U.S. Maple
Encyclopedia
U.S. Maple was an American
noise rock
band. The group formed in Chicago
in 1995. The band consists of Al Johnson (lead singer), Mark Shippy (guitarist), Pat Samson (drummer), and Todd Rittmann (guitarist) — who banded together with the intent of becoming the deconstructionists of rock and roll
.
and the Mercury Players. Two members from each band met at the corner of Grand and Western Avenues, and as the band would reveal later on their website, began discussing how the group could erase rock and roll from their collective minds. The assembled group set out to devise a working method for reorganizing Rock and Roll, keeping only what they felt were its most important core elements. Recognizing they were kindred spirits, the group decided then and there to join together in an attempt to realize some of their musical ambitions. http://www.skingraftrecords.com/bandhtmlpages/usmaple.html
U.S. Maple inherited vocalist Al Johnson and guitarist Mark Shippy from Shorty, while drummer Pat Samson and second guitarist Todd Rittman were transplants from the Mercury Players. The band's first recording came in the form of a two song 7" single produced by Doug Easley and recorded in September 1995 at Easley Studios
in Memphis, Tennessee (during these sessions a cover version of AC/DC
's "Sin City" was also recorded, and eventually released on Skin Graft's "Sides 1-4" 7" compilation). U.S. Maple's first single featured the songs “Stuck” and "When a Man says Ow!” The independent label Skin Graft Records took an interest in the band and signed them to the label, releasing the "Stuck" single in the fall of 1995. []
, late in 1995 at Illinois' Solid Sound Studios located in Hoffman Estates. The album was produced by indie music producer and future Sonic Youth
guitarist Jim O'Rourke
, and was fueled with jarring guitar noodling, vocal wheezes and howls, and spastic drumming — all staples of the band's elastic song structures. Skin Graft released the album in October 1995 in both vinyl and CD formats; the vinyl pressings included a bonus track and hand-made sheet metal jackets manufactured by the bandmembers themselves. http://www.skingraftrecords.com/bandhtmlpages/usmaple.html The band then embarked on a six-week, twelve country, European tour in support of their first album. While in England, the band recorded a Peel session for John Peel's
BBC Radio 1 show.http://www.skingraftrecords.com/bandhtmlpages/usmaple.html
When the band returned home from their European tour they recorded a second single featuring a cover of the 1961 Dion and the Belmonts
hit "The Wanderer," as well as an original composition, "Whoa Complains." [] In 1997 the band returned to Solid Sound Studios to record their second album, again with producer Jim O'Rourke. This session produced the album Sang Phat Editor, which was released by Skin Graft Records in June 1997. []
the following year, due in part to the influence of Drag City labelmate Jim O'Rourke, but also due to an agreement by the label to support the band during their busy tour schedule. 1999 saw the band returning to the studio to record the followup to their Skin Graft work. Their third album, Talker
, a darker, sparser record than their previous albums, was recorded at B.C. Studio in Brooklyn, New York. The album was recorded by Michael Gira
, former lead singer of post-industrial rock band Swans
, with Martin Bisi
engineering. []
In 2001 the band released their fourth album, Acre Thrills
. The album was recorded in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, at Pachyderm Studio
, and mixed a week later in Richmond, Virginia, at Sound of Music. In the summer of 2001, after the recording of Acre Thrills, drummer Pat Samson left the band, and was replaced by Adam Vida. With Vida, the band released their fifth studio album, 2003's Purple On Time
., which saw a departure from the confrontational, fervent, and violent aspects of previous releases. Purple on Time contained more conventional song structures, instrumentation and singing.
'Albums'
(1991–1994). Shippy, along with former U.S. Maple drummer Pat Samson are now in Miracle Condition.
Todd Rittmann now leads Chicago-based D. Rider, in addition to being a member of Drag City band Singer. He was formerly a guitarist in The Mercury Players and Cheer-Accident
.
