Black Tambourine was an influential twee pop band and one of the earliest Slumberland

Slumberland Records

Slumberland Records is an American independent record label formed in 1989 in Washington, D.C. area and currently based in Oakland, CA. The label has released recordings from artists including Velocity Girl, Honeybunch, Lilys, Stereolab, St...

 groups of the early 1990s. Formed in Silver Spring, Maryland

Silver Spring, Maryland

Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...

, the band comprised singer Pam Berry

Pam Berry

Pamela Berry is a writer, singer, and musician. She has been a member of the influential indie bands Black Tambourine and Glo-Worm, as well as Veronica Lake, Bright Coloured Lights, Belmondo, The Shapiros, The Castaway Stones, Seashell Sea, and The Pines. She was also a cofounding editor of the...

, Brian Nelson, Archie Moore and Mike Schulman. Along with Tiger Trap

Tiger Trap

Tiger Trap was an all-female twee-pop foursome composed of high school friends Angela Loy and Rose Melberg, with Heather Dunn and Jen Braun. The group recorded for K Records. The name "Tiger Trap" comes from the very first Calvin and Hobbes cartoon. Formed in Sacramento, California in 1992, they...

, Lois

Lois Maffeo

Courtney Love is an American musician and writer who lives in Olympia, Washington. Although never achieving mainstream success, she has been closely involved with and influenced many independent musicians, especially in the 90s Olympia, Seattle and DC based musician.-as Lois Maffeo:albums*The...

, Honeybunch

Honeybunch

Honeybunch is an indie pop band from Providence, Rhode island formed in 1987 by future Velvet Crush member Jeffrey Borchardt, releasing a string of records before splitting up in 1995...

, Tullycraft

Tullycraft

Tullycraft is an indie pop band from Seattle, Washington who formed in 1995. They have been associated with the genre of twee, in fact, they are considered to be one of the forefathers of the American twee pop movement alongside Black Tambourine, Tiger Trap, Lois, Honeybunch, and Beat Happening...

, and Beat Happening

Beat Happening

Beat Happening is an American punk band formed in Olympia, Washington in 1982. Calvin Johnson, Heather Lewis and Bret Lunsford have been the band's continual members...

 they are considered to be one of the most influential bands of the American twee pop movement.

Formation

The members came to the project already acquainted with each other: both Nelson and Schulman were in Whorl together, while Schulman (also of Powderburns) co-founded Slumberland Records. Moore, meanwhile, was in Velocity Girl

Velocity Girl

Velocity Girl was an American indie rock band formed in 1989 in College Park, Maryland, although it was generally known as a Washington, DC-area band...

, and Berry had co-founded the Chickfactor zine.

The band was influenced by The Jesus and Mary Chain

The Jesus and Mary Chain

The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride, Glasgow in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid...

, Phil Spector

Phil Spector

Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....

, Smokey Robinson

Smokey Robinson

William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...

, Love

Love (band)

Love was an American rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were led by singer/songwriter Arthur Lee and lead guitarist Johnny Echols...

, The Ramones, the Shop Assistants, The Pastels

The Pastels

The Pastels are a group from Glasgow, Scotland, UK.Their early records for labels like Whaam!, Creation, Rough Trade, and Glass Records, had a raw and immediate sound, melodic and amateur, which seemed at odds with the time...

, 14 Iced Bears

14 Iced Bears

14 Iced Bears were a British indie pop band associated with the C86 music scene. Formed in Brighton in 1985, by Rob Sekula and Nick Emery the band featured a shifting line-up of musicians across their seven-year existence, centred around songwriter and vocalist Rob Sekula and guitarist Kevin Canham...

, Orange Juice

Orange Juice

Orange Juice was a Scottish post-punk band founded in the middle class Glasgow suburb of Bearsden as the Nu-Sonics in 1976. Edwyn Collins formed the Nu-Sonics with his school-mate Alan Duncan and was subsequently joined by James Kirk and Steven Daly, who left a band called The Machetes. The band...

, and the English bands signed to Creation Records

Creation Records

Creation Records was a British independent record label headed by Alan McGee. Along with Dick Green and Joe Foster, McGee founded Creation in 1983. The label lasted until its demise in 1999. The name came from the 1960s band The Creation , whom McGee greatly admired. McGee, Green and Foster were...

.

Influence

Black Tambourine is described by Allmusic as one of the "seminal American indie pop bands of the 1980s." Bands they have influenced include The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are an indie pop band from New York City. Their first album was a self-released EP which came out in 2007 through the Painbow label. Their debut self-titled full length album was released on February 3, 2009 via Slumberland Records. The band name comes from an...

, Vivian Girls

Vivian Girls

Vivian Girls are an American band from Brooklyn, New York.- History :Vivian Girls, named after the magnum opus of outsider author Henry Darger, started in Brooklyn, NY in March 2007 as the trio of Cassie Ramone ; Katy "Kickball Katy" Goodman; and Frankie Rose...

, Crystal Stilts

Crystal Stilts

-History:Crystal Stilts was formed in 2003 by Brad Hargett and JB Townsend. After releasing one single and an EP, the pair expanded to five members before signing to Slumberland Records in the US and Angular Recording Corporation in Europe and releasing their debut, Alight of Night, in 2008...

, Dum Dum Girls

Dum Dum Girls

Dum Dum Girls are an American indie pop band from California that formed in 2008. Their name comes from both The Vaselines' album Dum Dum and the Iggy Pop song "Dum Dum Boys"...

, Rough Bunnies, The Mayfair Set, The Champagne Socialists, and Procedure Club.

EPs

• By Tomorrow (1991) (Slumberland Records)
• Throw Aggi Off the Bridge (1992) (Audrey's Diary)

Black Tambourine compilation albums

• Complete Recordings
  Complete Recordings (Black Tambourine album)
  Complete Recordings is a 1999 compilation album by the indie pop band Black Tambourine. Despite its title, it does not actually contain the complete recordings of the band...
  
  (1999)
• Black Tambourine
  Black Tambourine (album)
  Black Tambourine is a 2010 compilation album by the indie pop band Black Tambourine. It contains the complete recordings of the band. The album Complete Recordings was already issued in 1999, but this album contains six new tracks and is therefore meant to replace it.-Track listing:All tracks are...
  
  (2010)

Other Compilation albums

• One Last Kiss (1992) (spinART)
• Contains the Black Tambourine song "We Can't Be Friends"
• What Kind of Heaven Do You Want? (1989) (Slumberland)
• Contains the Black Tambourine song "Pam's Tan"

After Black Tambourine

After the band parted ways, Berry went on to sing with numerous bands including The Shapiros, glo-worm, Castaway Stones, Veronica Lake, Bright Colored Lights, Belmondo, Seashell Sea and The Pines; she also returned to Chickfactor. Nelson went on to Velocity Girl

Velocity Girl

Velocity Girl was an American indie rock band formed in 1989 in College Park, Maryland, although it was generally known as a Washington, DC-area band...

; Moore to Heartworms; and Schulman to Magpies and Candleman.

External links

• A discography is available at TweeNet.