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Pinebender

let it begin

About Me

Pinebender is a rock band from Chicago, Illinois. In autumn of 1997, Matt Clark, Chris Hansen, and Stephen Howard got together to manufacture a series of songs that Hansen had written. Cast in a second-floor bedroom at Stephen's parents' Wilmette, Illinois, home, the music revolved around crawling tempos and loud, soaring guitars.
After relocating the gear to a proper rehearsal spot within city limits, the band set its sights on recording. They booked studio time at Electrical Audio Recording in February 1998. The songs recorded during that session, engineered by Greg Norman, would become the Too Good To Be True EP, an apt title for the long-shelved effort recorded for a fleeing phantom of a record label. The band's first show was played in a backroom bar of a taqueria on Milwaukee Avenue on April Fool's Day. An important lesson was learned that night: earplugs must be recommended to audiences. They played many more shows at local venues such as the Empty Bottle and the now-closed-and-much-missed Lounge Ax.
In April 1999, the band checked back into Electrical Audio for five days to record their debut full-length, Things Are About To Get Weird. Steve Albini engineered the ten tracks that range from epic, psychedelic slow-burners to distorted pop songs. On the last day of the session, the phantom label floated up into the ether never to be heard from again. Borrowing money from family, the band paid for the session and began looking for a new home. They would find that home at Ohio Gold Records, a small indie label in Chicago.
In April 2000, Things Are About To Get Weird was released to much critical acclaim. Its twelve-and-a-half minute opening dirge of distorted bliss aggressively implanted itself into the temporal lobes of listeners. Andy Mueller's photography and design provide the perfect graphic representation of the record's mood.
Two Aprils later, Ohio Gold released the "Too Good To Be True" EP. The anachronous release of the five-song EP allows the listener to peer into the early stages of the music and the themes that would be built upon over time. The limited first pressing of the EP features Andy Mueller's award-winning "draw your own cover" concept, complete with a Pinebender golf pencil in the spine of the jewel case.
Matt Clark left the band in the summer of 2002 to pursue the grandeur of the heartland and academics in Iowa City, Iowa. Stephen moved out from behind the drum kit to take over the duties on the baritone guitar. Dennis Stacer was brought in to fill the tranquilized drummer vacancy.
In January 2003, Pinebender moved on to Lovitt Records in Arlington, Virginia. Pinebender's first release on Lovitt is due out in the summer of 2003. The full-length entitled The High Price of Living Too Long With A Single Dream is eight tracks of hook-filled amplifier worship and strong-armed drumming at about fifty-eight beats per minute.
Keep your eyes peeled for their arrival to your town. Don't forget your earplugs.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 2/6/2005
Band Website: pinebender.com
Band Members: Chris Hansen. Stephen Howard. Dennis Stacer.
Influences: Chavez, Dinosaur Jr., Black Sabbath, Superchunk, Archers of Loaf, Love of Everything, Polvo, Big Star, Sonic Youth, Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, Built to Spill, Shiner, GBV, Taking pictures, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Hum, Shellac, Dianogah, Gish and Siamese Dream, Teenage Fanclub, Replacements, Husker Du, Zombies, .
Sounds Like:

Pinebender T-shirts & More for sale at the Lovitt Online Store.

Record Label: Lovitt Records. Record Label. Ohio Gold.
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

loft party saturday at 3036 n. lincoln

we have a loft show this saturday at 9pmit's at 3036 n. lincoln on the 4th floor. the kids other band tight phantomz will be playing as well. it is the kind of show that you will regret missing so d...
Posted by Pinebender on Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:28:00 PST

Check Out Stephen Howard’s Solo Project (quieting syrup)

You can check out some songs from the upcoming quieting syrup record at:myspace.com/quietingsyrup
Posted by Pinebender on Tue, 23 Oct 2007 08:34:00 PST

link to pinbender on chicago public radio

hey here is a link to a chicago public radio program with a pinebender interview. scroll down to dec 5th if you'd like to listen to what chris hansen has to say about the new record.more and more tour...
Posted by Pinebender on Mon, 11 Dec 2006 10:59:00 PST

You Can Now Order The New CD!

Hello,You can now order the new Pinebender full-length, entitled Working Nine To Wolf. If you are interested, you can click the buy button on the myspace page next to the record cover or visit www.lov...
Posted by Pinebender on Tue, 31 Oct 2006 01:48:00 PST

vinyl

i forgot. we have our first record (things are about to get weird) out on double vinyl. it has one extra song on it. the extra song is an old low cover. we will have these records with us at the b...
Posted by Pinebender on Tue, 05 Sep 2006 09:42:00 PST

news update

so here is what's going on in the pinebender camp.we have a record called working nine to wolf coming out. right now it is scheduled for a nov. 6th release. we are trying to put together a chicago s...
Posted by Pinebender on Fri, 01 Sep 2006 12:41:00 PST

new songs

o.k.here are two new songs. they are unmastered so they will be pretty quiet. the record is mixed. 8 songs at about prolly an hour. we can't wait for you all to hear it.kid
Posted by Pinebender on Thu, 13 Apr 2006 12:23:00 PST

newer recording news

so we are done recording and just have one song left to mix. then mastering and then off to you peeps. i can say that we are all very excited about this record. we hope everyone enjoys it as much ...
Posted by Pinebender on Fri, 07 Apr 2006 04:58:00 PST

recording news!!!

yesterday, we booked studio time to record a new album. our last one came out about three years ago so in pinebender time we are right on schedule. it's hard to move fast when you play so slow. so ...
Posted by Pinebender on Mon, 30 Jan 2006 09:00:00 PST