Johnson made appearances both live and on record with no-wave
band Lake of Dracula (1995–1997) where he was billed simply as "The Manhattanite
", alongside members of The Scissor Girls
, The Flying Luttenbachers
, and Couch.
's song, Goodbye Forever, which appears on the Alkaline Trio's EP I Lied My Face Off
features a line: "Remember last April when we saw U.S. Maple? / Somehow the singer showed the Fireside
exactly how I feel."
In the film 'High Fidelity' (2000), a number of scenes which take place in the record store display a US Maple poster attached to the front of the counter. Frontman Al Johnson cameos in the film as an obsessive collector who is repeatedly turned away from buying a particularly rare record (the French import of Safe as Milk by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
noise rock
Noise rock
Noise rock describes a style of post-punk rock music that became prominent in the 1980s. Noise rock makes use of the traditional instrumentation and iconography of rock, but incorporates atonality and especially dissonance, and also frequently discards usual songwriting conventions.-Style:Noise...
band. The group formed in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in 1995. The band consists of Al Johnson (lead singer), Mark Shippy (guitarist), Pat Samson (drummer), and Todd Rittmann (guitarist) — who banded together with the intent of becoming the deconstructionists of rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
.
Formation and first single
U.S. Maple was formed in 1995 at DeKalb's Northern Illinois University by former members of ShortyShorty (band)
Shorty was an American rock band formed in Illinois in 1991. The band consisted of vocalist Al Johnson, guitarist Mark Shippy, drummer Todd Lamparelli, and bassist Luke Frantom. After the group's breakup, Al Johnson and Mark Shippy would go on to form the underground art rock band U.S...
and the Mercury Players. Two members from each band met at the corner of Grand and Western Avenues, and as the band would reveal later on their website, began discussing how the group could erase rock and roll from their collective minds. The assembled group set out to devise a working method for reorganizing Rock and Roll, keeping only what they felt were its most important core elements. Recognizing they were kindred spirits, the group decided then and there to join together in an attempt to realize some of their musical ambitions. http://www.skingraftrecords.com/bandhtmlpages/usmaple.html
U.S. Maple inherited vocalist Al Johnson and guitarist Mark Shippy from Shorty, while drummer Pat Samson and second guitarist Todd Rittman were transplants from the Mercury Players. The band's first recording came in the form of a two song 7" single produced by Doug Easley and recorded in September 1995 at Easley Studios
Easley McCain Recording
Easley McCain Recording is an American recording studio, based in Memphis, Tennessee, notable for recording musicians such as Tav Falco's Panther Burns, Grifters, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Come, White Stripes, Townes Van Zandt, Pezz, Jeff Buckley, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Guided by Voices, Lydia...
in Memphis, Tennessee (during these sessions a cover version of AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
's "Sin City" was also recorded, and eventually released on Skin Graft's "Sides 1-4" 7" compilation). U.S. Maple's first single featured the songs “Stuck” and "When a Man says Ow!” The independent label Skin Graft Records took an interest in the band and signed them to the label, releasing the "Stuck" single in the fall of 1995. []
Skin Graft
The band recorded their first full-length album, Long Hair in Three StagesLong Hair in Three Stages
Long Hair In Three Stages is the debut full-length LP by the Chicago-based experimental rock quartet U.S. Maple. It was released 1995 by Skin Graft Records...
, late in 1995 at Illinois' Solid Sound Studios located in Hoffman Estates. The album was produced by indie music producer and future Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
guitarist Jim O'Rourke
Jim O'Rourke (musician)
Jim O'Rourke is an Irish-American musician and record producer. He was long associated with the Chicago experimental and improv scene...
