Caulfield Sisters
Encyclopedia
The Caulfield Sisters are a critically praised independent band based in Brooklyn
, New York, noted at times for their sonic similarity to Throwing Muses
or Galaxie 500
. They have appeared at the annual CMJ
music festival in New York, were featured in the New York art magazine Esopus and in an April 2005 live performance on Seattle independent radio station KEXP
, and have performed with bands such as Interpol
.
Lead singer, accordionist and guitar player Cindy Wheeler founded the Caulfield Sisters with bass player and backup vocalist Mary Catherine Guidera following the break-up of their former band Pee Shy in 1998. The duo soon added Aaron Kant as drummer; Kristin Mueller took his place in 2004.
While Pee Shy had released two albums on Mercury Records
, Wheeler has since referred to her experience with the major label as "Mercury poisoning," and the Sisters have recorded and released their music independently. The Connecticut
-based label American Laundromat Records
distributed a Caulfield Sisters EP
in 2004 and released a split 7-inch in December 2006 with the French musician Julie Peel.
The Caulfield Sisters take their name from Phoebe Caulfield, the sister of Holden Caulfield
in J. D. Salinger
's novel The Catcher in the Rye
. As Wheeler explained in one radio interview: "After Pee Shy split, Mary and I took a little time off and then we missed playing together really badly. She was living up in Connecticut at the time, and I used to travel up there on the weekends to write songs with her. The whole vibe up there is very sort of Catcher in the Rye, very New England, melancholy, dreary, and it sort of lent itself to the songwriting we were doing."http://www.kexp.org/aspnet_client/KEXPViewMediaGroup.aspx?rID=2578&pID=528&fID=1146&artist=AI On the Sisters' Web site, they elaborate: "The Caulfield Sisters are the musical metaphor of Phoebe, little sister of Salinger’s anti-hero Holden Caulfield; Holden’s Phoebe, the little sister as savior, a glimmer of hope in a blue coat, a sonic swirl, a beautiful blur that keeps whirling past you on the Merry-go-round."http://www.caulfieldsisters.com
Interestingly, Wheeler said her high school in Tennessee
had banned Salinger's novel from its library because of its strong language; she had to get written permission from her parents before the librarian was allowed to give her a copy.http://www.thedelimagazine.com/caulfieldsisters Guidera, who chose the band's name, has said she had become "obsessed" with the book after reading it as an adult.
Wheeler and Guidera also briefly led a three-person band called 3 Wheeler immediately after Pee Shy broke up, and recorded a Mercury-financed demo recording under that name in 1998-99. In November 2006, American Laundromat Records
released one of 3 Wheeler's songs, "The First Bridge of Summer," as a bonus track to the Caulfield Sisters' EP
Say It With Fire on the online music service iTunes
. A year later, the label issued an iTunes
-only release of all the 3 Wheeler songs in a five-song EP called The Deal Breaker Demos.
Meanwhile, the Sisters entered an extended hiatus in July 2005, when Guidera gave birth to a daughter, Eleanor Louise; during that period, Wheeler has performed in the bands Look It and The Forest For the Trees and in a side project called Musical Typing, all of them with Mercury Rev
flutist Suzanne Thorpe. The Caulfield Sisters returned to live performing with a show on September 8, 2007, at Don Hill's in Manhattan.
In addition to her musical endeavors, Wheeler is a co-owner of the vintage clothing
store Beacon's Closet, which has locations in Williamsburg
and Park Slope
in Brooklyn. Mueller is a drummer for several other New York City bands, most notably Gloria Deluxe, and released a solo album, Ports of Call, in 2006.
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York, noted at times for their sonic similarity to Throwing Muses
Throwing Muses
Throwing Muses is an alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Newport, Rhode Island, that toured and recorded extensively until 1997, when its members began concentrating more on other projects. The group was originally fronted by two lead singers, Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly, who both wrote the...
or Galaxie 500
Galaxie 500
Galaxie 500 was an American alternative rock band that formed in 1987 and split up in 1991 after releasing three albums.-History:Guitarist Dean Wareham, drummer Damon Krukowski and bassist Naomi Yang had met at the Dalton School in New York City in 1981, but began playing together during their time...
. They have appeared at the annual CMJ
CMJ Music Marathon
CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival is put on by CMJ Network. CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival 2010 is scheduled for October 19–23 and will be headquartered at New York University and other downtown NYC venues.- History :...
music festival in New York, were featured in the New York art magazine Esopus and in an April 2005 live performance on Seattle independent radio station KEXP
KEXP
KEXP-FM is a public radio station based in Seattle, Washington, that specializes in alternative and indie rock programmed by its disc jockeys. Its broadcasting license is owned by the University of Washington, which operates the station in a partnership with Paul Allen's Experience Music Project...
, and have performed with bands such as Interpol
Interpol (band)
Interpol is an American indie rock and post-punk revival band from New York City. Formed in 1997, the band's original line-up consisted of Paul Banks , Daniel Kessler , Carlos Dengler and Greg Drudy . Drudy left the band in 2000 and was replaced by Sam Fogarino...
.
Lead singer, accordionist and guitar player Cindy Wheeler founded the Caulfield Sisters with bass player and backup vocalist Mary Catherine Guidera following the break-up of their former band Pee Shy in 1998. The duo soon added Aaron Kant as drummer; Kristin Mueller took his place in 2004.
While Pee Shy had released two albums on Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
, Wheeler has since referred to her experience with the major label as "Mercury poisoning," and the Sisters have recorded and released their music independently. The Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
-based label American Laundromat Records
American Laundromat Records
American Laundromat Records is an indie label based in Mystic, CT.The label has produced several tribute albums, including Dig For Fire - a tribute to PIXIES, Cinnamon Girl - Women Artists Cover Neil Young, and High School Reunion - A Tribute to Those Great 80's Films...
distributed a Caulfield Sisters EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
in 2004 and released a split 7-inch in December 2006 with the French musician Julie Peel.
