chickfactor will celebrate its 20-year anniversary with five blissful nights of sparkling indie pop on the Northeast Corridor of the USA (three in NY; two in DC) including the first shows in years by Black Tambourine, Small Factory, Pipas, The Aislers Set, The Pines, The Softies, The Lois Plus, The Legendary Jim Ruiz Group and Fan Modine and rare performances from such pop luminaries as Stevie Jackson (Belle & Sebastian), Frankie Rose, Lilys, Lorelei, Dot Dash, Versus, Bridget St John and Honey Bunch.
chickfactor started in 1992 in D.C. and New York by pop-loving maniacs Pam Berry and Gail O’Hara, who used to travel up and down the East Coast seeing Small Factory, Honey Bunch, the Wedding Present and any other fine indie-pop bands of the era. We are spoiled silly and lucky as all get-out to be able to present this super-stellar line-up. Get your ticket fast, do not dilly-dally!
Black Tambourine at the Spiral in NYC, 1991, photo by Tae Won Yu
April 6 & 7 at Artisphere in Arlington, Virginia
DC APRIL 6:
STEVIE JACKSON
(excellent guitarist-singer in Belle & Sebastian, the one who wrote a tune called “chickfactor,” natch. Mr Jackson has a new solo release titled “(I Can’t Get No) Stevie Jackson”; on the cover of chickfactor #12 with Janet Weiss)
FRANKIE ROSE
(Bay Area pop wunderkind and former member of Vivian Girls / Crystal Stilts, on Slumberland’s roster)
HONEY BUNCH
(early Slumberland act featuring super-talented Velvet Crush fella Jeffrey Underhill; interviewed in chickfactor #11)
DOT DASH
(awesome D.C. pop group featuring Terry Banks of Tree Fort Angst, Saturday People and glo-worm; featured in chickfactor #15)
DC APRIL 7:
BLACK TAMBOURINE
(legendary D.C. noise-pop group starring chickfactor co-founder Pam Berry, Slumberland boss Mike Schulman, Brian Nelson and Archie Moore from Velocity Girl, among many other bands; they have not performed live since 1991!!)
LILYS
(early Slumberland genius songwriter Kurt Heasley is back for this special D.C. reunion festival)
FAN MODINE
(NC via NYC ace songcrafter Gordon Zacharias)
LORELEI
(early Slumberland D.C. powerhouse act featuring Matt Dingee, Stephen Gardner and Davis White)
Frankie Rose…photo by Lauren Bilanko.
+ + + + + +
Small Factory photo by Lydia Vanderloo.
Jen and Rose are the Softies!
The mighty Versus. Photo by Michael Galinsky.
Pipas!
April 10, 11, 12 at the Bell House in Brooklyn, New York (first night sold out; tix still available for other two)
Awesome special guests on each night as well!
BROOKLYN APRIL 10:
BLACK TAMBOURINE
(legendary D.C. noise-pop group starring chickfactor co-founder Pam Berry, Slumberland boss Mike Schulman, Brian Nelson and Archie Moore from Velocity Girl, among many other bands; they have not performed live since 1991!!)
SMALL FACTORY
(first show since 1995 by the amazing Providence, RI pop group featuring Dave Auchenbach, Alex Kemp and Phoebe Summersquash, cover girl of chickfactor #1)
VERSUS
(smoking hot NYC trio back to the lean, clean lineup of suave brothers Edward and Richard Baluyut and the one and only Fontaine Toups, cover girl of chickfactor #6)
THE LOIS PLUS
(erudite Olympia singer-songwriter Lois Maffeo will play with Heavenly / Talulah Gosh / Would-Be-Goods guitarist Peter Momtchiloff; this is their first show together since 1997; Lois shared the cover of chickfactor #5 with Rebecca Spinane; Momtch in chickfactor #2)
BROOKLYN APRIL 11:
THE AISLERS SET
(seminal Spectorific Bay Area pop combo led by Linton, interviewed in / cover of chickfactor #13; first show since 2003)
PIPAS
(unmissable London-Brooklyn electropop duo Mark Powell and Lupe Nunez-Fernandez will play their first show since 2008; interviewed in chickfactor #14)
BRIDGET ST JOHN
(legendary British folk-pop artist whose early recordings were released by John Peel, who basically started a label for her; interviewed in chickfactor #12)
THE LEGENDARY JIM RUIZ GROUP
(Minneapolis jazz-pop god will play in NY for the first time since 2002 with Emily Ruiz, Charlotte Crabtree and Alison Labonne; interviewed in chickfactor #9)
BROOKLYN APRIL 12:
STEVIE JACKSON
(excellent guitarist-singer in Belle & Sebastian, the one who wrote a tune called “chickfactor,” natch. Mr Jackson has a new solo release titled “(I Can’t Get No) Stevie Jackson”; interviewed in chickfactor #12)
HONEY BUNCH
(early Slumberland act featuring super-talented Velvet Crush fella Jeffrey Underhill; interviewed in chickfactor #11)
THE PINES
(SE London folk duo featuring CF co-founder/Black Tambourine singer Pam Berry and Joe Brooker)
THE SOFTIES
(super-soft ultra-pop duo Rose Melberg and Jen Sbragia’s first show since 2000; Tiger Trap and All Girl Summer Fun Band featured in chickfactor #4 and #15)
BROOKLYN: Three-day pass $70. Single tickets $25 in advance, $27 at the door.
The Pines!
The Aislers Set
A not-too-recent pic of Honey Bunch!
The Legendary Jim Ruiz!
Stevie Jackson setting an example for the kids
Bridget St John…
Dot Dash!
Gordon Zacharias, aka Fan Modine!
The Lois Plus (that would be Lois Maffeo and Peter Momtchiloff!)
Lorelei!
Thanks to Other Music, Bell House, Slumberland Records, WFMU!
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This event is dedicated to the memory of George Gelestino, Trish Keenan, Kirsty MacColl, Mary Hansen and Spencer Gates.