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Founded in San Francisco in 1996, 100 Watt Smile is Carrie Bradley on violin and acoustic guitar, Mike Hart on drums, Scott Greiner on guitar, and Scott Houston on bass. Bradley is songwriter for the band, coming from eccentric Boston band Ed's Redeeming Qualities, the Breeders (as violinist) and SF's Buckets. Mike Hart plays the drums and has toured extensively with many other bands, but prefers to keep the details quiet. Influences include Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, and Cheap Trick. Scott Houston plays bass. Perhaps the greatest baker in rock, he has supplied bread, pastry, and bass lines for several New Hampshire bands. Influences include Wings, Stevie Wonder, and Robyn Hitchcock. Scott Greiner plays guitar and does all of the recording and mixing for the band, as well as reigning as Producer. Along with other formative banding experiences, he recorded/engineered and performed with Liz Phair during his Chicago years. Influences seem to change weekly. 100 Watt Smile signed for the European territories with German label Trocadero and released their first full-length CD, And Reason Flew, in 1998. Following a tour in Germany, Belgium and England, the band returned to the studio and began work on a second record. Meanwhile, they were featured on a number of local and international compilations. New York independent Thirsty Ear Recordings picked up And Reason Flew for a U.S. release in 1999, and the band made trips to Los Angeles and to the NXNW festival while continuing work on their second record at home. February 2001 marked the release of their second full-length record, the eponymous CD featured here at CD Baby, also produced by Scott Greiner. (The label deal was scuttled at the last moment, so apologies from the band that the CD does not have artwork/booklet other than the covers.) The band retired in 2002. Bradley continues to play with the Breeders, and as of spring 2006 is nearing completion of the first record for her new music thing in San Francisco, a semi-acoustic duo with Bernie Jungle called The Great Auk (www.myspace.com/greataukmusic). SOME PRESS: "Violinist and lead singer Carrie Bradley's intense talent and giddy enthusiasm propelled 100 Watt Smile's unusual, breezy pop and earned the rapt attention of all the early birds at a Saturday-night show at Slim's. The blending of Scott Greiner's precise guitar with the eerily disturbing, classical undertones brought in by Bradley's violin defies any attempt to anticipate the next melodic twist. Her sweet, breathy vocals and careful phrasing add a poetic dimension to the already uncommon mixture. Despite the complex arrangements, the sound is tight and the playing effortless...introducing intricate melodies, altering the mood, and playing havoc with conventional pop expectatons...Mike Hart literally and figuratively smokes on the drums, and Greiner and bassist Scott Houston keep the pop train chugging fluidly around the twists and turns of Bradley's symphonic riptide." --San Francisco Bay Guardian I'd say this is my favorite local pick of the week, but this San Francisco band is showing signs of going national--signing with a New York label and making a splash in Europe--where they worship great Americana bands that go ignored here. Fronted by Carrie Bradley, who also writes the lyrics, 100 Watt Smile is a meaty amalgam of alt-country and classic, fat-bottomed guitar rock, all laced with violin and Bradley's arty, unadorned vocals. The feedback-saturated "Birthmark" is a cheeky standout. An interesting mix, and a great band. --San Francisco Examiner "I won't stick things in your open heart," sings violinist/guitarist Carrie Bradley on her band's debut, And Reason Flew. Although her oddball sentiments suggest that she might not be as guileless as the timbre of her sweet, sawdusty vocals, Bradley sounds like she'd rather win your heart than impale it. Bradley plays songs that share a bond with the quirky-women rock of Kristin Hersh, Lisa Germano, and Kim Deal (Bradley had fiddled in the Breeders), but she's a more gregarious musician than the aforementioned folks, stuffing all her weirdness into the lyrics so that she can revel in classic melodies and sludgy punk-pop riffs. Although Bradley and her band make impressively smooth rock, it never sounds forced or glib. --CMJ 100 Watt Smile is shaped by Bradley's clear voice and wild, romantic violin--and of course by her songwriting. She has a feeling for classic pop songs which are shaped into epic soundwaves or edgy ballads by her three companions. --Zillo Rock without cliché, pop without sugary fluff, epic song structures, and beautiful melodies--in short, good modern guitar music with intelligence and heart. The lyrics discuss Death, Sex, and Life with sophistication. --Audimax SOME LYRICS: Red Cherry Suit I sat down under a cyclops moon beside the blithering brook And took a look around. And the sounds of psychobabble and bafflegab Salmoned up the drink from my nearby downtown downstream. And it seems to me there was a forest in these trees And it seems to me it's all wet in this