Coctails
Encyclopedia
The Coctails were a Chicago
music quartet, which formed while its members were attending the Kansas City Art Institute
. The band was active from about 1988 to 1995 (with reunions in 2000 as the very last band to play on stage at Lounge Ax
before the famous Chicago club closed its doors; December 2004; January 2005 for the release of their Popcorn Box CD collection of rarities; and July 2005 for a tour of Japan. Members Archer Prewitt
, Mark Greenberg, John Upchurch, and Barry Phipps were largely self-taught musicians who experimented with various instruments and played in a manner they described as the Chinese fire drill
method, in which they rotated instruments during live sets. For example, though Phipps often played bass, he was as likely to play guitar, drums, bass, saxophone, or theremin.
Originally considered a loungecore band because of their name and because they covered some Martin Denny
tunes, they considered themselves a garage jazz band. Unfortunately, when the lounge/easy listening revival bubbled up after the first Esquivel
CD reissue in 1994, the Coctails—because of their name—were too-often presumed to be part of the trend. However, the foursome were always curious musical adventurers and eager for a challenge, and in their final years they explored avant-garde jazz and indie rock, so their stylistic changes weren't entirely due to being pigeon-holed as musical lounge lizards.
The four group members were also visual artists, and using a printshop which was installed in their loft created their own Coctails' line of merchandise, including buttons, calendars, t-shirts, news letters, and similar music giveaways. They even created their own line of stuffed dolls in the likeness of each band member. Later a line of 12" action figures of the band were produced in Japan by Presspop Gallery as well as a book of the art of the Coctails' flyers. At some point during a Coctails show, the audience would be served popcorn in bags (and sometimes boxes) imprinted with the band's images.
The band created their own vinyl only record label called Hi-Ball Records. In addition to issuing their own records, they released records by the Vandermark Quartet (featuring Ken Vandermark
), Masters Of The Obvious
, Dame Darcy
, Evergreen
(featuring Britt Walford of Slint
), Log Letters (featuring Mark Greenberg from the Coctails), Dianogah
(featuring well known poster artist Jay Ryan (artist)
), Dump (band)
(a side band by James McNew
of Yo La Tengo
), and Brokeback (band)
(a project of Douglas McCombs, bassist of Tortoise (band)
).
Archer Prewitt
currently performs solo and also plays with the Sea and Cake
and Sam Prekop
and creates the comic book "Sof'Boy".
Mark Greenberg currently performs with Archer Prewitt
, Eleventh Dream Day
, and Candy Gold, and runs his own music-for-use company called the Mayfair Workshop.
John Upchurch has played with Rachel's
, owned and operated FireProof Press, and is currently on staff at Columbia College, Chicago.
Mark and John recently collaborated on a CD called John and Mark's Children's Record, available on Tight Ship Records.
Barry Phipps owns and operates the North Branch Recording Studio and Tight Ship Records as well as Beep DJ Service.
In 2010, the band got back together to record Erik Satie
's "Gymnopédie No. 1" for American Laundromat Records
charity CD "Sing Me To Sleep - Indie Lullabies" which releases worldwide on May 18, 2010.
The Coctails albums and 45s included:
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...
music quartet, which formed while its members were attending the Kansas City Art Institute
Kansas City Art Institute
The Kansas City Art Institute is a private, independent, four-year college of fine arts and design founded in 1885 in Kansas City, Missouri....
. The band was active from about 1988 to 1995 (with reunions in 2000 as the very last band to play on stage at Lounge Ax
Lounge Ax
The Lounge Ax was a music venue in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. It was an important venue for live rock music -- especially indie rock. The club was opened in 1987 by Jennifer Fischer and Julia Adams, who were joined around September 1989 by Sue Miller, previously the booker at...
before the famous Chicago club closed its doors; December 2004; January 2005 for the release of their Popcorn Box CD collection of rarities; and July 2005 for a tour of Japan. Members Archer Prewitt
Archer Prewitt
Archer Prewitt is an American musician and cartoonist associated with the independent music scene in Chicago, Illinois.- Music :...