, and was fueled with jarring guitar noodling, vocal wheezes and howls, and spastic drumming — all staples of the band's elastic song structures. Skin Graft released the album in October 1995 in both vinyl and CD formats; the vinyl pressings included a bonus track and hand-made sheet metal jackets manufactured by the bandmembers themselves. http://www.skingraftrecords.com/bandhtmlpages/usmaple.html The band then embarked on a six-week, twelve country, European tour in support of their first album. While in England, the band recorded a Peel session for John Peel's
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
BBC Radio 1 show.http://www.skingraftrecords.com/bandhtmlpages/usmaple.html
When the band returned home from their European tour they recorded a second single featuring a cover of the 1961 Dion and the Belmonts
Dion and the Belmonts
Dion and the Belmonts was a leading American vocal group of the late 1950s. The group formed when Dion DiMucci, lead singer , joined The Belmonts - Carlo Mastrangelo, baritone , Freddie Milano, second tenor , and Angelo D'Aleo, first tenor , in late 1957.-History:After an unsuccessful first single,...
hit "The Wanderer," as well as an original composition, "Whoa Complains." [] In 1997 the band returned to Solid Sound Studios to record their second album, again with producer Jim O'Rourke. This session produced the album Sang Phat Editor, which was released by Skin Graft Records in June 1997. []
Move to Drag City
In the fall of 1998 U.S. Maple left Skin Graft, signing to Drag CityDrag City (record label)
Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...
the following year, due in part to the influence of Drag City labelmate Jim O'Rourke, but also due to an agreement by the label to support the band during their busy tour schedule. 1999 saw the band returning to the studio to record the followup to their Skin Graft work. Their third album, Talker
Talker
A talker is a chat system that people use to talk to each other over the Internet. Dating back to the 1980s, they were a predecessor of instant messaging....
, a darker, sparser record than their previous albums, was recorded at B.C. Studio in Brooklyn, New York. The album was recorded by Michael Gira
Michael Gira
Michael Rolfe Gira is an American musician, author, and artist. He is the main force behind the recently reformed New York City musical group Swans and fronts the Angels of Light...
, former lead singer of post-industrial rock band Swans
Swans (band)
Swans are an influential American post-punk band initially active from 1982 to 1997, led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. The band was one of the few groups to emerge from the early 1980s New York No Wave scene and stay intact into the next decade. Formed by Gira in...
, with Martin Bisi
Martin bisi
Martin Bisi is an American producer and songwriter.He is known for recording important records by Sonic Youth, Swans, John Zorn, Material, Bill Laswell, Helmet, Unsane, Cop Shoot Cop, White Zombie, Boredoms, Angels of Light and Herbie Hancock's Grammy-winning song Rockit,In 1979, Martin Bisi...
engineering. []
In 2001 the band released their fourth album, Acre Thrills
Acre Thrills
Fakejazz gave the record full marks, John Fail commenting "can't think of another band today that is really progressing as much from where Beefheart began 30 years ago." Pitchforkmedia were almost equally fulsome with praise, rewarding the album with a 91% score and the statement that "U.S...
. The album was recorded in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, at Pachyderm Studio
Pachyderm Studio
Pachyderm Recording Studio is a residential recording studio located in rural Cannon Falls, Minnesota, United States, 35.8 mi southeast of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. It is located in a secluded old-growth forest with a vibrant trout stream. The studio was founded in 1988...
, and mixed a week later in Richmond, Virginia, at Sound of Music. In the summer of 2001, after the recording of Acre Thrills, drummer Pat Samson left the band, and was replaced by Adam Vida. With Vida, the band released their fifth studio album, 2003's Purple On Time
Purple on Time
Purple on Time is the fifth album by U.S. Maple. It was released on November 4, 2003 on Drag City.-The Album:According to singer Al Johnson, the album's title is meant to elicit connotations of emotion, as, to him, purple is an emotional color. The "on time" aspect of the title is meant to evoke...
., which saw a departure from the confrontational, fervent, and violent aspects of previous releases. Purple on Time contained more conventional song structures, instrumentation and singing.
Discography
'Singles'- Stuck 7" (Skin Graft, 1995)
- The Wanderer/Whoa Complains 7" (Sonic Bubblegum, 1996)
'Albums'
- Long Hair in Three StagesLong Hair in Three StagesLong Hair In Three Stages is the debut full-length LP by the Chicago-based experimental rock quartet U.S. Maple. It was released 1995 by Skin Graft Records...