The Caulfield Sisters take their name from Phoebe Caulfield, the sister of Holden Caulfield
Holden Caulfield
Holden Caulfield is the 16-to-17 years old protagonist of author J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. He is universally recognized for his resistance to growing older and desire to protect childhood innocence...
in J. D. Salinger
J. D. Salinger
Jerome David Salinger was an American author, best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, as well as his reclusive nature. His last original published work was in 1965; he gave his last interview in 1980....
's novel The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye is a 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger. Originally published for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage confusion, angst, alienation, language, and rebellion. It has been translated into almost all of the world's major...
. As Wheeler explained in one radio interview: "After Pee Shy split, Mary and I took a little time off and then we missed playing together really badly. She was living up in Connecticut at the time, and I used to travel up there on the weekends to write songs with her. The whole vibe up there is very sort of Catcher in the Rye, very New England, melancholy, dreary, and it sort of lent itself to the songwriting we were doing."http://www.kexp.org/aspnet_client/KEXPViewMediaGroup.aspx?rID=2578&pID=528&fID=1146&artist=AI On the Sisters' Web site, they elaborate: "The Caulfield Sisters are the musical metaphor of Phoebe, little sister of Salinger’s anti-hero Holden Caulfield; Holden’s Phoebe, the little sister as savior, a glimmer of hope in a blue coat, a sonic swirl, a beautiful blur that keeps whirling past you on the Merry-go-round."http://www.caulfieldsisters.com
Interestingly, Wheeler said her high school in Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
had banned Salinger's novel from its library because of its strong language; she had to get written permission from her parents before the librarian was allowed to give her a copy.http://www.thedelimagazine.com/caulfieldsisters Guidera, who chose the band's name, has said she had become "obsessed" with the book after reading it as an adult.
Wheeler and Guidera also briefly led a three-person band called 3 Wheeler immediately after Pee Shy broke up, and recorded a Mercury-financed demo recording under that name in 1998-99. In November 2006, American Laundromat Records
American Laundromat Records
American Laundromat Records is an indie label based in Mystic, CT.The label has produced several tribute albums, including Dig For Fire - a tribute to PIXIES, Cinnamon Girl - Women Artists Cover Neil Young, and High School Reunion - A Tribute to Those Great 80's Films...
released one of 3 Wheeler's songs, "The First Bridge of Summer," as a bonus track to the Caulfield Sisters' EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Say It With Fire on the online music service iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
. A year later, the label issued an iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
-only release of all the 3 Wheeler songs in a five-song EP called The Deal Breaker Demos.
Meanwhile, the Sisters entered an extended hiatus in July 2005, when Guidera gave birth to a daughter, Eleanor Louise; during that period, Wheeler has performed in the bands Look It and The Forest For the Trees and in a side project called Musical Typing, all of them with Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev is an American alternative rock group, that formed in the late 1980s in Buffalo, New York. Original personnel were David Baker , Jonathan Donahue , Sean Mackowiak, a.k.a...
flutist Suzanne Thorpe. The Caulfield Sisters returned to live performing with a show on September 8, 2007, at Don Hill's in Manhattan.
In addition to her musical endeavors, Wheeler is a co-owner of the vintage clothing
Vintage clothing
Vintage clothing is a generic term for new or second hand garments originating from a previous era. The phrase is also used in connection with a retail outlet, e.g...
store Beacon's Closet, which has locations in Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...
and Park Slope
Park Slope, Brooklyn
Park Slope is a neighborhood in western Brooklyn, New York City's most populous borough. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Avenue to the north, and 15th Street to the south, though other definitions are sometimes offered. Generally...
in Brooklyn. Mueller is a drummer for several other New York City bands, most notably Gloria Deluxe, and released a solo album, Ports of Call, in 2006.
Discography
- Songs for Phoebe CD demo, 2003
- Say It With Fire CD EP (American Laundromat RecordsAmerican Laundromat RecordsAmerican Laundromat Records is an indie label based in Mystic, CT.The label has produced several tribute albums, including Dig For Fire - a tribute to PIXIES, Cinnamon Girl - Women Artists Cover Neil Young, and High School Reunion - A Tribute to Those Great 80's Films...
), 2004 - Judy song on compilation CD in Esopus magazine, 2005
- Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want cover song (by the Smiths) on Eighties movie-song compilation High School Reunion (American Laundromat RecordsAmerican Laundromat RecordsAmerican Laundromat Records is an indie label based in Mystic, CT.The label has produced several tribute albums, including Dig For Fire - a tribute to PIXIES, Cinnamon Girl - Women Artists Cover Neil Young, and High School Reunion - A Tribute to Those Great 80's Films...
), 2005 - Some Candy Talking cover song (by the Jesus and Mary Chain) on limited edition 7" blue vinyl split (American Laundromat RecordsAmerican Laundromat RecordsAmerican Laundromat Records is an indie label based in Mystic, CT.The label has produced several tribute albums, including Dig For Fire - a tribute to PIXIES, Cinnamon Girl - Women Artists Cover Neil Young, and High School Reunion - A Tribute to Those Great 80's Films...
), 2006 - The Deal Breaker Demos EP on iTunes (American Laundromat RecordsAmerican Laundromat RecordsAmerican Laundromat Records is an indie label based in Mystic, CT.The label has produced several tribute albums, including Dig For Fire - a tribute to PIXIES, Cinnamon Girl - Women Artists Cover Neil Young, and High School Reunion - A Tribute to Those Great 80's Films...
), 2007 - "Two Songs From Mohawk" Digital SIngle iTunes only (American Laundromat Records) 2011