Band practice for Call Me Spinster is not your typical, beer-fueled, midnight garage rock.
It starts at 10 am. There is a 7 month-old chewing an XLR cord in the corner. A baby monitor is propped up to keep an eye on the toddler napping over the screech of keyboard and bass amps in the bedroom practice room. There are constant caffeine breaks, booking emails to send, pauses to breastfeed or change a diaper.
Call Me Spinster has always existed alongside the chaos of motherhood. When Amelia had her first kid in 2017 and took a maternity leave from her teaching job, her sisters Rachel and Rosie quit their teaching jobs in Portland and Costa Rica to join her in Chattanooga.
They started stringing together part-time jobs and learning pop covers on a hodgepodge of acquired instruments, including their Amish great-grandfather’s illicit accordion. They started busking around town and quickly picked up a local following, playing brunch gigs, local festivals, then opening for bigger touring acts.
Call Me Spinster began applying their unorthodox arrangements to their own songs. The band was spotted by New West/Strolling Bones label head George Fontaine, who connected them with producer Drew Vandenberg (of Montreal, Faye Webster, S.G Goodman) to create their first EP in 2020.
“The result is a set of songs that they can certainly be proud of, a series of soft, shimmering melodies that convey both youthful enthusiasm and elegiac indulgence.” -American Songwriter. Tracks range from “an excellent blend of retro rock” to “a slinky R&B radio hit,” and “something you might hear in a late-50’s soda shop” with “a dash of 60’s Soul and a dish of 70’s sunshine Pop.”
The band worked again with Vandenberg to co-produced their first full-length record in 2024, Potholes, whose genre-bending “rock-solid songwriting” garnered another round of critical acclaim. “The tones range from easy-flowing balladry to funky get-downs, to electro flights of fancy, as the artists draw inspiration from acts like Lucius and Beck, never getting pinned down to one genre.” - Shawn Donohue, Glide Magazine
Call Me Spinster
- Songbirds, 206 W Main Street, Chattanooga
- Saturday, October 25
- Doors at 6:00 PM, Show at 7:00 PM
- Seated Show
- Tickets: https://eventim.us/event/call-me-spinster/659087