Graphic Tease-S/T

I met Nashville DIY stalwart Maddy Madeira on the internet when I was still in high school. She was playing in a folk punk band with her sister Kate called Ronald and the Rayguns, that I became aware of through the aforementioned No-Nothins, as they were playing the legendary "Folk the World" festival together. I was far less interested in the Rayguns than I was her solo recording experiments under Capers Ave., a weird bedroomcore sonic experiment of lo-fi guitar and vocals with hi-fi sounds of paper crinkling over-dubbed. Some of these recording were infuriating to listen to: the good parts quiet and fuzzy with all the background noise in the forefront, which is I guess is what made them more intriguing. We began keeping correspondence; I sent her a batch of SeBADoh's b-sides and 7" that I thought she'd benefit from. Then I moved out to the country, had no internet for three years and totally lost contact with her.

While I was living in the dark ages, Maddy formed the incredible How Cozy!, with the fearsome Rachel Durnin. How Cozy! for years was an unrivalled rock and roll band in Nashville, evolving from a more folk base by Nashville metalcore into the introspective heart-on-the-sleeve high energy performers that they became known for. Maddy's lyrics were thoughtful, intense, and sincere, complimented by dissonant indie chord structures and bends that harken to SeBADoh and Polvo, twisting with
Rachel's thunderous, impassioned drumming. How Cozy! was one of few bands that you could see live and know with certainty that they were not performing for entertainment's sake, but as genuine communication pulled from the vibrational ether to bestow upon the audience. Watching Rachel drum, hair flying, unable to commit herself to her drum stool, she said as much with her kit as Maddy did with her words. No self-righteousness, total humility, true art.

After learning that MySpace was no longer a thing, I began digging for Maddy, which wasn't terribly difficult. I found out about How Cozy! and offered to record them, but I'm glad I didn't. Evil supergenius Shibby Poole recorded their EP, masterfully filling out their bassless sound to a thick, beautiful collection of songs, albeit short. In the summer of 2012, Maddy invited me to a How Cozy! show that she had arranged at her home. I nervously attended alone, knowing none of the drunk Nashvillites that I was surrounded by. I apologized to everyone I met for my stumbling and inability to communicate, blaming it on being alone. I finally found Maddy, identifying her by the faded green in her hair. I immediately felt at ease speaking with her for the first time in person, no longer alone. She didn't have much time to talk though, as she was running the show but promised we'd catch up later. I agreed and returned to my nervous mingling and chain-smoking. After the show we talked for a while about mutual friends and music, finding out the music I turned her onto half a decade ago actually had a massive impact on her.

We decided to stay in contact this time. We began talking on a regular basis and found ourselves to have similar philosophies and sense of humor, leading us to declare ourselves siblings. Often I'd come down to Nashville to see How Cozy! or other incredible bands like Altar of Complaints and Yautja (and then wind up drunk on her porch, chainsmoking and bitching about my life). These shows actually salvaged my dying relationship with metal and showed me that real metalcore wasn't the same as buttcore and not only existed, but was mindblowing.

At this time How Cozy! was at their peak. They added Caleb Gregory to their lineup
on bass. Caleb's bass lines filled out their sound, providing contrast to Maddy's treble heavy Danelectro. Caleb was careful not to smear his ego over the existing songs, rather enhancing them. How Cozy! began composing new songs that were some of the most emotionally intense songs to date. Everytime How Cozy! played, it seemed like they were lifting a weight from their collective heart, sets ending with Maddy on bass and Caleb on guitar, playing one of his explosive compositions. The last time I saw them I had to adjourn from the performance space to their back porch where I proceeded to cry my fucking eyes out, not out of sadness, not even out of joy, but out of the sheer expulsion of raw emotion, first poured from the band and then from myself.

Maybe I'm biased towards How Cozy! because Maddy's one of my best friends, maybe because they're from Nashville, and maybe because when I really started to listen to them I was able to draw parallels between my life and the lyrics, but isn't that what a real songwriter is supposed to do? Isn't the purpose of a true artist to be able to draw in the observer and make them believe the piece is about themselves? Anyhow fuck all that, How Cozy! is one of the best bands to come out of Nashville and it's a shame they're gone.

But now Maddy's moving on. We talked forever about making music together and so she became a part of Black Christ. It was my attempt at honest and upfront songwriting regarding a carpetbagger I was falling for. I nervously asked Maddy to add her voice to the songs because I was actually drawing direct inspiration from How Cozy! for the songs. She not only agreed to but wanted to be a part of the blackmetal/shoegaze vision.

A few months later, she excitedly text me that Graphic Tease is the best name for a band ever (which I guess it probably is) and soon after she came up to Clarksville and recorded 6 of the 7 songs for a Graphic Tease EP. A tour was planned with aforementioned carpetbagger and we ordered 100 tapes, 50 for Graphic Tease, 50 for Nurse (BADTAPES004 and BADTAPES003 respectively). We played Clarksville, St. Louis (where the 7th song of the EP was recorded), Kansas City, Memphis, and Nashville, Claire and I playing a Nurse set, then the three of us playing a Graphic Tease set.

Maddy's still doing Graphic Tease and Black Christ, building contact mics and playing mini-tours with Mannequin Hollowcaust, when she isn't busy travelling and busking.

S/T can be downloaded here for WHATEVER DAGUM PRICE YOU WANT

badtapes004
Released 18 July 2013

Maddy Madeira- vocals, guitar, noise
Nicholas Riley- noise, percussion, bass
Claire Cirocco- noise

All songs written by Graphic Tease and recorded at Zebra's house in Clarksville, TN in the spring of 2013 by Nicholas Riley except for track 7 which was recorded live in St. Louis.