| Eisley | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Origin | Tyler, Texas, U.S. |
| Genres | Indie rock, Indie pop |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Labels | Equal Vision, Reprise, Record Collection, Warner Bros., Sire |
| Website | www.eisley.com |
| Members | |
| Chauntelle DuPree Sherri DuPree Weston DuPree Stacy DuPree Garron DuPree |
|
| Past members | |
| Jonathan Wilson | |
Eisley is a rock band from Tyler, Texas, consisting of four siblings (Chauntelle, Sherri, Stacy, and Weston DuPree) and their cousin (Garron DuPree), all of whom were born and live in Texas. Although the band's name translates to ice island in several Germanic languages, it was actually selected by the bandmates because of its link to the Star Wars saga (i.e. Mos Eisley).
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The band was formed in 1997 when Chauntelle and Sherri began creating music together after having been inspired by bands like the Beatles, Jeremy Enigk,[1] and Radiohead.[2] Younger sister Stacy (who was then 8 years old) became frustrated over their insistence that she was too young to be a part of the band and wrote her own song without their help before she was inducted. Their brother Weston (who was then 10 years old) soon joined the band as the drummer. Jonathan Wilson, a family friend, was brought on to play bass.[3][4]
Boyd and Kim Dupree, parents of the four DuPree siblings, ran a venue called Brewtones Coffee Galaxy by occupying the space of their church on days when it was not in use. Eisley, then known as the Towheads, began years of service as the house band, giving them their first exposure. At Brewtones, the band played with many other acts such as Ester Drang, Midlake, Waterdeep, and others. The band played numerous weekend shows at the venue until they became too busy with other opportunities.[5]
The band's name changed several times in their early years. They began as The Towheads, before changing their name to Moss Eisley, after Mos Eisley, a town in the Star Wars films. When the band signed in 2003, there were worries of legal troubles with the name.[2] After considering "Neverland" and "Sinclair", they eventually decided just to drop the "Moss" portion of their name and became simply "Eisley." The only known printed reference to the band's Neverland name (which they officially used for approximately two weeks) can be found in an issue of the Dallas, Texas monthly music magazine Harder Beat.
After emerging on the Dallas scene in 2001, playing hundreds of shows throughout Texas and garnering a fan base as an indie band, Eisley was signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2003. The band won 'Best New Artist' from the Dallas Observer Music Awards in the same year.[6] The band had some early radio success with the song "Telescope Eyes" from the Laughing City E.P.. It was ranked top 25th most played song on FM 102.1 ("The Edge") in Dallas, Texas in 2003. Eisley has recorded videos for "Marvelous Things", "I Wasn't Prepared", "Telescope Eyes" (the version from Room Noises), "Invasion", "Memories", "Smarter", and "The Valley", which can be viewed on the official website, but largely the band's strong, steady, organic growth comes from touring and an aggressive online marketing approach.
During the majority of 2004 the band spent most of their time recording their debut album. During the first part of 2005, the band tour extensively with New Found Glory.
In June 2005, Eisley embarked on their first headlining tour, The Summer Scenic Tour, to support their debut Room Noises with Lovedrug and Pilotdrift as opening acts. On June 10, they performed a sold out show at The Troubadour in California. The recording of The Troubadour show was to be released as a live DVD, however, the band was not pleased with the footage or audio so nothing ever came of it.[7][8]
The band went on to tour with Hot Hot Heat in July. During this tour Eisley's then bassist, Jon Wilson, announced he was leaving the band. Jon remains a good friend of the band and lives in Eisley's hometown, Tyler, Texas. He was replaced as bassist by Garron DuPree, the DuPrees' then fifteen year old cousin in 2005.[9] Since then Wilson now resides in Colorado and cites his personal religious practices as well as pressure from a major label as to why he left the band.[10]
In August, after the Hot Hot Heat tour, the band went into the studio in Seattle for a day to track Head Against The Sky.[11] The song was later released in October of that year on the Head Against The Sky E.P. with three songs from the cancelled Troubadour DVD.
