Rasputina (band)

Rasputina
From left to right: Sarah Bowman, Melora Creager, Jonathon Tebeest
Background information
Origin	Brooklyn, New York, United States
Genres	Cello Rock Gothic Rock Dark Cabaret Indie Folk Rock
Years active	1992–present
Labels	Filthy Bonnet Records Columbia Records Instinct Records
Website	http://www.rasputina.com/
Members
Melora Creager Daniel DeJesus Dawn Miceli
Past members
Jonathon TeBeest Sarah Bowman Zoë Keating Julia Kent Kris Cowperthwaite Agnieszka Rybska Nana Bornant Serena Jost Lisa Haney Perry James Tom Martin Mark Hutchins Catie D'amica Melissa Bell Julie Griner Stephanie McVey (touring)

Rasputina is a cello-driven band based in New York that is renowned for their unconventional and quirky music style as well as their fascination with historical allegories and fashion, especially those pertaining to the Victorian era.

The group is fronted by cellist/vocalist Melora Creager, who also writes all of the lyrics and creates art for the band's albums, singles, and website.

History

In 1989, Creager, wanting to form an all-cello band, placed an ad to find members. Julia Kent responded and the two formed the Traveling Ladies' Cello Society as a duo. Creager also toured with Nirvana after they released In Utero. In 1991 (their official website claims "1891"), Creager and Kent expanded the group with members who attended the same nanny school in Manhattan (which wasn't known until post-formation). They were then renamed "Rasputina" after one of Creager's songs. The group played shows and became a local favorite in New York City. Columbia Records' A&R representative Jimmy Boyle saw the group perform at a festival, and they were then signed to the label.

In 1996, they released Thanks for the Ether. Rasputina toured with such bands as Bob Mould, Porno for Pyros, Marilyn Manson and Les Claypool. In 1997 the band released Transylvanian Regurgitations, a follow up EP remixed by Manson and Twiggy Ramirez.

On their second full-length album, How We Quit the Forest, Rasputina signed on Chris Vrenna (from Nine Inch Nails) as their drummer and producer. He encouraged the group to go ahead with the distortion they had been experimenting with. He provided electronic drums and sound effects.

Rasputina went through several line-up changes. Lisa Haney performed as third chair cellist before the group signed to Columbia. "Carpella Parvo" was credited as the third cellist on Thanks for the Ether, but Creager has since admitted that Carpella never existed, and her name was a play-on-words joke representing the carpal tunnel syndrome that Kent and Creager developed after playing all the second chair parts. Agnieszka Rybska performed on How We Quit the Forest. She temporarily left the band in 1998 due to pregnancy.

Drummer Perry L. James toured with the Rasputina in 1998-1999. Julia Kent left during the four-year hiatus between How We Quit the Forest and 2002's Cabin Fever, which was released on Moby's label Instinct Records. In 2004, they released a follow-up album, Frustration Plantation, which featured Zoë Keating, who left the band in 2006. Upon her departure, Creager's ensemble consisted of her and Jonathon TeBeest. Ex-Graces cellist Stephanie McVey occupied second chair from September 2006 to January 2007. Sarah Bowman rejoined Rasputina on their spring 2007 tour of the U.S.

In 2008, Bowman and TeBeest left the band and were replaced by second chair cellist Daniel DeJesus and drummer Catie D'Amica.

In summer 2010, a documentary was made about Rasputina called Under the Corset by Dawn Miceli. In January 2011 Melora Creager announced in The Dawn and Drew Show that Dawn Miceli will be playing the drums on the February 2011 tour.

Discography

Albums

• Thanks for the Ether - Columbia Records, 1996
• How We Quit the Forest - Columbia Records, 1998
• Cabin Fever - Instinct Records, 2002
• Frustration Plantation - Instinct Records, 2004
• Oh Perilous World - Filthy Bonnet Co., 2007
• Sister Kinderhook - Filthy Bonnet Co., June 15, 2010

Live albums

• A Radical Recital - Filthy Bonnet Co., 2005
• Melora a la Basilica - 2008
• The Pregnant Concert with artwork by Dese'Rae L. Stage - May 10, 2010.

