Chaos Chaos

For the amoeba formerly known as Chaos chaos, see Chaos (genus).
Chaos Chaos

An early Smoosh publicity photo, 2006 or earlier
Background information
Origin Seattle, Washington, USA
Genres Indie pop, indie rock, post-rock, baroque pop, twee pop
Years active 2000–present
Labels Barsuk Records, Pattern 25
Members Chloe Saavedra
Asya Saavedra[1]

Chaos Chaos is an American indie pop band from Seattle, Washington. The band was formed under the name Smoosh in 2000, and adopted their current name in 2012. The band consists of two sisters, who founded the band as preteens: singer/keyboardist Asya Saavedra (Asy, born February 2, 1992) and drummer Chloe Saavedra (born March 5, 1994). They released three albums as Smoosh, and have produced two further EPs and several singles as Chaos Chaos.

History

"There's this band Smashmouth, and we liked how that sounded, so we came up with Smoosh. We just liked the sound of the word. But we pronounced it Smush [rhymes with bush]. Then people started saying it Smoosh, with the ooo sound. So it became Smoooosh. "

Asya on the band name's origin in a 2005 interview.[2]

Smoosh started in 2000 when the family was at a Seattle music store The Trading Musician, standing in line to restring a violin. Asy and Chloe wandered into the drum section of the store, where Chloe met Jason McGerr, the drummer for Death Cab for Cutie. The family eventually left with a $600 drum kit for Chloe, McGerr's card from the Seattle Drum School, "and no violin."[3] When McGerr learned that Asy had been playing the piano and writing songs since she was very young, he offered to help them both. Neither Asy nor Chloe read music.[4] Asy began piano training but soon quit because she found it boring.[3]

In 2000, Smoosh released Tomato Mistakes, a two-track single that they mailed free of charge to anyone who wanted it.[3] Four years later, in September 2004, She Like Electric, Smoosh's full-length debut was released under Pattern 25 Records. By the time Smoosh released their second LP, on June 6, 2006, titled Free to Stay, they were signed to Seattle-based indie label Barsuk Records. Its third and title track, "Free to Stay", was an early song featured on Tomato Mistakes. Asy also plays guitar on the track 'Waiting for Something' off Free to Stay. The second album also features the song "Find A Way" which Smoosh performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on July 12, 2006, marking their first performance on late night TV.[5] As they toured with the Eels as part of a world tour in mid-2006, they are also featured on the California-based band's live DVD/CD Live and in Person! London 2006.

On August 5, 2007, Smoosh performed at Lollapalooza 2007 at Chicago's Grant Park. Their set included a cover of "This Modern Love" by Bloc Party, who they would later tour with that same year in September. Earlier that year, they also performed a headlining spring tour on the east coast with The Postmarks. The band played "Pajama Party Time" on Yo Gabba Gabba! episode 5, originally broadcast on August 27. 2007.

Critics have compared their sound to that of Tori Amos and PJ Harvey, and have been impressed with the young writers and performers.[6][7][8] Smoosh opened for many leading Pacific Northwest bands including Pearl Jam,[3][2] Death Cab for Cutie,[3] Sleater-Kinney,[3][2] and the Presidents of the United States of America,[3][2] as well as for other acts such as Mates of State,[3] Jimmy Eat World,[3] Cat Power[3] (who also covered their song, 'Rad'),[2] Nada Surf, Sufjan Stevens and The Go! Team. Asy collaborated with Seattle indie band Head Like a Kite to create the songs "Noisy at the Circus" (which can be found on Head Like a Kite's first album Random Portraits of the Home Movie), "Daydream Vacation" (which can be found on their second album There Is Loud Laughter Everywhere), and "Let's Start It All Again" (which can be found on their album Dreams Suspend Night, and also available via the KEXP Song of the Day website [9]). The girls have also been performing a cover of "Flyswatter" by The Eels, in which Maia plays glockenspiel. Asy also lends her voice to the soundtrack of the musical film God Help the Girl created by Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian, where she sings on the songs "I Just Want Your Jeans" and "A Down and Dusky Blonde". She also provided the vocals on the song "I Fell for the Fall" by Swedish band Karma Tree. In early 2008, they toured with Tokyo Police Club and The Dresden Dolls. In June 2010, Smoosh released their third album, Withershins (previously titled The World's Not Bad).

The Saavedra sisters have been the only members of the band. Their younger sister, Maia Saavedra, played bass for them in 2007.[10][11] In 2012 the Saavedras changed the band's name to Chaos Chaos, abandoning the name "Smoosh" because the term had become associated with Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi after an episode of South Park.[11] Their current name is derived from a historical scientific name for a species of amoeba, which they liken to their music as it is "simple but always changing".[12][13]

Chaos Chaos released an EP, S, on October 16, 2012.[14] On October 7, 2014, Chaos Chaos released another EP, Committed to the Crime, containing the tracks "Love", "Breaker", "Do You Feel It", "West Side", "Monsters" and "Better." In the third episode of Rick and Morty's second season, the final scene features "Do You Feel It" as the backdrop music.

Members

Current

Former

Discography

As Smoosh

As Chaos Chaos

Gallery

Notes

  1. http://www.nylonmag.com/?section=article&parid=8468
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Almond, Steve (June 2005). "Smoosh" (interview), The Believer. Accessed August 24, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Smoosh, Pattern 25 Records. Accessed 16 November 2006.
  4. Alexander Lauence, An Interview with Indie Sensation, Smoosh, Free Williamsburg, February 18, 2005. Accessed 11 December 2006.
  5. Performance on YouTube http://youtube.com/watch?v=pfdQoTdazq4
  6. Lisa Heyamoto, Tweenage band Smoosh rocks Seattle scene, January 30, 2005. Accessed 12 April 2006.
  7. Douglas Wolk, Discovering the Dream, Seattle Weekly, September 29, 2004. Accessed 12 April 2006.
  8. Anuj Desai, Pre-Teen Smoosh Are "Rad", Rolling Stone, December 28, 2004. Accessed 12 April 2006.
  9. http://blog.kexp.org/blog/2010/05/14/song-of-the-day-head-like-a-kite-%E2%80%93-let%E2%80%99s-start-it-all-again-extreme-interview/
  10. imaginary liz, Meet Smoosh's Bass Player!, Three Imaginary Girls, May 24, 2007.
  11. 1 2 Bennett, Kim Taylor (June 6, 2013). "R.I.P. Smoosh and Hurray for Chaos Chaos". noisy.vice.com. Retrieved August 24, 2015.
  12. Abraham, Victoria (September 18, 2012). Artist of the Week: Chaos Chaos. www.andpop.com. Retrieved August 24, 2015.
  13. "Chaos Chaos: Committed to the Crime". bighassle.com. Retrieved August 12, 2015. “We named the band Chaos Chaos after a very large amoeba because they are simple but always changing,” says Chloe
  14. Laura Studarus, Premiere: Chaos Chaos Debut EP Stream, Under the Radar, 2012-11-08. Accessed 2012-11-11.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Smoosh.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, December 29, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.