Posted on: May 11, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

Ruby Throat is a duo comprising KatieJane Garside of Daisy Chainsaw and Queenadreena infamy and Chris Whittingham. They formed in 2006 when Katie found Chris busking on the London Underground. The first song they wrote and quickly posted on the duo’s MySpace page was called “House Of Thieves” and saw Katie dipping her toes into the sort of country-tinged folk music that comprises the Ruby Throat ouevre. Their debut album is being released in the U.S. on the Sleep Like Wolves label, distributed by Ryko.

Ruby Throat’s first live show was in Oxford followed by an evening at the Woom Gallery in Birmingham where a Garside art exhibition was being held concurrently. Their debut album The Ventriloquist sounded like nothing released by KatieJane before, drawing from English folk, dark Americana and country music. An initial English pressing in extremely limited quantities came in bound vintage red Indian leather with a ‘This book belongs to.’ page at the front personalised by KatieJane. The artwork was a mixture of ghostly pastoral pinhole photography by Chris and sketches by Garside.

KatieJane has been keeping extremely busy in the time between the last release from Queenadreena — the immediate successor to Daisy Chainsaw — and Ruby Throat. One off projects undertaken include Corps Electriques or “Electric Bodies,” a collaboration between the late French composer Hector Zazou, Bill Rieflin (Ministry, REM, Swans), Lone Kent and Nils Petter Molvaer. The ensemble has performed live only once at the 2007 Presences Electronique festival in France on the 15th of March and released one self-titled album. Lesions In The Brain is a comic short written by Garside and written/illustrated by Dan Schaffer: “[It’s about] Psychological distress, self-mutilation, sex, defiance. the usual.” The comic was named after a track from KatieJane’s Lullabies In A Glass Wilderness CD of hushed yet disturbing songs, released under the name “Lalleshwari.”

Garside first penetrated the public’s awareness with the band Daisy Chainsaw. Chainsaw pushed the envelope with their wild style, frantic sound and hypnotic force. KatieJane swung the pendulum in vocal performance from sweet innocence to rabid dog. The band’s performances were symphonies of collective energy, waving you through their maze of emotions, both darkness and light. The band clobbered the UK indie singles chart with back-to-back number one hits, “Love Your Money” and “Pink Flower.” The band’s live performance earned them outstanding approval around the globe. Daisy Chainsaw created a circus-like atmosphere as the stage for their music.

After Katie Jane Garside had recovered from the breakdown that Daisy Chainsaw caused, and moved back to Belsize Park, north-west London, she unexpectedly bumped into old DC band mate Crispin Gray. A spark was rekindled and the pair soon got together and wrote about 30-40 new songs. Before recruiting band members to take the new project on the road, the pair went into the recording studio and released three singles prior to launching the debut. All three received general praise all around, Kerrang! magazine exclaiming, “like Kate Bush fronting Nine Inch Nails.” This was followed by the debut album Taxidermy which boasted a much darker sound than DC’s with ever-changing tempos and stark styles. Their second full length release was entitled Drink Me and was even more raw, harsh, and violent than ANY previous material released by the band. The Butcher And The Butterfly was their third album and found KatieJane’s sister Melanie joining the band on bass for its recording. 2008’s Djin is their most recent release.

www.myspace.com/katiejanegarsiderubythroat

www.myspace.com/katiejanegarside

www.myspace.com/queenadreena08

www.myspace.com/lovesickpleasure

www.katiejanegarside.com

http://www.room-eleven.org/

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