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Group Members: Eef Barzelay
Conjuring a sweet and lusciously melancholy sound that merges the tunefulness of vintage pop, the late-night vibe of cool jazz, the lonesome spirit of classic country, and the delicate touch of folk, Clem Snide are a trio who've gone through more than their share of changes since they first formed in 1991. Clem Snide were first assembled by singer, guitarist, and songwriter Eef Barzelay while he was attending college in Boston during the early '90s; the first edition of the band was created to perform his earliest attempts as songwriting, and the sound was dominated by noisy, punk-jazz-inspired dissonance with abrasive guitar lines and bleating saxophone. (Significantly, the band was named for a character in the challenging William S. Burroughs novel Naked Lunch.) While this early lineup played out occasionally and released a pair of 7" singles on a local label, Barzelay became disenchanted with both the band and the city of Boston, and the group split up in 1994.
Two years later, Barzelay had relocated back to the East Coast after dropping out of school (he grew up in New Jersey), and he was living with his parents when he got the itch to start writing songs again. Barzelay reconnected with Jason Glasser, who had played bass for a spell with Clem Snide, and was now learning the cello while attending art school in New York City. Barzelay and Glasser soon began working up new material under the name Fruit Key; after adding Jeff Marshall on double bass, Barzelay opted to resurrect the name Clem Snide, and by the end of 1996 the group was playing small shows around New York. The following year, the band began recording a demo, and added drummer Brad Reitz to the lineup; the demo sessions eventually evolved into an album (with a variety of friends and contemporaries helping to fill out the group's sound, a practice that would continue on future recording projects), and Clem Snide's debut, You Were a Diamond, was released in 1998.
In 1999, Reitz left the band, and new percussionist Eric Paul stepped in during the sessions for the group's second album, Your Favorite Music, which was released during a short-lived tenure with Sire Records. The group's relationship with Sire was through by the time the band finished its third album, 2001's The Ghost of Fashion, but Clem Snide's career enjoyed a boost when a song from the album, "Moment in the Sun," was chosen as the theme for the hit television series Ed. Several tours across the globe followed throughout 2002; however, Jeff Marshall grew tired of the road. He left the band, but went on to participate in the recording sessions for the band's fourth album, The Soft Spot (2003), which also featured multi-instrumentalist Pete Fitzpatrick. Pete's cousin, Brendan Fitzpatrick, stepped in to play bass shortly thereafter. For the band's fifth album, 2004's End of Love, they brought in a crew including Ben Perowsky (the Lounge Lizards), Lara Meyerratken (Crooked Fingers), Paul Burch (Lambchop, Paul Burch & the WPA Ballclub), Tony Crow, and Ben Martin (Lambchop). Hungry Bird appeared in 2009 from 429 Records, followed by The Meat of Life the next year..
from Wikipedia:
Clem Snide is an alt-country band featuring Eef Barzelay (guitar, vocals), Brendan Fitzpatrick (bass) and Ben Martin (drums).
History
"Clem Snide" is a character in several novels by William S. Burroughs, including Naked Lunch, The Ticket That Exploded, and Exterminator!. The band Clem Snide was started by songwriter and singer Eef Barzelay, Jason Glasser, and drummer Eric Paull in Boston in 1991. A few years later, with the addition of bassist Jeff "SweetBread" Marshall, the band made its first record, You Were a Diamond with producer Adam Lasus. After building up a local following they attracted the attention of the Seymour Stein who signed them to the Sire label for whom they recorded Your Favorite Music in 1999.
A couple years later Clem Snide released their third album The Ghost of Fashion on indie stalwart SpinArt Records. The record received some mainstream attention due to the song "Moment in the Sun", which was used as the theme song for the second season of the NBC program Ed. After an ill-fated post-9/11 tour, the band began to unravel but not before completing two more records: Soft Spot (2003) and End of Love (2005). After beginning work on another record, the strains of life in the music industry became too great and Clem Snide broke apart. Barzelay went on to release two solo records, Bitter Honey and Lose Big.
In 2009, the group re-banded and released their sixth record Hungry Bird on 429 Records. On February 23, 2010, Clem Snide released their seventh long-player, The Meat Of Life also on 429 Records.