Compilations

• Great American Gingerbread - Filthy Bonnet Recording Co., 2011

Singles and EPs

• Transylvanian Regurgitations - Columbia Records, 1997
• The Olde HeadBoard - Columbia Records, 1998
• The Lost & Found (1st Edition) - RPM Records, 2001
• My Fever Broke - Instinct Records, 2002
• The Lost and Found, 2nd Edition - Instinct Records, 2003
• The Willow Tree Triptych - Extremely limited by Melora, 2009
• Ancient Cross-Dressing Songs - Extremely limited by Melora, 2009

Promotional

• Transylvanian Concubine/The Vaulted Eel, Lesson#6 - Oculus Records 1993
• Three (3) - (promo), 1996
• Three Lil' Nothin's - (promo), 1996
• Transylvanian Regurgitations - Columbia Records, 1997

Videos

• Under the Corset - Documentary, 2010
• Great American Gingerbread - Combination of CD rarities, including a DVD of live performances at The Knitting Factory, 2011

Misc

• "Transylvanian Concubine" on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Album soundtrack. (The song was featured in the episode "Surprise".)
• "Transylvanian Concubine" on The Black Bible, a four-disc compilation album released by Cleopatra Records. (October 27, 1998) [1]
• Our Lies - 2001
• "Hunter's Kiss" on the compilation album 12 Tales in 2002
• "Coraline" on the Neil Gaiman tribute album Where's Neil When You Need Him? Dancing Ferret in 2006
• "A Skeleton Bang" on the charity album Colours Are Brighter in 2006
• "Warbots" on the compilation album Asleep By Dawn Club Mix #2 released by Dancing Ferrets Records

Song inspirations

Creager is a self-proclaimed history buff and often bases Rasputina's lyrics on said history.

Some of these include:

• Thanks for the Ether
  • "My Little Shirtwaist Fire" is based on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911.
  • "The Donner Party" discusses the Donner Party, a group of American pioneers traveling to California who encountered a series of mishaps and resorted to cannibalism. The track compares them to the colonial pilgrims.
  • "Howard Hughes" is about legendary aviator.
• How We Quit the Forest
  • "Rose K." is about the matriarch of the Kennedy family, who had a stroke at age 94 and was cared for at the Kennedy Compound by private nurses and staff. Although Melora jokingly refers to this as her "Alzheimer's Song" on A Radical Recital, Rose was not known to have suffered from Alzheimer's disease. In concert, Melora also frequently introduces the song by referring to Rose's decision to have her daughter Rosemary Kennedy lobotomized at the age of 23, to calm her alleged mood swings.
  • "Herb Girls of Birkenau" describes the victims of human experiments in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, from the point of view of a powerless witness.
  • "Diamond Mind" is a satire inspired by the music of a De Beere diamond commercial that uses music composed by Karl Jenkins, which he later used as a theme of the orchestral piece Palladio (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Palladio.ogg ).
• Cabin Fever
  • "Rats" is about the 16th century decision by the then Pope to declare the semi-aquatic capybara as fish for Catholics to eat during lent.
• Poor Relations in the Shed Out Back (Frustration Plantation bonus disc)
  • "Yellow Fever" is about an outbreak of yellow fever in New Orleans in the summer of 1853.
• Oh Perilous World
  • "1816, The Year Without a Summer" is about the Little Ice Age. The year 1816 had an unusual weather pattern (due to the volcano Mount Tambora erupting) and was known as the Year Without a Summer. The song also makes mention of author Mary Shelley writing her famous novel Frankenstein, Freemasons and Benjamin Franklin.
  • "Choose Me For Champion" is about islanders' sufferings due to Western European invasions and mentions Thursday October Christian.
  • "Cage in a Cave" is about Thursday Christian's father, Fletcher Christian, an 18th century man who was part of the Mutiny on the Bounty in Tahiti.
  • "Incident in a Medical Clinic" is about the disease Schistosomiasis (also known as Snail-fever).
  • "Child Soldier Rebellion" makes mention of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda's usage of children as soldiers.
  • "Oh Bring Back the Egg Unbroken" is about the Tangata manu competition of the inhabitants from Easter Island.
  • "We Stay Behind" is about the people who stayed behind in New Orleans during the 2005 Hurricane Katrina. An article from the AP by Allen G. Breed exclaims, "I've never even had a nightmare or a beautiful dream about this," about watching the warehouses burn. "People are just not themselves."

In popular culture

• The Dead Milkmen have released a song titled "Melora Says" which is about some of the themes covered in Rasputina's music.

See also

• Ryan Obermeyer

External links

• Rasputina's Official Website
• Rasputina's Official Facebook Page
• Zoë Keating's Official Website
• Jonathon Tebeest's Official Website
• Full discography
• An Extensive Audio Interview with Melora Creager on The Jekyll and Hyde Show, 106FM Jerusalem. October 2010
• Huge Gallery
• Synthesis Interview July 2007
• Rasputina at Discogs
• Ryan Obermeyer's Official Website
• Show 451 "Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour" audio and video taped August 7, 2007