, Mark Greenberg, John Upchurch, and Barry Phipps were largely self-taught musicians who experimented with various instruments and played in a manner they described as the Chinese fire drill
Chinese fire drill
A Chinese fire drill is a slang term that has been used by Westerners for more than a century, and is today considered offensive or racist. It is used to describe any situation that is chaotic or confusing....
method, in which they rotated instruments during live sets. For example, though Phipps often played bass, he was as likely to play guitar, drums, bass, saxophone, or theremin.
Originally considered a loungecore band because of their name and because they covered some Martin Denny
Martin Denny
Martin Denny was an American piano-player and composer best known as the "father of exotica." In a long career that saw him performing well into his 80s, he toured the world popularizing his brand of lounge music which included exotic percussion, imaginative rearrangements of popular songs, and...
tunes, they considered themselves a garage jazz band. Unfortunately, when the lounge/easy listening revival bubbled up after the first Esquivel
Juan García Esquivel
Juan García Esquivel often simply known as Esquivel!, was a Mexican band leader, pianist, and composer for television and films. He is recognized today as one of the foremost exponents of a sophisticated style of largely instrumental music that combines elements of lounge music and jazz with Latin...
CD reissue in 1994, the Coctails—because of their name—were too-often presumed to be part of the trend. However, the foursome were always curious musical adventurers and eager for a challenge, and in their final years they explored avant-garde jazz and indie rock, so their stylistic changes weren't entirely due to being pigeon-holed as musical lounge lizards.
The four group members were also visual artists, and using a printshop which was installed in their loft created their own Coctails' line of merchandise, including buttons, calendars, t-shirts, news letters, and similar music giveaways. They even created their own line of stuffed dolls in the likeness of each band member. Later a line of 12" action figures of the band were produced in Japan by Presspop Gallery as well as a book of the art of the Coctails' flyers. At some point during a Coctails show, the audience would be served popcorn in bags (and sometimes boxes) imprinted with the band's images.
The band created their own vinyl only record label called Hi-Ball Records. In addition to issuing their own records, they released records by the Vandermark Quartet (featuring Ken Vandermark
Ken Vandermark
Ken Vandermark is an American jazz composer and saxophone and clarinet player.A fixture on the Chicago-area music scene since the 1990s, Vandermark has earned wide critical praise for his playing and his multilayered compositions, which typically balance intricate orchestration with passionate...
), Masters Of The Obvious
Masters Of The Obvious
Masters of the Obvious , is a New Orleans-based garage punk band. Formed in 1981 by Paul Caporino, the lineup of the band has seen many changes over the years, with Caporino being the only consistent member...
, Dame Darcy
Dame Darcy
Dame Darcy is an alternative cartoonist. Her comic book, Meatcake, has been published by Fantagraphics since 1993. Darcy has also released several graphic novels, Frightful Fairytales, Dame Darcy's Meatcake Compilation, The Illustrated Jane Eyre, Dollerium , Comic Book Tattoo, and Gasoline .-...
, Evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
(featuring Britt Walford of Slint
Slint
Slint was an American rock band consisting of Brian McMahan , David Pajo , Britt Walford , Todd Brashear and Ethan Buckler...
), Log Letters (featuring Mark Greenberg from the Coctails), Dianogah
Dianogah
Dianogah is a Chicago, Illinois based indie rock outfit formed in 1995, noted for their use of two bass guitars. Members include Kip McCabe, Jay Ryan and Jason Harvey. Dianogah's first full-length album, As Seen From Above, was recorded by Steve Albini, who also produced their second full-length...
(featuring well known poster artist Jay Ryan (artist)
Jay Ryan (artist)
Jay Ryan is a poster maker and rock musician. He is noted for his squirrel posters as well as being a bassist in the band Dianogah....