American dream And I had something in my pocket And it was something that I got for you It was the lock to the city of keys Where you left their pointing fingers and you opened me And you you you in your red cherry suit Dipped into to to my chocolate head And when we meet that way It's true true beauty Mr. Boat and Miss Tree quarreling about their history and original sin in front of late-night TV He says, "You gotta have a boat to sail," and she says, "You gotta have a tree to leave." And I had something in my pocket And it was something that you gave to me It was the writing on the wall And a sweet reason... And you you you in your red cherry suit Dipped into to to my chocolate head And when we meet that way It's true true beauty Somewhere Did I mention that the setting is an old car by the jetty down at Mission Rock And the air is blue like a new thought that flew out and turned into dust. And a thing walks up-- half girly boy half tomgirl like us. Thing opens its hand like a fruit and strikes its thumb on its shoe and lights up. Whatever misses me the light Whatever gets me to a naked lane It's a good night somewhere. Somewhere, some time ago Somewhere, cold angels hung on air Somewhere stones turn on roads somewhere. Soon the moon Cheshires up While nationwide the waitresses fill half-empty cups. Thing goes to the car and gets in and cups the wheel like a chin and says, "Car...Car... You know I've walked and also ran And has been and wanna be..." And the car said, "I can't cry you a river, I just got headlights and they're broke, But I can deliver a view of the open road." What ever misses me the light Whatever gets me to a naked lane It's a good night somewhere. Somewhere, some time ago Somewhere, cold angels hung on air Somewhere there's stones that turn on roads that go somewhere. Club 23 I made my nest in the sling of a catapult While you paced on the parapet An idea glints in your eye and you smilingly Decline to fly over the night On the train to Jupiter Where it rains like Paraguay Why don't you lie down with me And it throws me into next week The intention I had is here like a dream Boozy and bearded in the doorway of Club 23 I packed all my stuff into the mouth of a cannon While you played with matches and dynamite But when I thought you lighted the fire The smoke rose in puffs to the sky just like on the train On the train to Capricorn I yank your chain and you yank mine Why don't we lie down and sleep And it throws me into next week The intention I had is here like a dream Dancing on the bar in the ruby light of Club 23 Boondoggle Howling at lightbulbs, we populate the room And the universe is expanding So you can't fit into your old pants And time does that old sleight-of-hand thing Like a watch swings us into a trance And when I face the mirror, the back of my head Is making eyes at last night's breakfast You make me crazy like a fox And happy like a bloodhound Put your ear into the box That holds my tongue Cuz you're the one who hears me... You're not I crazy am. Please release me Don't let me go Cuz the universe is expanding So you can't got the whole in your hands And all the quests of boondoggle and painting Are carrots on a stick while we're waiting for lunch You make me crazy like a fox And happy like a bloodhound Put your ear into the box That holds my tongue Cuz you're the one who hears me... You're not I crazy am. Two Jokes At the end of my rope there's a loophole that grins Like the oh that you said when you got what I meant And sometimes things are free with you and me Two jokes walk in a bar and overcome by déjà vu Start downing shots and getting punchy And cracking up the room And I was there without you like a one-arm band Tipping like a king for drinks and conducting my affairs And I was there without you like a one-arm band Parting seas and making deserts Each time I raise my hand And sometimes things are free with you and me Fancy Me Do you want to be a sky girl? They said ooo, ooo, ooo. Do you want to be a sky boy? They said, ooo,ooo,ooo. Screaming like peacock and I open up my palm tree like umbrella And I swing low and you swing low too. I want to be a sky girl cuz I can never find my street. You want to be a sky boy because you leave your feet. Robinson and Crusoe are the names we call each other when we're tired and lonely and cute And then you see me and I see you too. I fancy myself fancy and he figures he's a hero like you eat When you need something and conveniently it's teeth. It's a bird it's a gap-tooth smile you could fly a plane through It's a plain old man with a bird in his hand and the bush, she smiles. Screaming like a yellow and I fancy that I'm fallin' like a falcon's wing Like an idol. Like the rain. I fancy myself fancy and he figures he's a hero like you eat When you need something and conveniently it's teeth. Check out the artist's website: http://www.myspace.com/greataukmusic Track List: 1. Fancy Me 2. Red Cherry Suit 3. Met a Man 4. Club 23 5. Somewhere 6. Bat Ray 7. Two Jokes 8. Boondoggle 9. Mr. Piemaker 10. Stomach of a Whale Suggested CDs:Other Genres:
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