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BALCONY TV EPISODE UP NOW!
On a chilly day last December, 4 out of 6 Stripminers gathered around the pool of a fabulous place in the Los Angeles hills to play an acoustic version of “Frail Hope Ranch” and chat with host Xavier. Enjoy!
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“It’s pretty nice out here, in a desert type of Americana landscape that breeds rock and roll magic.” – Daiana Feuer, L.A. RECORD, March 2, 2012
Very nice review of Frail Hope Ranch by Kevin Wierzbicki at Campus Circle
You may know Brett Anderson as Donna A., the stage name she uses when she’s rocking out with all-girl group the Donnas, but her work with alt-Americana band the Stripminers demonstrates that Anderson is also capable of being vocally captivating working with nuanced material.
With the exception of during a cover of the Zombies oldie “She’s Not There,” Anderson sings mostly with quiet understatement, a technique that works nicely while she bides her time awaiting her lover on “Y’all Part 2” and during the lucid daydream that is “Admission Theme.”
And while vocally Frail Hope Ranch is primarily Anderson’s show, Paul Stinson of the Radishes is also in the band and shares vocal duties with Anderson on the album’s centerpiece, the stunning 12-minute “The Captive.” Ostensibly about a woman waiting for her man to be released from prison, the storyline plays out slowly, first from his viewpoint then hers, ultimately ending in mutual frustration as each lets go a jumble of thoughts simultaneously.
Many of the other songs here are slow motion too, but there’s a bit of a punk attitude to the sublimity; guitars hushed one minute suddenly purr with western-style cinematic buzz the next, twang fades into orchestration, and most punk-like of all, sometimes the music falls away completely, causing Anderson to sound exceptionally forlorn.
This is the second release this year for the Stripminers; clearly this brain trust (also including DJ Bonebrake of X) has lots of ideas and an impeccable chemistry to bring them to life.
Grade: A
Can you hear meow?
Nice little piece about Frail Hope Ranch in MEOW (Musicians for Equal Opportunity for Women)
Interview with Paul & Brett in The Examiner
Cool article by Kevin Bronson at BuzzbandsLA about our debut album “Movies” Read it HERE.
Great interview with Lady Brett in the Inland Empire Weekly.
Being Wrong Never Felt So Right
To the surprise of leading lady Brett Anderson, The Stripminers take the stage!
By: Tamara Vallejos
Brett Anderson never thought her side-project, The Stripminers, would play live; it was tough enough getting a steady group of musicians into a studio to lay down tracks. But after a couple years of under-the-radar writing with fellow founding Stripminer Paul Stinson, the punk-meets-country outfit is ready for the spotlight in 2012—beginning with a gig at Pappy and Harriet’s on Jan. 7.
You may recognize Anderson as the frontwoman for rockers The Donnas, which had its biggest mainstream hit in 2003 with the single “Take it Off.” But the band’s diehard fans would remind you the quartet is more prolific, having been together for nearly two decades, and with an album and shows planned for the new year.
But even with The Donnas’ steady output, Anderson found herself needing another musical outlet.
“I had ideas I wanted to realize—a certain way to arrange a song, or something I always wanted to write about but felt nobody would want to hear,” says Anderson. When a mutual friend, a fellow by the name of Scrote, introduced Anderson to Stinson, an instant musical connection was formed. (Scrote now produces the Stripminers and plays for them live, along with DJ Bonebrake of X fame, Holland Greco and Brett Simons.)
“We just started talking about music and were like, ‘Wow, we have a lot in common!’” says Anderson. Stinson penned the first song, a country tune, as something of a joke, but the duo decided to record it. And then they recorded another, and another, letting their twangy-but-edgy sound flourish.
“You know when you have a piñata and you put the blindfold on and you spin around? That’s our direction,” Anderson explains. “We’re allowed to do anything. When you compare this to making a record for your primary band on a major label, it’s totally different. This is when all the great creative stuff comes out, when you’re just screwing around. There’s no stress, and you can trick your brain into not editing itself by being like, ‘Oh, this is no big deal.’”
The chill process has led to an album’s worth of music just waiting to be released in the coming year. The only question is how.
“People don’t listen to whole records anymore. It’s cool in a way, because we’re returning to a singles market like in the ’60s and I love the idea of that,” says Anderson. “Some say songs are like your kids, and I want each of my kids to get special attention. I don’t want one to get lost because it’s the ninth song on a record people only listen to half of.”
To solve this dilemma, Anderson says to expect the forthcoming album split into a song per month, via the band’s website. Until then, prospective fans can find a handful of tracks on iTunes, alternating between sweet boy-girl harmonies atop soft banjo (like on “Better than a Song”) and rapid-fire growls and guitar riffs (on “No Luck”). All of them foster high hopes for the debut record. But will there be a proper tour to go along with it?
“I’m not sure how we would work that out,” says Anderson. “You can count the shows we’ve played so far on your fingers. Everyone has adult commitments! But anything is possible. You can be wrong over and over again with this job, and I just love being wrong with shit like this.”