), Dump (band)
Dump (band)
Dump is a vehicle for releasing the four-track home recordings of Yo La Tengo bassist James McNew. His recordings occasionally feature guest performers such as Sue Garner and Fontaine Toups...
(a side band by James McNew
James McNew
James McNew has been the bass player for the rock band Yo La Tengo since their 1992 album May I Sing With Me.He was previously a member of Christmas on their third album Vortex.[]He also has a solo side project, Dump....
of Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo, sometimes abbreviated as YLT, is an American alternative rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan , Georgia Hubley , and James McNew .Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called "the quintessential...
), and Brokeback (band)
Brokeback (band)
Brokeback is a project of Doug McCombs, bassist of Tortoise and Eleventh Dream Day.- Featured artists :* Rob Mazurek* Noel Kupersmith* Mary Hansen * James McNew * Chad Taylor...
(a project of Douglas McCombs, bassist of Tortoise (band)
Tortoise (band)
Tortoise is an American post-rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1990.-Music:Tortoise's almost entirely instrumental music defies easy categorization, and the group gained significant attention from their early career. The members have roots in Chicago's fertile music scene, playing in...
).
Archer Prewitt
Archer Prewitt
Archer Prewitt is an American musician and cartoonist associated with the independent music scene in Chicago, Illinois.- Music :...
currently performs solo and also plays with the Sea and Cake
The Sea and Cake
The Sea and Cake is an indie rock band with a pronounced jazz influence, which formed in the mid-1990s in Chicago out of the ashes of local bands The Coctails and Shrimp Boat. The group's name came from a willful reinterpretation of "The C in Cake", a song by Gastr del Sol...
and Sam Prekop
Sam Prekop
Sam Prekop is a rock/pop musician in the band The Sea and Cake. He also has released three solo albums. Prekop first gained recognition in the band Shrimp Boat from 1988 to 1993. Many artists have performed in the Sam Prekop band, such as Chad Taylor, Josh Abrams, Jim O'Rourke, and Archer Prewitt...
and creates the comic book "Sof'Boy".
Mark Greenberg currently performs with Archer Prewitt
Archer Prewitt
Archer Prewitt is an American musician and cartoonist associated with the independent music scene in Chicago, Illinois.- Music :...
, Eleventh Dream Day
Eleventh Dream Day
-History:The band was founded by guitarists Rick Rizzo and Janet Beveridge Bean, who met at a place fondly known as 1069. This was a house/practice space/hang out in Louisville where at the time Janet was practicing with the band she was in with Tara Key and Tim Harris; the Zoo Directors. They...
, and Candy Gold, and runs his own music-for-use company called the Mayfair Workshop.
John Upchurch has played with Rachel's
Rachel's
Rachel's is an American chamber music group that formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1991. Former Rodan guitarist, Jason Noble, played music individually and referred to himself as Rachel's but then began collaborating with now core members, violist Christian Frederickson, and pianist Rachel Grimes...
, owned and operated FireProof Press, and is currently on staff at Columbia College, Chicago.
Mark and John recently collaborated on a CD called John and Mark's Children's Record, available on Tight Ship Records.
Barry Phipps owns and operates the North Branch Recording Studio and Tight Ship Records as well as Beep DJ Service.
In 2010, the band got back together to record Erik Satie
Erik Satie
Éric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...
's "Gymnopédie No. 1" for American Laundromat Records
American Laundromat Records
American Laundromat Records is an indie label based in Mystic, CT.The label has produced several tribute albums, including Dig For Fire - a tribute to PIXIES, Cinnamon Girl - Women Artists Cover Neil Young, and High School Reunion - A Tribute to Those Great 80's Films...
charity CD "Sing Me To Sleep - Indie Lullabies" which releases worldwide on May 18, 2010.