(Skin Graft, 1995) - Sang Phat Editor (Skin Graft, 1997)
- Talker (Drag City, 1999)
- Acre ThrillsAcre ThrillsFakejazz gave the record full marks, John Fail commenting "can't think of another band today that is really progressing as much from where Beefheart began 30 years ago." Pitchforkmedia were almost equally fulsome with praise, rewarding the album with a 91% score and the statement that "U.S...
(Drag City, 2001) - Purple On TimePurple on TimePurple on Time is the fifth album by U.S. Maple. It was released on November 4, 2003 on Drag City.-The Album:According to singer Al Johnson, the album's title is meant to elicit connotations of emotion, as, to him, purple is an emotional color. The "on time" aspect of the title is meant to evoke...
(Drag City, 2003)
Related Acts
Al Johnson and Mark Shippy were both previously in ShortyShorty (band)
Shorty was an American rock band formed in Illinois in 1991. The band consisted of vocalist Al Johnson, guitarist Mark Shippy, drummer Todd Lamparelli, and bassist Luke Frantom. After the group's breakup, Al Johnson and Mark Shippy would go on to form the underground art rock band U.S...
(1991–1994). Shippy, along with former U.S. Maple drummer Pat Samson are now in Miracle Condition.
Todd Rittmann now leads Chicago-based D. Rider, in addition to being a member of Drag City band Singer. He was formerly a guitarist in The Mercury Players and Cheer-Accident
Cheer-Accident
Cheer-Accident is an American indie rock ensemble headed by Thymme Jones. Jones took the name of the band from a Hallmark Cards shopping display, and first formed the group in 1981 with singer Jim Drummond and drummer Mike Greenlees.-Biography:...
.
Johnson made appearances both live and on record with no-wave
No Wave
No Wave was a short-lived but influential underground music, film, performance art, video, and contemporary art scene that had its beginnings during the mid-1970s in New York City. The term No Wave is in part satirical word play rejecting the commercial elements of the then-popular New Wave genre...
band Lake of Dracula (1995–1997) where he was billed simply as "The Manhattanite
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
", alongside members of The Scissor Girls
The Scissor Girls
The Scissor Girls were a Chicago no wave band formed by Washington D.C. natives Azita Youssefi, Sue Anne Zollinger, and Heather Melowic in 1991. The idea to form the group was conceived during the late eighties by Azita Youssefi and Heather Melowic while they were living in their hometown of...
, The Flying Luttenbachers
The Flying Luttenbachers
The Flying Luttenbachers were an instrumental unit led by multi-instrumentalist / composer / producer Weasel Walter. The Luttenbachers have created a large body of work focusing on an agenda of musical extremity and dissonance...
, and Couch.
Referenced in other media
Chicago punk/rock band Alkaline TrioAlkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio is an American punk rock band that formed in McHenry, Illinois, in 1996. The band's line-up consists of Matt Skiba , Dan Andriano , and Derek Grant...
's song, Goodbye Forever, which appears on the Alkaline Trio's EP I Lied My Face Off
I Lied My Face Off
I Lied My Face Off is an EP by the Chicago-based punk rock band Alkaline Trio, released July 20, 1999 through Asian Man Records. It resulted in the band's first music video, for the song "Goodbye Forever"...
features a line: "Remember last April when we saw U.S. Maple? / Somehow the singer showed the Fireside
The Fireside Bowl
The Fireside Bowl is a bowling alley and music venue established in the 1940s, located at 2648 W Fullerton Ave in Chicago, Illinois.-History:The building was an ice factory in its early days...
exactly how I feel."
In the film 'High Fidelity' (2000), a number of scenes which take place in the record store display a US Maple poster attached to the front of the counter. Frontman Al Johnson cameos in the film as an obsessive collector who is repeatedly turned away from buying a particularly rare record (the French import of Safe as Milk by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
).