio influences tend to radiate around our compositions. The production quality is occasionally raw and up-close, and at times, distant and atmospheric. The interplay of crisp, chimy, and anthemic guitars with pulsing drums and melodic bass lines, effectively contextualize ’feather smooth and sandpaper rough’ vocals.
Our history can perhaps be best explored through a brief note about each of our four full-length releases. They not only reflect Spouse’s chronological development, but also document our highly intense and occasionally volatile periods of transition.
2000’s "Nozomi" (pgn 003) was produced, recorded, and mixed by Thom Monahan and Mark Alan Miller. This album was an adventure in production and all the excitement and energy that comes along with recording a debut album. We learned a great deal about the recording process from our producer, friend, and fellow musician, Thom Monahan. The making of this record introduced myself, Dan Pollard, and Michael Merenda to Liz Bustamante, Ken Maiuri, and Peyton Pinkerton, each of whom had some previous connection to Mark Alan Miller and Thom Monahan at Slaughterhouse Studio in Hadley, MA.
2002’s "Love Can’t Save This Love" (pgn 013) was produced by Spouse, Mark Alan Miller, Thom Monahan, and Adam Lasus, recorded and mixed by Mark Alan Miller, Thom Monahan, and Adam Lasus. This record stands as a true reflection of the emotional intensity that the group was experiencing interpersonally, and individually. The band line-up for this album was a solid five-piece as Naomi Hamby joined myself, Liz Bustamante, Michael Merenda, and Dan Pollard. The early single, ’Catch 22’ was a successful blend of banjo, acoustic, and electric guitars, and chorus vocals, against a well-defined rhythm section. This song was included on the highly acclaimed poetry/music collection, "Isn’t It Romantic:100 Love Poems by Younger American Poets", published by Verse Press. And for me, LCSTL is the most important album we have made to date.
2004’s "Are You Gonna Kiss or Wave Goodbye?" (pgn 017) was produced by Spouse, Elisha Weisner, and Mark Alan Miller, recorded by Elisha Weisner, myself, and Mark Alan Miller, mixed by Mark Alan Miller, and Elisha Weisner. This disc established the band’s new venture into the world of revolving line-ups, and their corresponding dynamic value. Kiss/Wave, (for short), also served to introduce the drum/percussion talents of JJ O’Connell and Don McAulay to the Spouse-fold. This is arguably the album that put Spouse back on the ’map’ of underground indie music. Especially, considering the fact that the band actually began touring heavily in support of this release. The inclusion of three of our tracks on MTV’s ’The Hills’ and ’Laguna Beach’ gained us a slightly wider musical audience. And the album still seems to be making the rounds, even though the manufacturer went under and copies of this CD have been out-of-print for some time.
SPOUSE - Relocation Tactics (pgn 026) was produced by Spouse, Mark Alan Miller, and Adam Lasus, recorded by myself, Mark Alan Miller, and Adam Lasus, and mixed by Mark Alan Miller and Adam Lasus. I deem this album our most recent and ambitious release. Our conceptual idea was to try to define our sound while capturing the feeling of moving forward and moving back, simultaneously. Who knows if we actually achieved it? The unique recording process for this album involved various line-up’s composing, rehearsing, and recording almost within the same session. We recorded about 24 songs, 15 of which we selected to represent the experience as completely and succinctly as possible. Relocation Tactics solidly defines us as a collective of musicians tasked with sonic resourcefulness, and creative interaction. The sound of the album touches upon each of our previous recordings, while vying to be the ’biggest sounding’ Spouse recording to date.
We hope to release a bunch of remnants from our various sessions, plus live recordings occasionally spotlighted on this and other Spouse-related sites.
Thank you for visiting us,
José Ayerve • 11/14/07
SPOUSE CONTACT INFORMATION:
MANAGEMENT: Christen Greene/Faux Pas Productions - christen (at) fauxpasproductions.com
BOOKING: spousebooking (at) gmail.com
LABEL PR COORDINATOR: Sigrid von Wendel/Pigeon Records - sigrid (at) pigeonrecords.com
hey guys, thanks so much for the great night in northampton. great club, great sound, but most importantly, great bands! jose, thanks for the hospitality. it was the perfect way to end the tour! peace. michael
You all sounded FANTASTIC Saturday night in Philly. Thanks for playing and please come back soon. It was also cool that you hung out after the show. LOVED IT!!
Hey Jose and Co! Great show the other night. We had a great time and really enjoyed your music! The best to you and have fun rollin' around the country! I'll send that vid as soon as I can get it edited. The mix was really clean live, so hopefully it comes out that way on the recording. Take care! Jon, Powers, Aaron J. A Friend Called Fire
brilliant, and moving... thank you so much... for the dynamic music, and your friendship here, i'm happy to be able to share you with my friends... xoxo ~patricia