The Coctails albums and 45s included:
- Hip Hip Hooray! LP (Hi-Ball)
- Here Now Today LP (Hi-Ball)
- The Early Hi-Ball Years CD comp (Carrot Top RecordsCarrot Top RecordsCarrot Top Records is a Chicago-based independent record label owned and operated by Patrick Monaghan.-Artist roster:* Antietam* The Bitter Tears* The Coctails* Darling Downs* Disco Inferno* Duplex Planet Radio Hour* The Handsome Family* KatJonBand...
) - Long Sound LP (Hi-Ball/Carrot Top RecordsCarrot Top RecordsCarrot Top Records is a Chicago-based independent record label owned and operated by Patrick Monaghan.-Artist roster:* Antietam* The Bitter Tears* The Coctails* Darling Downs* Disco Inferno* Duplex Planet Radio Hour* The Handsome Family* KatJonBand...
) - Peel LP (Hi-Ball/Carrot Top RecordsCarrot Top RecordsCarrot Top Records is a Chicago-based independent record label owned and operated by Patrick Monaghan.-Artist roster:* Antietam* The Bitter Tears* The Coctails* Darling Downs* Disco Inferno* Duplex Planet Radio Hour* The Handsome Family* KatJonBand...
) - The Coctails LP (Carrot Top RecordsCarrot Top RecordsCarrot Top Records is a Chicago-based independent record label owned and operated by Patrick Monaghan.-Artist roster:* Antietam* The Bitter Tears* The Coctails* Darling Downs* Disco Inferno* Duplex Planet Radio Hour* The Handsome Family* KatJonBand...
) - Live at Lounge AxLounge AxThe Lounge Ax was a music venue in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. It was an important venue for live rock music -- especially indie rock. The club was opened in 1987 by Jennifer Fischer and Julia Adams, who were joined around September 1989 by Sue Miller, previously the booker at...
CD (Carrot Top RecordsCarrot Top RecordsCarrot Top Records is a Chicago-based independent record label owned and operated by Patrick Monaghan.-Artist roster:* Antietam* The Bitter Tears* The Coctails* Darling Downs* Disco Inferno* Duplex Planet Radio Hour* The Handsome Family* KatJonBand...
) - Songs for Children EP (Hi-Ball)
- Devo Corporate Anthem split 7" with Chrome Cranks (Insipid, Australia)
- Wheels split 7" with Southern Culture on the SkidsSouthern Culture on the SkidsSouthern Culture on the Skids, also sometimes known as SCOTS, is an American rock band that was formed in 1983 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina...
(Todd & Cheryl Records) - Working Holiday split 7" with Codeine (band)Codeine (band)Codeine was an American indie rock/slowcore band formed in 1989. They released two full-length albums — Frigid Stars in 1990 and The White Birch in 1994.-History:...
(Simple MachinesSimple MachinesSimple Machines was a record label that operated out of Arlington, Virginia. The label was masterminded by Jenny Toomey and Kristin Thomson and, at its peak, had four paid workers- Toomey, Thomson, Pat Graham and Mickey Menard...
) - Tardvark EP with Dame DarcyDame DarcyDame Darcy is an alternative cartoonist. Her comic book, Meatcake, has been published by Fantagraphics since 1993. Darcy has also released several graphic novels, Frightful Fairytales, Dame Darcy's Meatcake Compilation, The Illustrated Jane Eyre, Dollerium , Comic Book Tattoo, and Gasoline .-...
(Hi-Ball) - Why? 7" single with T. Lance (Telstar)
- PowerhousePowerhouse (song)Powerhouse is a instrumental musical composition by Raymond Scott, probably best known today as the iconic "assembly line" music in animated cartoons released by Warner Brothers.-History:...
7" single (SOL - Singles Only Label) - Winter Wonderland EP (Hi-Ball)
- 3/4 Time EP (Hi-Ball)
- Hello CDEP (Hello CD of the Month ClubHello CD of the Month ClubThe Hello CD of the Month Club was a subscription-only record company that operated from 1993-1996 by John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants and Marjorie Galen...
) - Let's Enjoy 10" EP (Presspop, Japan)
- Popcorn Box 3 CD box set (Carrot Top)