THE PHILISTINES JR. are brothers Peter & Tarquin Katis, drummer Adam Pierce and an extended musical family including piano/theremin virtuoso, Rob Schwimmer, and inventor/musician, Leon Dewan among others. With a reputation as No-Fi home studio recording wizards, they have been recording and releasing their unique brand of experimental pop music since 1990...on their own TARQUIN RECORDS label. Due to Peter's successful producing career (Interpol, The National, etc), Adam's successful label/artist endeavors (Fat Cat, Mice Parade, etc), and Tarquin's homemaking (Henry & Helen!), the band is ramping up from a few years of hiatus. With most of a new LP complete (three new songs can be downloaded here), the band is trying to decide if it's time to be a real band again. Over the years, the band had great success at college radio, achieved legitimate status as "critics' darlings", recorded three sessions for super-fan John Peel, toured and played with bands from Mercury Rev to Yo La Tengo to Jonathan Richman but still somehow remained perennial underdogs in the music biz. So with a new batch of songs with overly self-referential lyrics, instrumentation that combines "live", "canned", "analog" and "digital" sounds, and a mood that's caught confusingly between goofy and melancholy, THE PHILISTINES JR. are about to give it another go...stay tuned.
