Alice Texas

Following a short stint as a solo performer, Alice Schneider founded the mutating New York rock band Alice Texas in the mid-'90s, taking on a brooding, intense sound that took a few well-learned pointers from artists such as Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and PJ Harvey. Schneider went through various backing musicians in the beginning, including nine drummers alone, before hooking up with former Go-Betweens bassist and Jetset Records executive Robert Vickers, who in turn helped to bring drummer, keyboardist, and former Bad Seeds and Sonic Youth sideman Jim Sclavunos into the fold. Shortly thereafter, Peter Mavrogeorgis joined on lead guitar, completing the band's first set official lineup. In 1999, they entered the studio to record their debut, Gold, a superb, mostly self-produced album that Schneider released independently the following year. By that time, Sclavunos had left and Vickers returned to his record label duties, while Schneider and Mavrogeorgis continued on with the addition of David Berger on drums and Byron Isaacs on bass. Alice Texas was featured as the 51st artist in Alternative Press magazine's "100 Bands You Need to Know in 2001" issue (March 2001) and Schneider soon thereafter entered the studio to record demos for a second album. ~ Stanton Swihart, All Music Guide