In October and November 2005, Eisley went on tour with Switchfoot as openers. Around this time, the band started playing new, unrecorded material for their second album.[12]
In March 2006, the band did a small tour in Australia as main support for Taking Back Sunday.[13] Following that, Eisley headlined their last tour in support of Room Noises, The Final Noise Tour.[14]
In September 2006, Eisley headed back to the studio to record their follow up to Room Noises.[15] While tracking for their second album, Sherri and Stacy also recorded vocals for Bright Eyes's album Cassadaga.[16] The band finished recording the album in November 2006, but due to assumed conflicts with their label, the album was delayed.[17] Combinations was finally released on August 14, 2007, and Eisley went on a special acoustic tour to promote the album.[18] The band then made their national television debut on Late Night with Conan O'Brien August 30, 2007, performing Combination's lead and only single "Invasion."[19] In September 2007, Eisley went on tour to support MuteMath.
On December 18, 2007, the band released the Like the Actors E.P. on iTunes. This EP contained the two B-sides for Combinations as well as an unreleased track from Room Noises, titled "Sun Feet."
In spring of 2008, Eisley headlined the only main tour that would be done in support of Combinations.[20]
After the Combinations tour, the band originally planned to take a break before starting work on their third album. At this time, relationships with their label was not at the best, and the bands personal lives were getting back into control. However, at the urging of their good friend and A&R, Eisley went back into the studio in later 2008 to record their third album.[21][22] Recording of the album was delayed due to issues in the band's personal lives.
During the recording process, the band did a few one off shows. Notably a benefit with the Seattle Symphony with Mateo Messina in 2008 and headlining a show at Baylor University in spring of 2009, their first real show since the end of their Combinations tour.[23][24]
During this time, Warner Brothers shifted Eisley from Reprise to Sire.[25] Throughout most of the summer of 2009, the band worked on their 2007 follow up. They finished recording most of the album in August of that year, but complications with WB delayed the release. However, the band went on tour with Dupree-Bemis' husband's band Say Anything that fall and released the Fire Kite E.P. as a teaser for the upcoming album.[26]
On February 9, 2010, the band officially announced that they had parted ways with WB right before the Say Anything tour.[21] In an interview, Sherri said: "By the time our contract was up with them we were stoked to branch out on our own. I think we had been worn down slowly over the years; this would be the vessel to part ways on good terms. It was going to be a new life, with a renewed purpose, etc. And it is!"[27]
Throughout most of 2010, Eisley shopped for a new label as well and tried to acquire the rights to release their third album. They played SXSW that year and in late spring and early summer, the band did a small headlining tour called The Mild Mild Midwest tour up to Cornerstone Music Festival.[28] Fall of 2010, the band did another headlining tour called, The Over The River and Through The Wood tour, in anticipation for their third album.[29]
On November 4, 2010, it was announced that the band had signed with Equal Vision Records as well as acquired the rights from WB to release their third album.[30] Following that, on December 10, 2010, it was announced that Eisley would be releasing their new album on March 1, 2011, titled The Valley.[31]
In February 2011, Eisley went on tour as main support for Rooney.[32] On this tour, the band debuted several more new songs in anticipation for The Valley. A week before release, the band streamed the full album on Spin.com.[33] Finally on March 1, The Valley was released.
The Valley was met with generally positive reviews. Sputnikmusic and, to the band's surprise, Absolute Punk both gave the album a rating of 90, commenting on the band's vocal style and the instrumentation being different from previous albums. All Music Guide, Alternative Press, and The Onion A.V. club also praised the album as well. However, Under The Radar had mixed reviews, but commented on the tunes being enjoyable as well as the Dupree sister's voices being thrilling. The Austin Chronicle gave the album a negative review, criticizing the album's focus to love and broken relationships as opposed to the whimsical style and fantastical imagery found on the bands 2005 debut Room Noises and the EPs before.[34]
In June 2011, after finishing their first headlining tour for The Valley, the band announced plans on Twitter and tumblr of recording a new EP in August. Also, according to online posts from tumblr and instagram, there will be a limited edition of the EP which will possibly include a bio, original lyrics, rare and never before seen photos, past tour memorabilia, various posters, old album artwork dating back to the Moss Eisley days, and possibly more.[35]
Throughout August 2011, the band recorded the EP. Originally the EP was going to contain a few b-sides from The Valley, but the band ultimately decided to record mostly new songs. Following the completion of the EP, Eisley recorded a music video for their next single, "The Valley". Though, the band initially stated the new EP would be released in the fall, they decided on a February 2012 date instead. The reasons being they needed the EP to close out The Valley and point to LP4. According to posts and tweets by the band, they plan to start recording their next album sometime in 2012 after one more tour for The Valley. [36]
Eisley performed as an unsigned indie band for many years between 1998 and 2003 – mostly clubs in Texas.
