The Heroine Sheiks

Whether taking the stage naked, genitalia lathered in shaving cream, howling into the microphone with mousetraps dangling from his ears, or doing headstands on a club PA stack in a platinum blonde wig or shower cap, Shannon Selberg's career with Minneapolis' infamous Cows was anything but subtle. By the early to mid-'90s, Selberg had emerged as the Crispin Glover of the noise rock community, known as much for his quixotic personality traits and stage outfits as his freaked-out drawn-on tattoos and demented bugle playing. And over the course of nearly a dozen albums, the Cows proved their Tourette's rock mettle through tour after tour. When the band finally called it quits at the tail end of 1998, after nearly 14 years in the trenches, Selberg found himself living in New York City without a band. More importantly, he was without a forum for his twisted, unpredictable Vaudeville act. Enter the Heroine Sheiks. Founded in early 1999, the band also features former Swans and Foetus guitar player Norman Westberg. Cherry picking the finest points of both Westberg's New York art/scum scene and the Cows lysergic punk, the Heroine Sheiks emerged with a peculiar hybrid of avant-noise and rock abandon. After an initial EP on former Cows home Amphetamine Reptile Records later that year, the band issued it's debut album, Rape on the Installment Plan, via Baltimore's Reptilian Records in 2001. Eric Able took the place of keyboardist Scott Hill for a brief period, but when Hill retuned, Able merely switched over to bass. It was this lineup that recorded and released Siamese Pipe in 2002. ~ Patrick Kennedy, All Music Guide