Eisley's first major tour was support for Coldplay's Rush of Blood to the Head tour in the US and at the V Festival in England.[37] Over the years, Eisley has also toured with Dave Matthews Band, Brand New, Snow Patrol, New Found Glory, Hot Hot Heat, Switchfoot, Taking Back Sunday, The Fray, Bleach and Mutemath. The band has also toured several times as a headlining act. Their first headlining tour, "Winter West" was in early 2005 with The Elected and The Colour. This was followed by the "Summer Scenic" tour with Pilotdrift and Lovedrug in mid 2005. Their third major headlining tour, titled "Final Noise," was opened by Simon Dawes and Brighten in Spring 2006. Eisley also performed on a special acoustic tour with Wesley Jensen[38] during the Summer of 2007. They spent a couple months in late 2007 opening accounts for Mutemath around the country and then in the Spring and early Summer of 2008 they headlined their own cross-continent finance tour in support of their latest release, Combinations, with openers including The Envy Corps (who had to leave mid-tour due to a European tour), Vedera and The Myriad.
Eisley has also played a number of individual shows. They played a handful of shows at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas in March 2007. In August 2007, they performed at the Carling Weekend Festival, held in Reading and Leeds, England. They performed at Brewtones on December 15, 2007.[39]
They made their national television debut on Late Night with Conan O'Brien August 30, 2007, performing "Invasion."
Eisley's early independent recordings have been confusing for new fans. The track listings are:
Eisley simply added the best of each EP and carried them forward. None of these recordings was released officially but sold at hundreds of shows between 1999 and 2003. EP2 version 3 contains all of the songs from the previous versions, including EP1, except for "Pretender." All songs on the independent recordings are owned by Eisley and they have generously allowed their fans to offer them for download from various places on the web.
Like most bands, Eisley has recorded many old songs and B-sides that have yet to make it onto any of their CDs. Many live recordings of these are available on fan websites. Some have been re-recorded and released on the iTunes Exclusive EPs. Still others are only available via fan websites and file sharing networks.
Some Eisley songs have had difficulty being released. A song titled "Sun Feet" was supposed to be released on Atticus: ...dragging the lake, Vol. 4, but the compilation album's release date has since passed with no sign of the CD; Boyd DuPree has said that the CD will no longer happen. A version of the song was released on August 14 on a limited edition EP sold at various indie record stores along with Combinations, but this version was not approved by the band and is not the version produced by Rob Schnapf or Mike Mogis. The "proper version" of Sunfeet was finally released on December 18, 2007, on the Like the Actors E.P..
In 2006, a group of songs, collectively known as "The Baby", was placed onto the internet by an unknown person who acquired them through illicit means. These songs were not finished and were never intended to be released. The band has asked its fans not to share these songs.
Eisley has also been known to release songs to their fans during the holidays. Currently these songs include covers of Walking In Air, O Come Emmanuel, Oh Holy Night, White Christmas, and sherri's alternate arrangement of White Christmas known as White Christmas Nightmare. [40]
Stacy and Sherri sang back-up for Head Automatica's debut album, Decadence, on the track "Dance Party Plus". They also sang back-up on the Fair track "Unglued", from Fair's album The Best Worst-Case Scenario.
Stacy, Sherri, Chauntelle and, their younger sister Christie DuPree contributed backing vocals on several tracks of New Found Glory's album Coming Home and tracked background vocals for Bright Eyes' record Cassadaga (while recording their own). Sherri also contributed backing vocals for New Found Glory's cover of "It Ain't Me Babe" from their latest LP, From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II, while Stacy performed on another track. Stacy and Sherri did backing vocals for The Maine's EP ...And a Happy New Year, Ho, Ho Hopefully. Most recently, Sherri appeared on two tracks from Say Anything's self-titled album.